PROGRAM TITLE: Higher Nationals in Business

UNIT TITLE: Unit 4: Management and Operations

ASSIGNMENT NUMBER: 1

ASSIGNMENT NAME: Assignment 1

SUBMISSION DATE: 26/5/2022

DATE RECEIVED: 26/5/2022

TUTORIAL LECTURER: Phạm Xuân Hùng

WORD COUNT: 3000 words

STUDENT NAME: Nguyễn Mạnh Hưng

STUDENT ID: BKC12428

MOBILE NUMBER: 0383498573

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Summative Feedback:

Internal verification:

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Table of Contents
I. Report introduction ........................................................................................................................ 5

II. Company introduction and company leader/manager .............................................................. 5

1. Company introduction ............................................................................................................... 5

2. Company leader/manager .......................................................................................................... 5

III. Define and compare the roles and characteristics of a leader and a manage ........................ 6

IV. Critically analyze and differentiate the role of a leader and function of a manager by
applying at least two theories/concepts ............................................................................................. 8

V. Analyze how the upper leader/manager of the company use leadership/management

approaches in at least two business situational contexts ................................................................. 9

1. Scenario 1: ................................................................................................................................... 9

2. Scenario 2: ................................................................................................................................... 9

VI. Critically examine the strengths and weaknesses of the leadership/management approaches.
............................................................................................................................................................ 11

1. Scenario 1: ................................................................................................................................. 11

a. Strengths: .............................................................................................................................. 11

b. Weaknesses: .......................................................................................................................... 11

2. Scenario 2: ................................................................................................................................. 11

a. Strengths: .............................................................................................................................. 11

b. Weaknesses: .......................................................................................................................... 11

VII. Recommend how situational leadership, systems leadership, and contingency should be
applied in such contexts ................................................................................................................... 11

1. Situational leadership ............................................................................................................... 11

2. Systems leadership.................................................................................................................... 12

3. Contingency............................................................................................................................... 12

VIII. References:............................................................................................................................... 13

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I. Report introduction

The report consists of 6 main parts. The first part is company introduction and company
leader/manager. The second part is define and compare the roles and characteristics of a leader and a
manage. The third part is Critically analyze and differentiate the role of a leader and function of a
manager by applying at least two theories/concepts. The fourth part is analyze how the upper
leader/manager of the company use leadership/management approaches in at least two business
situational contexts. The fifth part is critically examine the strengths and weaknesses of the
leadership/management approaches. And the last part is recommend how situational leadership,
systems leadership, and contingency should be applied in such contexts.

II. Company introduction and company leader/manager

1. Company introduction

Vinamilk is the short name of Vietnam Dairy Products Joint Stock Company. Vinamilk is a company
that produces and sells milk and dairy products as well as related equipment and machinery in
Vietnam. According to statistics of the United Nations Development Programme, this is the 15th
largest company in Vietnam in 2007.

The trading code on the Ho Chi Minh City Stock Exchange is VNM. The company is a leading
enterprise in the dairy processing industry, currently holding 75% of the dairy market share in
Vietnam. In addition to strong domestic distribution with a network of 183 distributors and nearly
94,000 sales points covering 64 provinces and cities, Vinamilk products are also exported to many
countries in the USA, France, Canada, Poland, Germany, Middle East, Southeast Asia, etc. After more
than 30 years of launching to consumers, so far Vinamilk has built 8 factories, 1 factory and is building
3 new factories. With a variety of products, Vinamilk currently has over 200 products of pasteurized
milk, pasteurized milk and products made from milk. (admin, 2021)

2. Company leader/manager

Ms. Mai Kieu Lien was born in 1953. She has been the Chairman of the Board of Directors since
November 2003 until now. She has been the General Director of Vinamilk since December 1992.

Regarding professional qualifications, she holds certificates such as:

Certificate of Economic Management, Leningrad University of Economic Engineers, Russia.

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Certificate in Political Management, National Academy of Politics, Vietnam.

Technologist for processing milk and dairy products, Industrial University of Meat and Milk
Processing, Moscow, Russia.

Certificate in Corporate Governance.

She has more than 27 years of experience in the role of General Director (from 1992 to present),
leading Vinamilk through many periods. During that process, she was honored to receive many
national and international awards such as the First Class Labor Medal awarded by the State (2006); 4
times voted by Forbes as one of the 50 most powerful businesswomen in Asia (2012 - 2015); Award
of Excellent Corporate Governance (2014) voted by Corporate Governance Asia; the Nikkei award,
the New Zealand Asia award for her contributions; "Lifetime Achievement" award honored by Forbes
for the first time (2018).

Before that, she worked for more than 8 years (1984 - 1992) as Deputy General Director of Vinamilk,
in charge of the economic field. From 1976 to 1983, she held positions at different departments in
many factories and became Deputy Technical Director of Thong Nhat Dairy Factory in 1982.
(Vinamilk, n.d.)

III. Define and compare the roles and characteristics of a leader and a manage

Leader Manager

Define Leaders are people who head and control a Managers are people who are
separate organization or collective. A leader responsible for important aspects
is someone who sets direction, creates of a project, work, or team. The
concrete plans, and inspires the team. The job job of managers is to plan,
of leaders is to make ideas, create motivations organize, and coordinate.
for people to work. (jobsgo, 2019) (jobsgo, 2019)

Roles Bulldozer Planning:

Champion Strategic planner

Coach Operational planner

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 Connector Controlling:

Manager Monitor

Visionary Disturbance handler

Developer Organizing & Staffing:

Motivator Organizer

Communicator Liaison

Owner Staffing coordinator

(Collick, 2019) Task delegator

Leading:

Figurehead

Spokesperson

Negotiator

Entrepreneur

Team builder

Team player

Technical problem solver

Motivator & coach

(Alexander, n.d.)

Characteristics 15 common characteristics of leaders: Five Key Managerial Skills

include:
They are clear about what needs to be done.

They can express their vision of a desirable Technical skills- understanding

of specific process, procedure, or
future in simple language.
technique.
They are idea generators.
Interpersonal skills (soft skills)-
They inspire others to follow them.
ability to work effectively as a

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 They challenge assumptions. team member and to build
cooperative effort.
They accept and use conflict as needed.
Conceptual skills- ability to see
They are imitated by others.
the organization as a total entity
They are persistent about getting results.
(visualizing relationship with
When they speak, others listen to them (even stakeholders).
their detractors).
Diagnostic skills- ability to solve
They are convincing people. the problems they diagnose.

They recognize and utilize the unique value Political skills- ability to acquire
of others. power to achieve goals.

They tackle difficult problems. (Alexander, n.d.)

They can accept not being liked.

They are not paralyzed by mistakes; they

move on.

(Robert Tanner, 2021)

IV. Critically analyze and differentiate the role of a leader and function of a manager by
applying at least two theories/concepts

In his book, The Wall Street Journal Essential Guide to Management: Lasting Lessons from the Best
Leadership Minds of Our Time, Alan Murray cites that a manager is someone who “establishes
appropriate targets and yardsticks, and analyzes, appraises and interprets performance.” Managers
understand the people they work with and know which person is the best fit for a specific task.
(Duggal, 2022)

According to Maxwell, a leader is someone who has the ability to influence. In any situation, a group
of two or more people always has a prominent influence, that person is the leader. So each of us
influences and is influenced by others. This means: we all lead others in some area. On the contrary,
in some other areas we are led by others. No one is an exception to this rule, either the leader or the
one being led. (Trần, n.d.)

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V. Analyze how the upper leader/manager of the company use leadership/management
approaches in at least two business situational contexts
1. Scenario 1:

Faced with COVID-19, human issues become more important than ever. Enterprises that have
effective policies and technology solutions but do not have an effective human resource apparatus will
also face problems.

In addition, the "survival" issue at this time is also to ensure the health and safety of workers. This
helps maintain the stability of the company's business and production activities during the epidemic.

From the beginning of 2020, Ms. Mai Kieu Lien and Vinamilk's leadership decided to establish a
professional support committee for COVID-19 prevention. This board is responsible for propagating
and guiding employees to comply with and practice epidemic prevention and control regulations, and
is available 24/7 to support epidemic-related issues.

Ms. Mai Kieu Lien and company leaders also provide employees with means of disease prevention,
nutritional products to strengthen resistance.

In addition, Ms. Mai Kieu Lien and leaders of Vinamilk also help employees feel secure to work by
maintaining a policy of full salary and welfare payment; enhanced support on working - living
conditions for 3 on-site units; proactively support employees throughout the company in testing and
vaccination against COVID-19. (Vân, 2021)

2. Scenario 2:

Vinamilk's 2022 - 2026 strategy shows that the company is still struggling to find new directions in
the context that the dairy business segment has long been saturated. In fact, in the past 5 years,
Vinamilk's revenue scale has usually only grown at a single-digit rate. Meanwhile, the company's
profit scale is almost unchanged around 12,000 - 13,000 billion VND/year.

The increase in raw material prices and competition from other competitors in the industry made
Vinamilk's profit margin narrow. In 2021, Vinamilk's gross profit margin will reach 42.5%, down
sharply from 46.4% in 2020 and 47.3% in the 2016 - 2019 period.

As a result, when revenue growth is slow, profits are likely to go backwards. On the other hand, the
fact that Vinamilk has almost dominated the Vietnamese dairy market with over 55% market share
makes this business almost no room for growth. For a long time, the company's management often set
an annual business goal of capturing an additional 0.5% market share of the whole industry.
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The negative business results made investors in the stock market no longer interested in Vinamilk
shares. Once known as the king stock when maintaining high dividend payment and price appreciation
for many years in a row, but after peaking in 2018, Vinamilk stock has continuously decreased. Up to
now, the price per share of Vinamilk is only 76,000 VND/share, down 40% from the peak.

Vinamilk's market capitalization also decreased correspondingly to less than 159,000 billion dong,
falling out of the top 10 large-cap companies in the market.

Foreign funds also no longer preferred to hold Vinamilk shares as before. Fore continued net
discussion of 150 billion dong of VNM shares, of which ETFs were estimated to have nearly 3.6
million units.

In the face of growth pressure, Ms. Mai Kieu Lien and Vinamilk's leadership have also come up with
some new directions. For example, the strategy of developing Vinamilk's flagship store chain. By the
end of 2021, Vinamilk has nearly 600 stores (accounting for 5% of total domestic revenue). If
Vinamilk stores are included, modern trade channels account for nearly 20% of domestic revenue in
2021. Online sales tripled compared to the same period in 2021, but only contributed a small part of
total revenue. According to the company, Vinamilk's advantage is owning a retail chain.

In the near future, Ms. Mai Kieu Lien and leaders of Vinamilk plan to distribute more products such
as beef, sugar, and Moc Chau milk brand. Ms. Mai Kieu Lien and the company's leaders may also
consider working with partners to distribute more F&B products through the "Vietnamese Dairy
Dream" store chain.

With the beef business, Ms. Mai Kieu Lien and the leader of Vinamilk's subsidiary Vilico signed a
memorandum of understanding with Sojitz to invest 500 million USD in a beef project in Vinh Phuc.
The first phase is estimated to come into operation in 2023, with estimated revenue of VND 2,500 -
3.00 billion after 5 years. Vinamilk aims at the premium branded beef market, which is mainly
imported products.

On the other hand, Ms. Mai Kieu Lien and company leaders also expanded the F&B segment when
entering into a joint venture with Kido to launch Vibev. The first co-branded product “Oh Fresh”
launched in November 2021, including fresh mung bean milk and corn milk. Products sold at
distribution networks of Vinamilk and Kido. (Anh, 2022)

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VI. Critically examine the strengths and weaknesses of the leadership/management approaches.
1. Scenario 1:
a. Strengths:

The establishment of a Professional Support Committee for COVID-19 Prevention and Control will
help the company easily monitor the health of its employees as well as comply with and practice
according to the epidemic prevention regulations set forth by the state. This will help ensure the health
of employees as well as contribute to maintaining the stability of the company's business operations.

b. Weaknesses:

Establishing a COVID-19 Expert Support Committee will require the medical expertise of its staff. In
addition, the company also needs to mobilize capital to help employees feel secure to work by
maintaining a policy of paying salary and adequate benefits; enhanced support on working - living
conditions for 3 on-site units; proactively support employees throughout the company in testing and
vaccination against COVID-19.

2. Scenario 2:
a. Strengths:

The company's expansion of its product line through the beef segment will help the company diversify
its products. In addition, the development of Vinamilk's flagship store chain also helps Vinamilk
increase revenue when the dairy market has long been saturated.

b. Weaknesses:

Vinamilk's encroachment into the beef segment also causes the company to face more competitors
that have been strong in this segment before. Besides, the expansion and development of Vinamilk's
flagship store chain also requires a large capital source from investors.

VII. Recommend how situational leadership, systems leadership, and contingency should be
applied in such contexts
1. Situational leadership

When applying the situational leadership model to the company, Ms. Mai Kieu Lien will consider
using one of the four leadership styles that give the company the highest probability of success in any
situation the company encounters. right. Those situations are a function of the task that needs to be
performed, in conjunction with the task-related ability and willingness of the follower identified to

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perform it. For example, in scenario 1 above, the main task is to ensure the health and safety of
employees to maintain stable business and production activities during the epidemic. Based on the
requirements of the job as well as the skills and talents of the employees, Ms. Mai Kieu Lien will
choose to use 1 of the 4 styles above to optimize the results of the job. In this case, Ms. Mai Kieu Lien
can use the selling leadership style to solve the given task. Ms. Mai Kieu Lien together with the
Technical Support for COVID-19 Prevention and Control will come up with a common solution for
the task and convince the other party to implement the plan.

2. Systems leadership

When applying the systems leadership model in the company, the company will focus on the previous
results and goals rather than the process or steps. If the company applies this model in the first
situation, Ms. Mai Kieu Lien will entrust the task of ensuring the health and safety of employees to
maintain stable business and production activities during the epidemic. Professional Support for
COVID-19 Prevention. The job of the Professional Support Committee for COVID-19 prevention is
to provide solutions and carry out the set tasks. The company's management will only care whether
the Technical Support for COVID-19 prevention can complete the goal set out from the beginning,
but ignore the process of accomplishing that goal.

3. Contingency

The market is constantly changing from time to time and is unpredictable. The application of the
contingency method is indispensable to help the company survive and develop through each different
stage of the market. In the second scenario, when the dairy market has long been saturated, it is
understandable for the company to develop a new product. For example, the strategy of developing
Vinamilk's flagship store chain. In the near future, Ms. Mai Kieu Lien and leaders of Vinamilk plan
to distribute more products such as beef, sugar and Moc Chau milk brand. This will help the company
maintain its share in the market as well as find new directions to develop the company.

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VIII. References:

admin, 2021. https://hanimexchem.com/. [Trực tuyến]

Available at: https://hanimexchem.com/tong-quan-ve-cong-ty-vinamilk/
[Đã truy cập 26 5 2022].

Alexander, L., không ngày tháng slideplayer.com. [Trực tuyến]

Available at: https://slideplayer.com/slide/5710360/
[Đã truy cập 26 5 2022].

Anh, T., 2022. theleader.vn. [Trực tuyến]

Available at: https://theleader.vn/tang-truong-thi-phan-cua-vinamilk-ngay-cang-kho-khan-
1647613841564.htm
[Đã truy cập 26 5 2022].

Collick, S., 2019. linkedin.com. [Trực tuyến]

Available at: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/10-important-roles-leadership-scott-collick
[Đã truy cập 26 5 2022].

Duggal, N., 2022. simplilearn.com. [Trực tuyến]

Available at: https://www.simplilearn.com/leadership-vs-management-difference-article
[Đã truy cập 26 5 2022].

jobsgo, 2019. jobsgo.vn. [Trực tuyến]

Available at: https://jobsgo.vn/blog/phan-biet-lanh-dao-va-quan-ly-tuong-khong-khac-ma-khac-
khong-tuong/
[Đã truy cập 26 5 2022].

Robert Tanner, M., 2021. managementisajourney.com. [Trực tuyến]

Available at: https://managementisajourney.com/15-common-characteristics-of-effective-leaders/
[Đã truy cập 26 5 2022].

Trần, Q. N. v. T., không ngày tháng isos.gov.vn. [Trực tuyến]

Available at: http://isos.gov.vn/in-tin-bai/tin-bai-41762.html
[Đã truy cập 26 5 2022].

Vân, T., 2021. nhaquanly.vn. [Trực tuyến]

Available at: https://nhaquanly.vn/ba-mui-nhon-trong-chien-luoc-thuc-hien-muc-tieu-kep-cua-

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vinamilk-a5821.html
[Đã truy cập 26 5 2022].

Vinamilk, không ngày tháng Vinamilk. [Trực tuyến]

Available at: https://hanimexchem.com/tong-quan-ve-cong-ty-vinamilk/
[Đã truy cập 26 5 2022].

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