THE UNIVERSITY OF DA NANGUNIVERSITY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGE STUDIESESP DEPARTMENT

FIELD STUDY REPORTJOB PERCEPTION: FREIGHT FORWARDER

Supervisor: MA Nguyn Trn Uyn NhiStudents: Nguyn Th t Min Vn Hiu Lm Nguyn H i Trang Trn Th Vn ng Hong Thin n

TABLE OF CONTENTS

INTRODUCTIONPART 1: THE IMPORTANCE OF FREIGHT FORWARDING INDUSTRY1.1. Definition of Freight Forwarder1.2. The importance of Freight Forwarding industry1.2.1. To the national economy1.2.2. To enterprise1.3. Advantages to the development of the industry PART 2: PROCESS OF CONDUCTING THE SURVEY2.1. The process of conducting survey2.2. Advantages and DisadvantagesPART 3: RESULT OF THE SURVEY CONCLUSIONAPPENDIX

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INTRODUCTION

1. The reason for choosing the occupation of Freight Forwarder:Freight forwarding industry plays a significant role in expanding trade by procuring efficient and economic modes of transport. It creates necessary conditions to ensure that import and export products may timely reach their destinations and helps to deliver efficiently goods from sellers to end users. The industry is still young in Vietnam, but it has gradually contributed to the improvement of the countrys balance of payment by assisting export promotion and giving support to the national Carrier & Insurers. In some extent, Vietnam Freight Forwarding industry has played an active role in facilitating trade by simplifying and rationalizing trade and documentary procedures, thereby reducing transport cost.Vietnam went through a lot of hindrances and difficulties to reach the splendid achievements over the past years. In international economic integration process, challenges remain considerable but there are always opportunities for the development of national economy. Freight forwarding industry also finds its opportunities to grow up, contributing to the national development strategy of restructuring the economy, intensifying the industrialization and modernization process and laying the foundation for rapid and sustainable development of national economy. It is acknowledged that freight forwarding will be a sunrise industry due to an increase in international economic integration, especially when Vietnam has recently been a member of TPP (Trans-Pacific Partnership) and AEC (ASEAN Economic Community), therefore we strongly believe that an increasing number of people will devote themselves into this area. These are the reasons why we choose the occupation of Freight Forwarder.2. The scope of the study: Freight forwarding companies in Da Nang3. Methodology: We combined a lot of methods: survey, questionnaire, analysis, compare, statistic, summarize. 4. Structure: Our Field Study Report is divided into three parts:Part1: The Importance of Freight Forwarding IndustryPart 2: Process of Conducting The SurveyPart 3: Result of The Survey

PART 1: THE IMPORTANCE OF FREIGHT FORWARDING INDUSTRY1.1. Definition of Freight ForwarderA freight forwarder is an agent who acts on behalf of importers, exporters or other companies to organize the safe, efficient and cost-effective transportation of goods. Freight forwarders use computer systems to arrange the best means of transport, taking into account the type of goods and the customers' delivery requirements. They use the services of shipping lines, airlines and road and rail freight operators. In some cases, the freight forwarding company itself provides the service.Companies vary in size and type, from those operating on a national and international basis to smaller, more specialized firms, who deal with particular types of goods or operate within particular geographical areas.As a freight forwarder, your work would involve: arranging routes and schedules, and confirming the details with carriers booking cargo space with carriers negotiating rates arranging insurance calculating weight, volume and cost of goods to be moved recording details on a computer system preparing quotations and invoices clearing goods through customs and arranging for any duties or taxes to be paid preparing contracts such as Letters of Credit advising clients about the arrangements that have been made carrying out general administrative tasks such as filingYou may also be known by other job titles such as traffic office clerk, or if your job involves importing and exporting goods overseas, you could be known as an import, export or shipping clerk.1.2. The importance of Freight Forwarding industry1.2.1. To the national economyFreight forwarding activities play an essential role in producing, circulating and distributing import and export goods. Around the world, the average cost of freight forwarding service for imports and exports equals about 15 percent of the value of import or export goods, the highest rate account for 40 percent and the lowest around 10 percent. Experts predict that Vietnam exports and imports together could come to US$200 billion per year by 2017, and thus freight-forwarding services could earn Vietnam about US$30 billion in 2016. Accordingly, the development of freight forwarding industry will naturally contribute to the improvement of national economy as well as Vietnam freight forwarders if they know the tips to do their business and catch their own opportunities in todays age of international economic integration. 1.2.2. To enterprisesFreight forwarding in particular and Logistic in general are the keys for enterprises to deal the input and output problems. They help to change the input material and maximize the flow processes of material, goods and services and therefore reduce the cost and enhance enterprises competition. Without freight forwarding or logistic services, enterprises business activities would meet huge troubles and may come to a deadlock. 1.3. Advantages to the development of the industry Freight forwarding industry is still young in Vietnam, but it has rapidly become a developing field and played a significant role in the national economy. Now Vietnam has become a member of WTO, AEC, TPP, favorable conditions would be created for Vietnam freight forwarders. According to Vietnam Freight Forwarders Association (VIFFAS), there are five reasons to do freight forwarding/logistic services in Vietnam.Firstly, the Government policies have strongly encouraged enterprises to penetrate deeper and wider into international market. Furthermore, Vietnam is speeding up the integration process in both scope and rate by amending structure, policies, bureaucracy and building the law of economic and financial system to make it more suitable to international rules.Secondly, Vietnam has a strategic location in Southeast Asia with a more than 2000km of coastline, deep-water ports, international airports, trans-national railways and a rather developing road network, which are good backgrounds for developing freight-forwarding services. Moreover, borderlines with China, Laos and Cambodia can bring favorable conditions for providing transport services, especially the multi-modal transport, an important factor in logistic service chains. With such advantages, Vietnam import-export turnover will increase accordingly. Thirdly, joining WTO, AEC, TPP has created the best conditions for the development of many industries and services, including freight forwarding industry. There is an increasing amount of money from ODA (Official Development Assistance) projects, non-government organizations and foreign investors pouring into Vietnam to raise infrastructure. Many deep-water ports and airports have been upgraded to attract customers. Land route system as well as railway system have been repaired and renewed to serve in transportation.Fourthly, freight forwarding and logistics activities have drawn the attentions of Governmental institutions as well as local and foreign freight forwarding enterprises. As a result, many container ports and airports have been taken into long-term investment projects and development programs. In addition, land routes and railway systems are being upgraded and expanded.Finally, the strong development of Information Technology has significantly contributed to modernize freight forwarding industry. Since July 2005, Electric custom-clearance procedure has been applied in some ports and was deployed widely in 2007. In recent years, General Department of Customs has invested more than 10 billion VND to develop Information Technology and upgrade Local Area Network (LAN) and Wide Area Network (WAN). Moreover, some enterprises have tried to use tracking &tracking network and booking through the net. These five advantages above are the keys for Vietnam Freight Forwarding industry to open the door of development in the coming years.

PART 2: PROCESS OF CONDUCTING THE SURVEY2.1. Kickoff and PlanningWe worked in group of five people, we discussed and shared opinions about objectives of the study, then made decisions about the topic, the role of each person in group.We also created a plan and timeline.2.2. Research DesignWe created the survey by determine the scope of the study, the methodology and specified the information needed to write a questionnaire2.3. Deploying the Survey:We deployed our survey in three freight forwarding companies: FDT CO.,Ltd, GVLINK CO.,Ltd and Interasia Lines Ltd. Employees in the three companies participated in the survey by completing our questionnaire. The questionnaire posed 18 questions considering factors within the occupation of freight forwarder such as knowledge and skill, personality, level of stress, professional development, promotion, job satisfaction, difficulties, English use.2.4. Reporting FindingsTwo weeks after distributing 25 questionnaires, we gathered 16 acceptable ones. Then we analyzed raw data and wrote the report.

PART 3: RESULT OF THE SURVEY

In term of skills needed, all of the employees agree that problem solving skill is very essential in their job. Then, communication and foreign language skills are considered as important skills in the job. Other skills like planning, team working, computer and mathematic skill also play a vital role when you work as a freight forwarder. You can see further details in the following chart.

This job also requires some certain personalities. Well-organized and hard-working are agreed to be the most necessary ones (75%). In addition, many people say that communicative and flexible are essential for this job. Some people agree that to be disciplined is needed as a freight forwarder. More details are shown in the table below.Figure 3.2. The table indicates personalities required in Freight Forwarding PersonalitiesNumber of answers Rate(%)

Communicative1168.75

Organized1275

Disciplined1531.25

Flexible1168.75

Hard-working1275

62.5% of the employees work from 8 to 10 hours per day while 37.5 % work from 6 to 8 hours per day and most of them dont have to work evening or on weekend as well as rarely travel abroad for job. 12.5% of them always use English in work place and 50% of them usually use it while the rest use this foreign language less frequently.In terms of stress, half of the participants think that in this job, stress level is medium, 30% of them say it is very stressful while 18.75% say it is quite stressful. When it comes to professional development, there are 68.75% people say that they are given extra courses in their work. And with these people, they often take part in half-yearly and annually courses than monthly or quarterly courses.Most of the participants say that this job offers good promotion (68.75%) while 31.25 % say it does not. Moreover, if you want to get promotion in this career, there are some criteria you should focus on. You should widen your knowledge and get more experiences for this job. You also had better understand clearly your customers, your services and market information. Job promotion also bases on your problem-solving skill so you should improve yourself. Nguyn Thi Ngoc Hanh, a staff said: I must try all my best to learn skills and knowledge of this field. Addtionally, I must do a lot of business to solve many cases which will be happened suddenly and differently.In term of job satisfaction, 43.75% of employees taking part in this survey say that they are quite satisfied with their job. 37.7 % of them feel very satisfied with this work while 18.75% of them are less satisfied. The employees agree that the friendly working environment is the best factor making them most satisfied. Besides, they also satisfy with high salary, flexible working, good perk as well as promotion opportunities.However, there are some difficulties in freight forwarding job. According to the employees, they must learn more new knowledge that takes them much time. Lack of foreign language skills can be difficult for us to communicate with our customers. In addition, in this job, they must work with local authorities and government partners.81% of the participants agree that the demand for workers of this occupation will increase in the next five years. There are some useful advices for people considering this career: In this job you willneed to work accurately and pay close attention to detail. You will also need a head fornumbers. Furthermore, you should improve your language skills and learn how to solve unexpected problems first. Having a good relationship could be an advantage. In addition, it is necessary to be dynamic and hard-working so you should prepare well before applying for this job. Huynh Ngoc Thinh, a staff suggested:You should study and work so hard to get more experience, dont worry about mistakes and increase your value day by day.CONCLUSION

In conclusion, Freight Forwarding industry plays an important role in developing Vietnams foreign trade, help to speed up the development of urban areas and hi-tech industrial parks. When foreign trade grows, it will modernize the national freight forwarding. As a result, the development of Vietnam freight forwarding sector is necessary and the economy is expected to be more industrialized and modernized. Now that Vietnam is a member of a lot of international organizations such as WTO, AEC, TPP, the countrys enterprises, including freight forwarders, will have the opportunity to expanding their oversea markets. However, limited infrastructure and Information Technology, small size, improper laws and policies and minimal cooperation between businesses are keeping logistic businesses from growing well. Therefore, they are making their best effort to improve their capability, expanding business in order to compete against foreign logistic companies and get a foothold overseas. As Mr. Nguyen Tham, Vice President of Vietnam Freight and Forward Association (VIFFAS) said, Vietnam logistic enterprises have to combine to each other in order to gain the market share from foreign companies. Being aware of strengths and weaknesses of Freight Forwarding industry, students who want to work in this area prepare themselves needed knowledge and skills in order to perform successfully. During the process of conducting our survey, we have both advantages and disadvantages Advantages: All members in our group have serious attitude toward the study because we are all aware of the importance of teamwork. In fact, each of us has made active contribution and does the required task quite well. Unfortunately, we have some acquaintances working in the three mentioned companies and they are all willing to help usSome subjects we have learn like International Trade, Business English provide us with useful knowledge to conduct this survey. Disadvantages:Due to limit in the time given and in the relationship with local businesses, we deployed the survey within only three freight forwarding companies.

We look forward to learning from the teacher suggestions! - 1 -

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APPENDIXWe enclosed the questionnaire here:

We major in Business English at Da Nang University of Foreign Language Studies. We are conducting a survey about job perception and we choose your industry due to its reality and necessity in todays age of international economic integration. We would be grateful if you could provide us with appropriate answers for the following questions.

CARREER RESEARCH QUESTIONAIREJob: Freight Forwarder

Name (optional): ..Sex : MaleFemale1, What university did you graduate from? Whats your major? 2. What are the essential skills a freight forwarder should have? (You may tick as many as you like) Good Maths skills Computer skill Team-working skill Foreign language skill Communication skillProblem-solving skill Planning skill Others 3. What personalities do you think a freight forwarder should have? (You may tick as many as you like) Communicative Discipline Hard-working Organized Flexible Others4. What level of stress in your job? The numbers show the degrees of stress. (Circle the appropriate number)Normal 12345 Extreme5. Are there any extra courses for professional development for staff in your company? (Tick the appropriate answer) Yes No 6. If yes, how often do these courses are offered? (Tick the appropriate answer)Monthly Quarterly Half-yearlyAnnually7. Are there many good promotion opportunities in your company?Yes No8. If you want to promote, which criteria should you focus on?

9. Do you do different work or basically the same every day?10. Which factors make you satisfy with your job? (Indicate the best three in order, with the best being number 1).High salaryFlexible working hourFriendly working environment Good perk Lots of promotion opportunities11. Whats level of your job satisfaction? The numbers show the degrees of satisfaction. (Circle the appropriate number)Normal 12345Extreme12. What difficulties or challenges do you usually face in your job? (You may list as many as you like)

13. How often do you use English in your job? (Tick the appropriate answers) Always Usually Sometimes Rarely14. How often do you travel abroad? (Tick the appropriate answers) Always Usually Sometimes Rarely15. How many hours do you work a day? (Tick the appropriate answers) 6-8 hours/day 8-10 hours/day 16. Are you required to work evenings or weekends? (Tick the appropriate answers) Yes No

17. How do you see this occupation changing in the next five years: Will it demand for workers increase or decrease? (Tick the appropriate answers) De

Increase Decrease18. What advice do you have for a young person considering this occupation?

The endThanks for your cooperation!