Difficulties in writing business correspondence of export import staff at anh minh transport and trading investment company

THUONGMAI UNIVERSITY ENGLISH FACULTY ---GRADUATION PAPER DIFFICULTIES IN WRITING BUSINESS CORRESPONDENCE OF EXPORT-IMPORT STAFF AT ANH MINH TRANSPORT AND TRADING INVESTMENT COMPANY Sup

THUONGMAI UNIVERSITY ENGLISH FACULTY

-GRADUATION PAPER DIFFICULTIES IN WRITING BUSINESS CORRESPONDENCE

OF EXPORT-IMPORT STAFF AT ANH MINH TRANSPORT

AND TRADING INVESTMENT COMPANY

Supervisor: Nguyen Bich Hong

Student: Hoang Van Thao

Class: K52N2

Id: 16D170114

Hanoi - 2020

According to Wikipedia, Business correspondence means the exchange ofinformation in a written format for the process of business activities Businesscorrespondence can take place between organizations, within organizations or betweenthe customers and the organization The correspondence refers to the writtencommunication between persons Hence oral communication or face to facecommunication is not a business correspondence

According to Business Dictionary, business correspondence is "any written ordigital communication exchanged by two or more parties." Business correspondencecomes in the form of letters, emails or text messages

Understanding the principles of business correspondence is one of the mostfundamental tasks for any business professional Businesses use businesscorrespondence to develop a professional relationship with their customers, and this is

an effective way of building a loyal customer base It gives companies the ability tocommunicate continuously with their partners and eventually develop anunderstanding of their needs and wants to gain an advantage over competitors

In this study, the researcher has showed the knowledge of the businesscorrespondence Also some difficulties in writing business correspondence have beenpresented and there are some suggested solutions for them

In order to finish this study, the researcher used some methods such as collectinginformation from books, and the Internet to get theoretical background Then, aquestionnaire was conducted with the help of export-import staffs from AMTcompany After getting the result, the researcher analyzed and presented somedifficulties and recommended some solutions for those who had obstacles whenwriting business correspondence

After that, I decided to choose this topic: “Difficulties in writing business correspondence of export-import staff at Anh Minh Transport And Trading Investment Company” as my topic of graduation thesis.

I would like to express my gratitude towards teachers at English Department –Thuongmai University who have supported me in my process of conducting thesis.Especially, I would love to express my sincere thanks to my beloved supervisor – Ms.Nguyen Bich Hong who has helped me a lot from outline preparation to thecompletion my graduation paper

I have a valuable opportunity to study and work at Anh Minh Transport andServices Trading Company (AMT Company) in the internship

I would like to express my thanks to Mrs.Tho - the manager of export-import, forher support and insightful advice when working at AMT Company Moreover, I wouldlike to thank all the staffs from Export-Import Department for joining in the surveyand helping me during the internship

Although my graduation thesis has been completed, the shortcomings areinevitably avoided Due to my limited knowlege, I would like to receive thecomments, appreciations and feedbacks from teachers to complete better and better

StudentHoang Van Thao

TABLE OF CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii

TABLE OF CONTENTS iii

CHAPTER 1: OVERVIEW OF THE STUDY 1

1.1 Rationale 1

1.2 Previously studies 3

1.3 Aims of the study 5

1.4 Research Subjects 5

1.5 Scope of the study 5

1.6 Research methodology 5

1.7 Organization of the study 6

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 8

2.1 Business correspondence 8

2.1.1 Definition of Business Correspondence 8

2.1.2 Parts of Business Correspondence 8

2.1.3 Main types of business correspondence 12

2.2 Inquiry Letters, Order Letters, and Complaint Letters 13

2.2.1 Inquiry Letters 13

2.2.2 Order Letters 15

2.2.3 Complaint Letters 17

2.3 Difficulties in writing Business Correspondences 19

2.3.1 Difficulties in writing Inquiry Letters 19

2.3.2 Difficulties in writing Order Letters 19

2.3.3 Difficulties in writing Complaint Letters 20

CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH FINDINGS 22

3.1 Research context 22

3.2 Research procedure 22

3.3 Result of the Survey Questionnaires 23

3.4 Result of the Interviewing 28

CHAPTER 4: RECOMMENDATIONS AND SUGGESTIONS 30

4.1 Existed problems and difficulties in in writing a business correspondence of

the Export-Import staffs 30

4.2 General suggestions for the Export-Import staffs in the Anh Minh company to improve in writing skill on business correspondence 30

4.3 Suggestions for inquiry letter, order letter, and complaint letter 32

4.3.1 Suggestions for difficulties in writing inquiry letter 32

4.3.2 Suggestions for difficulties in writing order letter 32

4.3.3 Suggestions for difficulties in writing complaint letter 33

4.4 Recommendations for managers of the AMT Co to help the staffs improve business correspondence writing skill 34

CONCLUSION 36

REFERENCES 37

CHAPTER 1: OVERVIEW OF THE STUDY

1.1 Rationale

Nowadays, English is a very important language in communication It does give

us the chance to communicate well with others English has spread the fastest growingscientific language in the world This language currently occupies the position of atrading language Many multi-national companies when dealing with foreign partnerswill do it in English

Thus, letters is an indispensable tool of communication in business Businessletters or business correspondences are used to sell the products, make inquiry aboutcustomers or prices of goods, seek information and advice, maintain good publicrelation, increase goodwill and perform a variety of other business functions With thecontinuous growth of commerce and industry, business letters are more and moreimportant and necessary Especially in the context of corona virus outbreaks areintensing outbreaks all over the world that everyone needs to avoid face-to-facecontact

Firstly, business letter helps exchanging business information Letters are themost economical and convenient means of exchanging information With the help ofletters, executives can easily exchange information with customers, suppliers,investors, government offices; regulatory authorities etc

Secondly, it helps maintaining proper relationship Nowadays business activitiesare not confined to any one area or locality The businessmen as well as customers arescattered throughout the country Business correspondences play an important role inestablishing and maintaining relationship with various parties Businesscorrespondences reduce the distance between a business and its customers, suppliers,creditors and other public groups Customers can write to businesses looking forinformation on services

Thirdly, though there are other modes of communication like telephone, telex,fax, etc.; Business information can be provided and obtained economically andconveniently through letters Valuable time and costs can be saved

Last but not least, it helps in expansion of business Business requiresinformation regarding competing services, prevailing prices, promotion, marketactivities, etc In this global business, an excellent command of English is required forkey jobs.

Anh Minh Transport is a logistics company, especially in importing andexporting foreign orders The documents and contracts of the company are mainly inEnglish, and when negotiating and contracts signing with foreign partners, Anh Minhcompany always uses English

The main roles of the Export - Import department in AMT Co are listening tocustomer concerns, researching market, tracking trends and monitor competition,preparing necessary English documents with Customs, and helping improve importand export process of the company and customer

Especially, the essential role of the Export - Import department is keeping intouch with customers through business correspondences Any incoming letter must bereplied in a short time The letter should be tactful, simple in language, helpful andevery customer must feel that their enquiries are being considered

Nowadays, many companies not only operate in their countries but also areexpanding overseas During the internship in AMT Company, the researcher has gotchances to study English thoroughly in terms of four skills practices especially writingbusiness correspondences In order to keep in touch with partners, the best way is touse business correspondence in English because more than three-fourth of the world’smail

From the above reasons, it is an urgent need to prioritize in proposing thedifficulties that Export-Import department’s staffs of AMT Co often face with whenwriting business correspondences In addition, AMT export-import staffs often dealwith inquiry letters, order letters, complaint letters from customers during workingtime Therefore, the study on difficulties in writing business correspondence in theexport-import department of AMT Co and some suggested solutions really meet theneed

1.2 Previously studies

According to Gale (2014), business correspondence is one type of

communication, which is used every day in all workplaces There are many types ofbusiness which usually come with standard structure and style It realized althoughbusiness correspondence is more and more necessary and easy to understand, writingbusiness correspondence well is not easy

Guffey & Du-Babcock (2010, p.100) mentioned that email and letter has been the

alternative communication channel lately Communication by email is “a process andcontinuous activity”, which means both sender and receiver cannot revoke theinformation or messages delivered

According to Guffey & Du-Babcock (2010), good business communications are

brief, the content should be easy to read and understand, and unnecessary words,sentences or even paragraphs should be deleted Some solutions are indicated thatimprovement of readability should be sought through the use of headings, bulletedlistings, side headings, and an introduction that explains what will follow Culturaldifferences should be considered so the content is clear and precise in language; slangthat causes confusion abroad should be avoided The writer should double-checkbefore sending and use spell check

Locker & Kaczmarek (2011) stated that email and letter has many advantages in

business communication; for instance, employees can decrease working time by usingemail to communicate and convey information promptly and business letters can beused to confirm in written form when contract is plenary in spoken communication.Research has shown that the effective business correspondence writing shoulddetermine the readers cause they may differ to be superior, middle or linemanagement, colleague, the customers, potential customers, the government, or othercompanies in the similar market Knowing who the readers are can help determiningwhat type of information to contain in the letter Letter should contain a lotsknowledge about the topic that conclude from both external and internal written works

and materials to the company (Sue, Fryar and Thomas ,1994)

According to A study of problems in the business English writing skills of Thai employees at The Classic Chairs Company by Miss Thandarin This study focused on

surveying the problems related to the business English writing skills of the employees

at The Classic Chairs Company in order to improve their English writing skills Thefindings from this study could provide useful information to help improve theirEnglish writing skills in the workplace, which will increase their confidence As aresult, their productivity and performance will increase English skills usage andproblems in the workplace, reasons for using business English emails and type ofbusiness English writing usage This study showed that the problems mentioned issueswritten English that the employees at The Classic Chairs Company encounter in theirduties English writing skills refer to emails, letters and reports

The researcher chose the method of analyzing, summarizing, and synthesizing

materials and books to perform the theoretical background in the A study on difficulties in writing business correspondence for major English students of foreign languages faculty of academy of finance by Dam Hong Loan, Foreign Languages

Department, Academy of Finance Besides, the researcher also made use ofinformation from informal discussions with teachers and friends This study hasshowed some difficulties that major English students of foreign languages faculty ofacademy of finance often have faced with when writing business letters Besides, theresearcher has already suggested some ways to improve the difficulties It helpsstudents to have a general view of fundamental things about the skill and to improvesome difficulties that they often have got

Other scholars such as A study on written structures, personal pronoun, decision and attitude expressions in commercial correspondence by Dinh Thi Thu Ha,

Haiphong University This study was completed thanks to information collected frominternet, books to get theoretical background After that, the analysis on 50 letters iscarried out to get basic knowledge and specific exemplifications In order to make thestudy more persuasive and interesting, some examples are taken from some closecompanies and reliable sources In this study, the researcher pointed out an overview

on related theoretical background of commercial correspondence, business termsduring the study; the main aims of the study is a comparison of the real status betweenwritten structures, personal pronoun, decision and attitude expressions used in business

correspondence, and from then, finds out some strategies to compose a good letter forstudents.

1.3 Aims of the study

The aim of this study is to investigate and find out difficulties that staffs in theExport - Import department of AMT Co have faced when writing businesscorrespondence, especially in inquiry letters, order letters, and complaint letters andgive some suggested solutions in order to improve the business correspondencewriting skill and to easily contact, communicate and persuade customers This alsopresents several useful tips to make the letter plentiful and create a good impression onthe reader

1.5 Scope of the study

The study was conducted in the Export - Import department of the AMTCompany, and all the staffs in the Export - Import department persuaded to take part inand answer some questionnaires in order to find out obstacles in writing businesscorrespondences and difficulties of AMT export-import staffs when dealing withinquiry letters, order letters, complaint letters from customers during working time

1.6 Research methodology

This study is a systematic investigation into difficulties that staffs at the Export Import department of the AMT Company have faced It is helpful to find out obstaclesand solve problems, support and help them to improve their performances

-Tools of data collection: questionnaire.

The questions in the questionnaire were designed in order to ask the import staffs about business correspondences, their background about business letters,how they use them at work, what kind of problems, difficulties they have faced inwriting business correspondences, and some recommendations that they suggested to

export-help themselves and company to improve and get over these obstacles The detailcontents of the questionnaire was attached in the appendices part.

The survey was conducted on March 30, 2020, at the export-import department

of the AMT Company There were 15 export-import staffs from AMT Co taking part

in the survey

The questionnaire comprised 11 questions that were developed to ensure rigorand objectivity of data The time for the questionnaire was about 30 minutes Duringthe time of conducting a survey, the researcher supervised the staffs and controlled theprocedure seriously Thus, this would make the result more trustworthy and reliable

Tools of data collection: interview

Researcher directly conduct to interview: interview 10 the export-import staffs inAnh Minh company Interviewing takes place in department in the time of working atthe company

Respondents were asked to talk about themselves, their works and businesses,focusing on their works relating to business correspondence This article focuses onconstruction of standardized survey questionares and interviews that shows difficulties

in writing business correspondence of the Export - Import staffs in AMT Company

Data analysis

After collecting data to have full of necessary information, the reseacher alsoused some other methods to analyze such as comparative, contrasting techniques tostudying more effectively and exactly

All the information collected was carefully recorded, refined and systematicallyreoganized After that, the documents obtained from the above methods is gathered,sorted, filtered out to be used as the basis for the synthesis, analysis and evaluationwhich are difficulties when writing business correspondence at Anh Minh company

1.7 Organization of the study

The study is divided into four chapters:

Chapter 1: The overview of the study.

This chapter presents some points such as rationale, aims, and researchmethodology of the study

Chapter 2: Literature review.

This chapter provides a general overview of business correspondence.

Chapter 3: Research findings

This chapter presents the research methods and procedures, the materials, themethods of data collection and data analysis

Chapter 4: Recommendations and Suggestions

This chapter shows the results, discussion, and suggested solutions

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 Business correspondence

2.1.1 Definition of Business Correspondence

From the review presented in the previous chapter, it can be seen that commerce

is an important aspect of development and possibly influences all branches ofexistence The effectiveness of commerce is a function of the effectiveness of thedifferent players existing within a commercial environment This means that theeffectiveness of commerce is influenced by the different organizations and firmsoperating in the industry Therefore, understanding the factors that contribute to thesuccessful performance of an organization will contribute in the understanding of thedifferent factors that affects the entire commerce industry

There are many ways to define “business correspondence”

“Business correspondences are any written or digital communication exchanged

by two or more parties Correspondences may come in the form of letters, emails, text messages, voicemails, notes, or postcards Correspondences are important for most businesses because they serve as a paper trail of events from point A to point B The law firm required all employees to archive their correspondences so that they could be retrieved as a reference point for pending cases.”

_Business Dictionary_

In other words, a business correspondence is a method of information exchange

or communication through a written format for the purpose of business actions.Business correspondence may occur in an organization, between differentorganizations, or between organization and its consumers There are many formats ofbusiness correspondence which are generally utilized and accepted

2.1.2 Parts of Business Correspondence.

2.1.2.1 Parts of Business Correspondence

The business correspondence is a letter that has specific parts It is important tounderstand all the parts of a business correspondence, so the receiver reads it and takes

it seriously When you understand all the parts of a business correspondence, writing abusiness correspondence is quick and easy

According to the book “Oxford Handbook of commercial correspondence”, by

Ashley, he divides a business correspondence into 12 different parts:

1 Heading

The heading of a business correspondence usually includes the name and postaladdress of the business, E-mail address, Web-site address, Telephone Number, FaxNumber or logo of the business

4 Inside address

In a business correspondence, we should give the address of the recipient afterour own address Include the recipient's name, company, address and postal code Addjob title if appropriate Separate the recipient's name and title with a comma Doublecheck that we have the correct spelling of the recipient’s name

Wilson Nguyen, Director

National Wildlife Federation

1412 18th Street

Washington, DC 20036

5 Subject

Its inclusion can help the recipient in dealing successfully with the aims of your

letter Normally the subject sentence is preceded with the word Subject: or Re:

Subject line may be emphasized by underlining, using bold font, or all capitalletters It is usually placed one line below the greeting but alternatively can be locateddirectly after the "inside address," before the "greeting."

Subject: Your order No.092 dated 30th March 2020

Subject: Enquiry about Iphone XSmax

Re: Insurance policy

6 Salutation

Salutation is often placed below the inside address Use the name of theaddressee with his title If you know the addressee personally, it is enough to use thefirst name of the addressee In case you do not know the addressee, it is better to usethe full name of the addressee In either care, use the title of the addressee

Dear Mr Wilson,

Dear Miss Nancy,

Dear Mrs Wilson,

Dear Mr Donal Trump,

In case you are not sure about the sexuality (gender) of the addressee, it is better

to use the full name of that person

Dear Donal Trump,

7 Body of the letter

Body of the letter comes after salutation This is the main part of the letter andthe body should be concise and brief It is usually divided into three parts:

Opening part: This is the introductory part of the letter.

For example, with reference to your letter no.87 dated 30th March 2020, I wouldlike to draw your attention towards the new brand of car

Main part: This part usually contains the subject matter of the letter It should be

precise and written in clear words

Concluding Part: This contains a statement of the sender’s intentions, hopes or

expectations concerning the next step to be taken Further, the sender should alwayslook forward to getting a positive response At the end, terms like Thanking you, withregards, with warm regards may be used

8 Complimentary close

It is merely a polite way of ending a letter It must be in accordance with thesalutation

01 Complimentary close

Encl: The list of goods received

11 Copy circulation

This is required when copies of the letter are also sent to persons apart of theaddressee It is denoted as C.C

C.C.

i The Chairman, ACH Corporation

ii The Director, ACH Corporation

iii The Secretary, ACH Corporation

12 Post script

This is required when the writer wants to add something, which is not included inthe body of the letter It is expressed as P.S For example,

P.S In our offer, we provide two years warranty

2.1.2.2 Format of Business Correspondence.

02 Formats of Business Correspondence

Tel Name of the firm E-mail:

Fax Postal Address Website:

2.1.3 Main types of business correspondence

The most important factor you need to ensure in any business correspondence isaccuracy One of the aspects of writing a business correspondence that requires themost accuracy is knowing which type of business letter you are writing

A number of options are available for those looking for trade in businesscorrespondence, and you will significantly increase your chance for getting a reply ifyou know the form you need to send There are 5 main types of business

correspondences divided by Ashley, in his book “Oxford Handbook of commercial correspondence” published in 2003:

 Business Inquiry Letter:

Letters of inquiry are sent by company officials, executives, managers and othersconducting company business to request information from other companies, such asequipment features and pricing, or service offerings

 Quotation Letter:

A quotation is a specific offer for sale It is sent in response to an inquiry from aparticular individual or business house Thus it is a reply message to an inquiry from apotential buyer A quotation includes details about the prices of specific goodsselected, terms of payment and conditions of delivery while writing such letter, theseller should clearly state everything as inquired by the buyer

 Order Letter:

A letter of order is a document that confirms the details of a purchase of goods orservices from one party to another It usually includes more information about whatyou are ordering, like quantity, model number, or color, the payment terms, and thematter in which the products are to be shipped When the recipient receives this letter,they will process the order and send the merchandise

 Complaint Letter:

A Complaint letter is a request for an adjustment In other words, it is a letter thatdescribes the damage; errors or mistakes happened to the delivered goods andtherefore claims for compensation are known as a complaint letter

 Recovery Letter:

The letter written by the seller for collection of money for the goods supplied tothe buyer is called recovery letter The aim of recovery letter is to collect moneywithout annoying the customers The letter should include information regarding theamount of arrears argument for payment, and last date for payment The language ofrecovery letter should be polite, so that the customer is not offended and futuretransactions with him are not adversely affected

2.2 Inquiry Letters, Order Letters, and Complaint Letters

2.2.1 Inquiry Letters

“An enquiry letter is written by a potential customer, on the lookout for a product or with a desire to avail the service offered by a seller or an organization An enquiry letter is neither a contract nor does it entail any contractual obligation between the two It is actually a preliminary exercise that may lead to a contract.”

_ Farash Muhamed, 2013 _

The term “Inquiry” is same as “Enquiry” The former is more commonly used in

U.S and the latter one is more common in U.K

The letters of inquiry are written for collecting information about job seekers,prices, products, and services before awarding jobs, granting credit, making contractsand giving promotions Inquiry letters are written to a third party seeking informationabout either a job or a company that wishes to make business relationship

Types of Inquiry Letter

Personal status inquiry letter:

The letters that are written by prospective employers for obtaining informationabout job applicants are called personal status inquiry letter Employers write thisletter to obtain information relating to the applicant’s personal and family background,ability, skills, honesty, character, integrity, quality of performance, fitness for job etc.This response letter may be favorable, unfavorable or neutral to the applicant

Business status inquiry letter:

This letter is usually written for collecting information about financial capability,goodwill, nature of business dealings, honesty etc of a business enterprise todetermine whether to establish business transactions with it Responses of this lettermay be either favorable or unfavorable

03 Sample of Inquiry Letter

Tesla Departmental Store

Anh Minh Transport and Trading Investment Company

1395 Giai Phong Street, Hoang Mai District,

2.2.2 Order Letters

“An Order Letter is the one that is written by the person or company placing the request of purchase from another company This letter comes into action only when a detailed study of the desired product has been done in the market and based on promised service, quality and price of the product, a decision for a purchase has been made.”

_Charles Raymond_

An Order Letter should be drafted very carefully as it needs to pen down all theterms and conditions of the purchase for the benefit of both involved parties It shouldhave details such as product specifications, quantities, price agreed upon, deliverydate, late delivery clauses, etc

In modern time, sellers supply printed orders forms to the customers andcustomers place orders by filling up those printed order blanks In this case, the printedorder sheet or blank is considered as the order letter

Through order letter, the potential buyers request the suppliers to deliver goods tothem In modern time, printed order blanks or purchase order forms supplied by theseller are typically used for placing orders However, in absence of order blanks andpurchase order forms, order letters are written Such letters contain three majorcategories of information:

1 Information about the items being ordered An order letter must contain full

particulars of goods ordered Such information include the followings: product name,brand name, quantity, catalog number, model number, color, size, weight, unit price

2 Information relating to shipping Shipping information is very important In

absence of shipping information, there can arise misunderstanding between buyer andseller Shipping information may include the followings:

Desired receipt date;

Desired shipping location; and

Mode of shipping (rail, road, or waterways)

3 Information relating to payment Mode of payment of prices for the ordered

items must be clearly indicated The seller will accept the order letter only when both

of them come to a common ground relation to payment of price Payment informationincludes the following:

Mode of payment (cash, cheque, draft)

1 The cost of each book will be $18 (inclusive of all taxes)

2 Payment terms will be a post-dated cheque for 50% advance with order This cheque will be cleared on the day of the deliver The balance payment of 50% 7 days after delivery and after random inspection

3 Delivery should be done within 10 days from the order date.

4 Delivery will be done at 872 Swan Word.

If the order is not delivered as per the above terms and conditions, the order stands cancelled.

Please confirm that you received this order by calling us at 982-761-3463 anytime during business hours, Monday to Friday.

Thank you for your cooperation

Thao Hoang.

2.2.3 Complaint Letters

“Complaint letter definition can be described in many ways A complaint letter is the part of written communication In general word, complaint letter means a letter which is written to submit a complaint to the authority And it is generally done when another way of the complaint is failure like phone, email etc However, here are some complaint letter definitions in a formal way.”

_Rasel, 2013_

In the modern age, the chain of business is not limited within the boundary of thecountry As business is expanding, its complexities are also increasing So, mistake orfault is not a strange matter in the arena of business There may be a wrong delivery ofgoods shipment of obsolete, poor quality or underweight goods, faulty packing,delivery after the specified date and other damages to the goods shipped In the abovecases, a buyer is supposed to suffer financial loss and therefore he has every reason tocomplain to the seller demanding compensation Hence a letter is used to serve suchpurpose is called complaint letter

Who will be the writer and the receiver of complaint letters?

Who can write a Letter of complaint?

Letters of complaint will usually come from an individual, whether that may be

an employee of a company, someone who has bought a product, or a customer for aspecific service It all depends on your reasons for why write a complaint letter

Who will receive your complaint Letter?

When writing your complaint letter you should know to whom it is beingdirected towards If it is not for a specific person but rather a business or company,then it is important to know the procedure on how to make a complaint The larger thecorporation that you are writing to, the more crucial it is to know who to direct theletter towards

The following are usual causes for which a complaint letter is drafted:

1 Problem with the delivered goods: If the goods that are delivered are:

Underweight, obsolete, defective, incomplete, not according to buyer’sspecification such as color, brand, size etc; wrong or poor quality; then a buyer canmake a claim to the seller for the mistake