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FOREIGN TRADE UNIVERSITY

SCHOOL OF ECONOMICS AND INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
_____________***_____________

MIDTERM INTERNSHIP REPORT

Field of study: International Business Economics

WORKING AS AN INTERN IN THE PURCHASING

DEPARTMENT AT TAM LONG TRADING CO., LTD

Full name: Tran Ha Chi

Student’s ID: 1711150011
Class: English 2 – CLC
Term: 56
Instructor: PhD Bui Duy Linh

Hanoi, August 2020

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FOREIGN TRADE UNIVERSITY

SCHOOL OF ECONOMICS AND INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
_____________***_____________

MIDTERM INTERNSHIP REPORT

Field of study: International Business Economics

WORKING AS AN INTERN IN THE PURCHASING

DEPARTMENT AT TAM LONG TRADING CO., LTD

Full name: Tran Ha Chi

Student’s ID: 1711150011
Class: English 2 – CLC
Term: 56
Instructor: PhD Bui Duy Linh

Hanoi, August 2020

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Table of Contents
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Introduction
During the first two quarters of 2020, the globe has to face up with the COVID-19
pandemic. It is originated from China and causes negative impacts on the Chinese
economy. Because China plays a very important role in the world economy, it has
influenced detrimentally on many other countries. Vietnam is one of those countries
affected heavily by the economy of China because of an open economy and a large
level of transshipment of goods, services, people, and investments with China. Medical
equipment trade also faces the unfavorable situation.
However, as regards a positive outlook, COVID-19 increases the competition within
the field of medical healthcare. High demand of medical equipment requires more
suppliers, which attracts a lot of businesses to join in. As a result, they have to improve
their products and services in both quality and quantity to win in the market.
Having realized that opportunity, I decide to become an intern at Tam Long Trading
Company Limited, a company specialized in trading in medical equipment and
consulting in technology transfer in medical sector. This is a good chance for me to be
deep into what I have been taught at university about international trade and find out
the similarities and differences between theory and practice. Moreover, internship at
Tam Long Trading Company Limited also provides me the real outlook of how a
company operates, how people work together and utmost important, the clearer thought
of how my future career shall be.
This report records all my activities during the internship period. The structure of the
diary consists of four parts in each week, which are “What I do?” to list all works and
tasks at workpklace, “What I gain?” to summarize my gain and experience, “What I
think?” to express mt own ideas of some issues and “What I propose?” to state some
existing problems and come up with some solutions to tackle.
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Week 1 (13 July – 17 July)

What I do?
On the first day of the internship, I came to the company at 8.00 in the morning. I was
introduced to Ms Luong Minh Xuan, manager of the Purchasing Department and also
my instructor at Tam Long Trading Co. She told me about the departments, the human
and my seat at the company. After that, she explained for me the functions and tasks of
the Purchasing Department. Due to the lack of seats, I was arranged to sit at the empty
table at the Project Department, right next to the Puschasing Department so it was still
easy for me to discuss with my team. At lunchtime, I had lunch every working day in
the pantry with my colleagues.
In the afternoon, Ms Pham Thu Hang from Administrative Department took me around
the offices to get acquainted with the place and the people. After that, I was assigned
the very first task: reading the full set of documents required for import customs
clearance.
Due to lack of desktop PC, I had to use my own laptop until becoming the official staff
of the company. The information were transferred to me via Zalo for convenience.
What I gain?
I have gained more understanding of the company. Firstly, I have known about the
general information, organizational structure, staff, typical customers, main business
fields, finance resources and outstanding projects thanks to the company’s profile
given by M.D. Nguyen Van Hoa. Particularly, my department acted as a buyer, in
charge of ordering from suppliers according to customer’s requirements, working with
domestic and foreign contracts, documents and implementing foreign trade, seeking
and purchasing products and services at the best possible price and value in order to
serve the customers and also maintain the company’s financial health.
In addition, I knew almost all people in Tam Long Trading Co, thanks to Ms Pham Thu
Hang and began to understand business culture. Most people brought the meal prepared
at home and so did I. They always came to the office and left on time, while at
lunchtime, they often broke for lunch 30 minutes earlier than being stated. Ms Bui Thi
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Lien in Administrative Department was in charge of heating the food by the microwave
before lunch for everyone. Moreover, before entering the office, I had to put shoes in a
locker next to the door and wore my own slippers.
What I think?
Due to the influence of COVID-19 on foreign trade activities, the workload was not as
much heavy as before. Mainly daily task during this time was to solve the backlog of
works before. People in my office worked just one shift a day.
I had to proactively learn from my instructor and also other people the way they did
their daily tasks and ask for joining in the process of solving the problems from the
previous period.
From my observation, in high season, there might be lack of human resources while in
contrast, workforce was redundant in low season. This was a sign of poor human
resources management, in particular, a redundancies of staff. Its consequences varied
over a large range. This could lead to a waste of company’s resources, mainly salary to
pay for the employees. Poor human resources managament put a burden on the
company’s financial status, decreased productivity and caused ineffective performance.
What I propose?
To overcome this weakness, firstly, I propose the company should switch to apply
fixed-term contract with employees instead of permanant full-time contract. The
seasonal contract had many advantages over the full-time contract. The company shall
benefit from a candidate with specialist and expert knowledge for a particular project
or period of time. It helped save the costs paid for permanant full-time worker in lower
season, when there were hardly any work to do. In contrast, fixed-term contracts could
be a great way to increase labour when it was required. Moreover, it also boosted the
strict control over the quality of the temporary staff, because they had to perform to be
commensurate with the amount they would be paid.
In addition to applying fixed-term contract, the company should assigning permanant
staff to do short courses to cultivate knowledge and update information from
organizations such as General Department of Vietnam Customs, etc. The company also
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should hold annual test to make sure that they were high-qualified and getting better
over time. Finally, they should give clear and strict regulations together with
appropriate salary level to encourage employees to work, to catch opportunities to
develop career actively and creatively in working.
Week 2 (20 July – 24 July)
What I do?
In this week, I have worked with a of purchasing facial mask. My supervisor asked me
to comment on this contract. I have read carefully the both two versions of the contract,
which were in English and Vietnamese. I have found that the language barrier made the
two versions inconsistent that the English version was not fully expressed the idea as
the Vietnamese version, while the contract stated that “In case of any discrepancies or
inconsistencies between the English and Vietnamese versions, the English version shall
prevail.” Therefore, I suggested Ms Luong Minh Xuan, who was in charge of this
contract, that the company should negotiate with the partner to adjust some terms in
English that did not match its meaning in Vietnamese. Fortunately, she also agreed
with me on that point.
On the next working days, I have worked with documents from the previous years.
During the first week, I had to rearrange and label the documents from 2016 to present.
I did this task in pair with another intern in the same department, also my classmate. I
also have started to learn how to use printer, photocopier and fax machine under the
guidance of my friend, who had those experience.
What I gain?
The experience I considered the most significant in this week was how people in my
company worked, thanks to the process of adjusting the contract. They completed the
tasks by discussing, respecting and receiving each other’s opinions. Also, I have had a
chance to apply the knowledge studied at school in the real case.
As regards technical skills, I have learnt how to operate printer, photocopier and fax
machine, which I believed would be notably vital for me while working in any
businesses.
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In terms of relationship, I have been becoming more familiar with the business culture
and the people. We have talked more at lunchtime and the predecessor enthusiastically
supported me a lot whenever I had questions.
What I think?
I realized more deeply the essential of attitude. Respecting each other and expressing
my own ideas in a positive way was what I referred from observing people working for
a while and directly involving in a discussion. Subtlety was really helpful in order not
to lead the discussion into an aggressive way, and consequently an unworthy conflict,
which might destroy the relationships at workplace.
In addition, learning from friend was as important as from instructor. Observing how
she did and adjusting in a better way was much more efficient because I could avoid
her faults and acquire much faster.
Moreover, carefulness was required while working with a large number of documents.
If not, the later work such as searching or investigating would be much complicated.
What I propose?
After nearly two weeks working full-tỉme, I have faced a problem of sleeplessness
because the lunchtime was so short that I hardly had enough time to take a nap. The
consequence was that in the afternoon, I could not stay awake. Not only me but also
other staff felt that they have not taken time enough to take a nap, which could result in
tiredness. Therefore, I suggest my supervisor an option that if anyone prepared an
odourless meal, they could eat at their own seat at 11h30 instead of waiting till 12h00
for having a lunch or eating out, even skipping the meal to save time for a sleep. She
appriciated my suggestion and took it into consideration. For myself, I solved the
problem by going to bed early in the evening to take full sleep required for a day. I also
prepared some coffee in case of feeling sleepy. What’s more, time management played
a vital role in keeping healthy. I was practising arrange my work schedule to spend
time enough on fully sleeping. Luckily, in the end I could improve my status in the
afternoon.
Week 3 (27 July – 31 July)
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What I do?
The third week started with the new community infection cases in Quang Nam and Da
Dang. This negatively affected some projects of the company in Da Nang, making
them being levelled off. In this week, I had accessed new kinds of documents, which
were Acceptance Certificate, Minutes Of Goods Delivery And Reception and
Liquidation Agreement. My task was to read all the contract from the beginning of
2020 and completed all three kinds of documents in accordance with the samples. As
regards the Acceptance Certificate and the Minutes Of Goods Delivery And Reception,
the information needed to fill in included contract number, signing date, parties’ name,
address, account, fax, tax code, representative and his position and finally the list of
commodity. In terms of the Liquidation Agreement, instead of filling in the list of
commodity, I have been instructed to fill in the value of final settlement of the contract.
After completing those documents, I printed them and sent them to the parties in the
contracts. Before sending them, I called in advance the parties by the number provided
by Ms Luong Minh Xuan, and as soon as I appointed with those parties, I contacted
with the express delivery to forward the documents. This task took me nearly a week to
complete due to an enormous number of contract. I could not do it at home because I
was not allowed to transfer the contracts on the company’ computer to my own laptop.
What I gain?
In terms of knowledge, I have known about the three kinds of documents, including
their contents and purposes. Firstly, The Certificate of Acceptance is a document that is
issued by Contract Administrator (CA) to a Contractor after successfully completing
the final acceptance criteria including all the contractual obligations and requirements.
Secondly, the Minutes Of Goods Delivery And Reception was really critical in case of
high value goods. It fully showed the signature of the deliverer, recipient, quantity, …
In the case of a dispute that involves a legal proceeding, in addition to the contract of
sales, it was an extremely important evidence of the seller to show the completement of
delivery. And finally, liquidation agreement was made to conclude an contractual
relationship.
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Thanks to this task, I also became familiar with the contract and was able to improve
my speed of comprehensive reading the contract’s contents.
What I think?
This was such a busy week for me that I almost had no time for other works such as
review the previous projects of the company. However, I considered it a chance for me
to strengthen my ability to work under pressure and also my concentration. Sometimes
while working, I have thought of work-life balance. It was so vital for any one to get
rid of stress and maintain mental health as well as physical one. In the future, it was
inevitable to work overtime in a long time, which might cause tension, tiredness and
other detrimental impact on health. Therefore I appreciated the work-life balance and
came up with some methods to maintain it. They could be hanging out with friends,
taking up yoga for conditioning or even cooking. I have tried them and felt that they
really worked to eliminate tension after a hard working day.
What I propose?
In this week I have not faced any cases. Nonetheless, I have found a trick to draft the
contract or any other documents much faster. That was to use Google, a type of voice
typing tool, meaning that I could insert information by speaking to the microphone of
the earphone. This way enabled quick document turnaround and less time and efforts
of typing. This also helped reduced the possibility of inserting wrong numbers order,
that often happened when I did manually in a fatigue.
Before discovering the above method, I have inserted the data manually and then asked
Ms Luong Minh Xuan for a check. This way was less efficient than the voice typing
because sometimes Ms Luong Minh Xuan missed some mistakes although she has
checked the documents carefully.
However, I had to use my own laptop because the PC system did not support inseting
voice. Hence, to increase the productivity of the staff and smoothen the work, I propose
the company to invest on the facilities, especially the computer. The budget for
upgrading the PC system could be extracted from the amount saved from applying
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fixed-term contract as mentioned below. The PC system for the staff should be
replaced by the type which enabled voice typing.
Week 4 (3 August – 7 August)
What I do?
I was assigned to translate the technical documents of the project making facial mask.
The documents contained so many technical terms that I have not seen yet, so it was
really hard for me to do the translation smoothly. I have used Google Translate to
know the meaning of such terms, however, sometimes it could not express the meaning
correctly in accordance with the context. I suggested reading similar documents having
these vague terms to and also required to watch the video describing the products to
figure out how they looked like for clearer translation.
What I gain?
I have gained the background of the project making facial mask by translating
documents and reading the contract, getting ready to support my team afterward.
I have started to get used to the working style of the company, which was proactive and
sharing. I was becoming more open to ask and raise my voice to contribute to the
company.
What I think?
What I have been taught at school just provided me the very basic background required
in order to acquire the higher level of knowledge. I had to learn by myself a lot to keep
pace with the working progress. I often found the information on the Internet first and
then from my instructor to confirm them.
What I propose?
One day, the director scolded his staff for the unacceptable behavior, which was
sending the utmost important documents to the partner by Grab Express. This was
considered disrespecting the partner because while in delivery, the documents might
get lost. Therefore, I suggested two solutions to tackle the problem. The first one was
to assign a specific person, on behalf of the company, to be responsible for sending
documents to the partner afterward. This solution was suitbale for the case of
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emergency. The second way was that the Administrative Department should register
the express delivery service that the postman would receive the letters at specific times
within a day and send them. This method was considered a kind of outsourcing,
suitable for the company while in high season to experience efficiency and save time.
Week 5 (10 August – 14 August)
What I do?
In this week, I continued to working with documents, mainly the customs declaration
form. During this process, I faced a case as follow:
In customs declaration stated: “Customs value: A – CPT – USD”, while the contract
and invoice showed:
- Total invoice value: X
- Incoterms: CPT
The questions were:
- Was customs declaration wrong?
- If it was false, could business adjust after clearance? How?
This was a totally new case for me to solve. At first, I have found by myself a similar
case on the website of General Department of Vietnam Customs. However, it was a
little bit vague, so I directly asked Ms Luong Minh Xuan for clearer answer. In the end,
I came up with the answers. First, this customs declaration was wrong due to lack of
freight and insurance information. Second, business could adjust. Business would
inform the Customs Branch, after that they would send the Registration of
completion of examination/inspection (declaration of amended tax). Business shall
fill in the adjusted information.
What I gain?
In this week, the very first lesson of mind was about customs declaration, which was
rarely taught at school. I have known about how to adjust in case of wrong information.
Moreover, I have been fluent in doing procedure of Announcement of eligibility for
classification of medical equipment.
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Also in this week, I have gained the internship evaluation from my supervisor Ms
Luong Minh Xuan. She marked 10 over 10 for my performance during the whole
internship period, which motivated me a lot.
What I think?
This was the last week of the internship period, I found myself have learnt a lot about
my job and also my future career. As regards my job, I have known about what tasks a
purchasing staff would do, how to do them and how to deal with cases. In terms of
career, I have started to figure out the activities that I enjoyed. It was researching to
idetify reliable suppliers, negotiating price and writing requests for bids and awarding
supply contracts, whatever involved in working with partners. I also realized myself
good at communicating via email with others and translating, according to the
comment of my supervisor. My ideal work environment would be sharing and
supportive, as similar to my current one. In the long run, I would like to continuing
pursuing purchasing function but in a higher position or be in charge of multiple
functions in a import-export company.
What I propose?
One shortcoming of my company was that it did not have an official website, that made
it difficult for partners to find my company’s information. Therefore I propose creating
a website with a simple interface providing fundamental information as follow:
Tab Content Dropdown list
Interface containing logo, menu
Home and short description of the N/A
company
About Tam Long Trading Co
About us N/A
Tam Long Trading Co Partners
Products and Information about provided Equipment supplied as
services products and services Authorized Dealer
Equipment supplied by Tam
Long Trading Co in other
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projects
In 2017
As a main contractor In 2018
Outstanding In 2019
projects In 2017
As a sub-contractor In 2018
In 2019
News Updating news and documents N/A
Recruitment Updating recruitment news N/A
Contact us Email, phone number, address N/A
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Conclusion
To sum up, the internship at Tam Long Trading Company Limted has provided me not
only the knowledge that I have not been taught yet at university, but also necessary soft
skills, particularly technical skills such as using photocopier, printer and fax machine,
and soft skills, for instance, teamworking and negotiating. Also I have had a chance to
engage in procedure of working with contract, customs declaration and other
documents as well.
As regards some drawbacks having been mentioned above in each week, I shall
continue to propose my supervisor another feasible solutions to improve the company’s
performance and staff productivity. I would like to commit to the company in the
future because this internship really inspired me about international trade and
consulting.
In general, I would like to give my thanks to the Board of Director and my supervisor
for supporting me a favorable environment to learn, as well as PhD Bui Duy Linh for
the helpful instructions. The mistakes are inevitable, therefore it would be pleased if
you could comment on this report to make it better.