(ĐTCK) Inheriting his father’s business, Dinh Hong Ky, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Secoin JSC, has made his name known in the world market with high-quality brick products.
“Always making different products that no one has ever made before”, that is the blue ocean that this business and entrepreneur have created for themselves.
According to you, what has created the success of Secoin today?
At Secoin, there are 3 slogans throughout more than 25 years of operation, forming the foundation for the success of the Company. The first is “For a business rich in intellectual resources”. Throughout the time since its establishment, Secoin’s Board of Directors has been determined to build a business on the foundation of intellectual values.
The second is “Reaching out abroad to exploit domestic potential”.
The goal of “reaching out abroad” has been realized since the early 1990s, when Secoin was still facing many difficulties. Secoin sent staff to Europe and other countries.
The process of “reaching abroad” at that time helped Secoin mature and shape its direction in the field of technology transfer for the production of non-fired construction materials, providing more than 50 turnkey factories nationwide.
Up to now, our “reaching abroad” has been further affirmed when Secoin branded tiles have set foot in 45 countries across 5 continents.
The third is “Always create novelty”. This is also the criterion throughout all production activities at Secoin. Our strategy is to always make different products that no one has ever made before.
We always create products with unique designs, a special combination of modern techniques and long-standing traditions of Vietnam.
Competition in the construction materials sector in Vietnam is very fierce, how have you created a “blue ocean” for yourself?
The world of construction materials is very large and diverse. We do not enter the basic construction material lines that are subject to great competition because many investors such as cement, iron, steel, ceramic tiles, etc., but enter the untapped market, which is unburnt construction materials. Even in this field, we always set the pioneering criteria, that is, Secoin makes the first and newest product on the market.
As a pioneer, we accept to face initial risks, but when we have a foothold in the market, the position of the enterprise is very solid. Therefore, our products have been selected for use in the largest key projects in the country and exported to many countries.
For that reason, we have received the titles given by our colleagues and the market such as “King of unburnt bricks”, “King of outdoor bricks”, and have been evaluated by the Ministry of Construction and the Vietnam Association of Construction Materials as a pioneer and contributor to the creation of the unburnt construction materials industry in Vietnam.
Secoin products are present in 45 countries around the world. When expanding operations to foreign markets, what do you think is important for the Company to compete with its rivals?
When integrating with the world, it is important that we need to position our products. It will be difficult if we compete with the world with airplanes, cars, computers, steel, etc. But if we have big brands for Vietnam’s strong products such as rice, coffee, cashews, handicrafts, ceramic tiles, etc., we will have our own values globally. Don’t aim for something too big and lose your own strengths.
For example, in the field of ceramic tile production, our competitors are large enterprises with long-standing traditions in Mexico, Morocco, Chile, Tunisia, Brazil, etc.
To compete with them, in addition to quality and delivery time (which are of course necessary factors), our strength is to put our brains into each product, creating techniques thanks to ceramic tile artisans in Vietnam to create unique and different ceramic tile products that can be felt at first sight.
In addition, Secoin cement tiles are the “crystallization of values” of Vietnam’s historical traditions with the beauty of East-West culture, suitable for classical and modern architectural values. In addition, we take advantage of domestic skilled labor and reasonable costs to offer competitive prices in the world market.
Thanks to the above factors, Secoin tiles are highly competitive. In the field of cement tiles, Secoin is considered the largest manufacturer in the world today. A large American company in the field of cement tiles once asked who Secoin’s competitors are and our answer was: “Our competitors are ourselves”.
Because, in the past 3 years, the number of orders has always exceeded our production capacity. We need to surpass ourselves to meet the increasing global demand to maintain our leading position.
Can you share some experiences to be successful when bringing bells to strike foreign lands?
To be successful in foreign countries, we need to understand what they want and what we have. We must produce products that they need, not what we like.
There was a time when cement tiles in Vietnam were considered low-end, cheap products, only used by low-income people. However, if viewed from the perspective of developed countries, these are hand-made products with natural beauty and high artistic creativity.
Therefore, when we confidently developed this product according to their “taste” and applied advanced technology to create perfect quality tiles, the result was that the product was increasingly widely accepted.
That is also the reason why 30% of Japan’s outdoor building materials are currently Secoin terrazzo tiles, 85% of the market share of cement tiles in Israel is Secoin, Secoin swimming pool tiles are widely present in 5 states of Australia and 80% of cement tile brands in Europe are produced by Secoin. The number of export markets will not stop at 45, but will certainly increase.
The profit margin in the building materials sector, according to many enterprises, is very low, and exports are even at a loss. How do you handle this problem?
It is true that in the building materials sector, the profit margin on capital is not high because of the competition of many enterprises in the same product. Supply exceeds demand, fierce competition makes some enterprises have to sell below cost, which is understandable.
At Secoin, we always bring to the market unique and different products. Although the market share is smaller, there are fewer competitors and when we make a difference, we can absolutely make profitable products, even very profitable ones.
To be competitive and effective, we do not have to make the best products at the cheapest prices, but make products with the most optimal price/quality ratio.
There have been offers to buy controlling shares of Secoin but you refused. So what is your long-term development orientation for Secoin?
Secoin is a joint stock company, but at its core it is still a family company. The main owners are still our family members. With the successful lessons of family companies around the world, we will keep the family company model as the core from now on. However, we will expand the Company model for partners and employees in the Company to participate in and contribute to Secoin’s career.
Secoin’s point of view in selecting partners is that the partner must truly contribute to the Company’s production and business activities, not simply be a financial investment partner. We also do not intend to turn Secoin into a public company.
Recently, a long-standing family business in Singapore, which is our distributor, expressed its desire to buy Secoin shares, but they also suggested that Secoin not list on the stock exchange and maintain the core value of traditional family in the profession. They consider that as the foundation for Secoin’s sustainable development.
In the future, Secoin will still maintain its core business of producing unburnt building materials – environmentally friendly products.
To achieve that dream, besides the previous approach, what new elements will Secoin have?
Some of Secoin’s products are handcrafted, but our management system is built according to international standards. This is necessary to work with global distribution corporations. Recently, Secoin signed a global distribution contract with a large corporation in the world with its Asian headquarters located in Hong Kong.
The way of doing international business today is not limited to the traditional method of buying and selling, but it is necessary to build relationships with our partners on the basis of a global value chain.
We set out strategies for each country, according to which, we and our partners build a value chain as closely linked links from the manufacturer to the end user, including logistics, distributors, retail chains, design consultants, building separate sub-brands in each country…
Only then can we establish a business network that is both global in a flat world and sustainable, which can be calculated in generations.
http://tinnhanhchungkhoan.vn/doanh-nhan/chu-tich-secoin-dinh-hong-ky-ban-linh-nguoi-tien-phong-104476.html
