International Business Workshop Report 21 December 2014

International Business Workshop Report

The first guest speaker, Mr. Sim Sokheng, acting director of Department of Intellectual Property of MOC, emphasized the importance of the brand names or trademarks. There are actually some legal frameworks related to the trademarks, such as names, devices, logos, labels, signatures, etc. Then he pointed out the flow of mark registration within 5 months. They are application filed, acknowledgement (filling requirement meet), formality check (all contained in the application form must be fulfilled), substantive examination, registration, publication, opposition (if any), appeal (if any), courts (if any). Moreover, he also showed the minimum requirements at the time if filling the application, which are the name of the applicant, an address to which communications can be directed, including local address for service, a reproduction of the mark, a specification of goods or services, and other requirements. Besides the complicated process for applicants, the ministry also needs to examine the trademarks and products thoroughly. Therefore, 7 processes of examination procedure which are in Article 4 (a) were shown as such, identify applied mark, identify goods/services, determine composition of applied mark, determine meaning of applied mark (if any), determine generic, descriptive elements, decide whether the mark is capable of distinguishing or not, by its own or need to be used, and advice to overcome the objectives, such as, disclaimer/condition/limitation, amendment of goods/service, amendment of marks, or evidence of use. The examination also based on the visual appearance, sound, net impression, and the nature of the goods/services. For those who violate the rules of trademarks will be punished. In Article 64, whoever counterfeits a trademark, shall be liable to a fine of from one to twenty million riels, or to imprisonment from one to five years, or both. In addition, in Article 66, whoever willfully imports, sells, offers, for sale or has the purpose of sale goods bearing a counterfeit mark, under Article 64, shall be liable to the penalties provided in that article as well. Last but not least, in order to find out more about other trademarks, Mr. Sim Sokheng provided us the website which is accessed to the brand names or trademarks in Cambodia and throughout ASEAN, www.cambodiaip.gov.kh, which 2.5 million trademarks in Cambodia can be viewed, and another 600 million trademarks in ASEAN can soon be seen as well. He also encouraged business people to register their trademark, taste and ingredients to protect their brand names and products. Each registration can protect the products for 10 years. Due to the advanced technology, business people can now register their brand names or trademarks online, decrease the chance of meeting between business people, which is also one of the minister’s amendment policies.

The second guest speaker, Mr. Chy Sila, an experienced and successful businessman, who started running business since 1997, and a CEO of Sabay Digital Corporation since 2007. Under the slogan of “Sabay is in your hands”, Sabay Digital Corporation has 16 to 20 million viewers every day. Despite of running a successful business in Cambodia, Mr. Chy Sila also planned to challenge himself by doing some oversea businesses. Lately, Sabay Digital Corporation has been started up a joint venture with a Singaporean company called ABC Cyber Corporation, and then Mr. Chy Sila will import the Singaporean brand names and products under the joint venture to Myanmar, which will save him from paying the tax of 40% if Cambodian brand names or products are imported to 10% tax paying if oversea products are imported into Myanmar. His fruitful achievements came after effort and hard work. He said, doing business is very difficult, especially exporting your brand names and products abroad. One has to know about the language, cultures, traditions, and understand the local people. Moreover, business people have to catch the trend, educate people to know about your brand, find something unique to sustain which your business can serve customers of niche market who favor your brand and products and are willing to pay premium on your products. Importantly, making a clear business plan will help you in long-term business survival. However, business can sometimes be struck by risks. Loss in the business is inevitable. Therefore, business people have to wisely operate cash flow, and manage certain amount of money to deal with the temporary loss in business. Finally, he said that 80% of the people want to do big things, but 90% of them never want to do small things. In order to successfully run a business, one should start from the first step, have a thorough planning and clear analysis, and be patient to deal with the problems. Within the next 5 years, Mr. Chy Sila aims to get Sabay Digital Corporation listed in the stock exchange in Cambodia, and cooperate well with Singaporean company. Besides focusing on the business, he will also contribute to the social work which he wants to transform Sabay Digital Corporation to IT and business information center where applicants can write about their business application forms and post them into Sabay Digital Corporation.

The third guest speakers, Mr. Khorn Chhundara, the general manager of KOI Café. He defined the word franchising as not to buy the brand name or trademark from one company, but to rent the brand name or trademark in a certain duration, and fee need to be paid monthly. There are certain advantages of franchising. Franchising is like you are being tutored. You will learn how to operate or manage the business well as guided from the franchised company. Moreover, the franchising company, as well as the franchised company, can both make money from the business. On the other hand, there are some disadvantages in franchising. First of all, the franchising company or business have to pay the huge sum of franchising fee which is the first payment of franchising. Secondly, fee need to be paid every month to the franchised company. Sometimes, franchising can be dangerous if people have limited resource, knowledge, and understanding of the local area. Price negotiation and bargaining are acceptable in the franchising. No one will be seen as superior or inferior over that business, so both sides have to keep bargaining until the final satisfied price is reached. Therefore, a good research will be very useful before making decision. You have to find out about the core competency, whether you can do better than your traditional competitors on the construction design, tastes preservation, and services, etc. Mr. Khorn Chhundara also talked about the reasons of franchising KOI Café. First of all, KOI Café is a trend business which is very popular within teenagers. Secondly, KOI Café has an old history and background. KOI Café was first created in Taiwan in 1984. Due to the gradual popularity among Taiwanese people, this company’s income has increased annually. Consequently, more and more branches were opened in Taiwan and throughout Asia. Last but not least, KOI Café provides good quality of tea leaves and bubbles, which are authentically imported from Taiwan. Amazingly, KOI Café in Cambodia is the best and highly sold branch among other KOI franchising companies. In short, franchising is not a bad idea once you have considered and planned in advanced. He also stated that in order to get some experience in business and work, once can start working for others. In the next 5 years, Mr. Khorn Chhundara hopes to strengthen the ability of the employees in KOI café, create his own brand name, and will contribute and help society as much as he can. For instance, he wants to put a tip box in each shop to collect some extra money that is donated by the customers, and use that money to help some poor students by providing them the scholarship. Moreover, he plans to cooperate with the Ministry of Environment to set up an event to recycle KOI Café’s cups.

The last guest speaker in the workshop, Mr. Chea Bunhean, the head of commercial banking of CIMB Bank Plc. CIMB Bank Plc is the 2^nd big commercial bank in Malaysia. CIMB Bank Plc in Cambodia was launched in the late 2010. The main goal of CIMB is to expand its business throughout Asia region, and become the Asia bank. Besides Cambodia, CIMB Bank Plc also has another office based in Laos. The total asset of the bank is 340 million USD, and the gross loans is 180 millions USD. CIMB Bank Plc wants to be the financial partnership of Cambodian people in order to generate enough money for their business and to support their living. CIMB Bank Plc will provide loans on value added fields, which are manufacturing, plantation, property development, tourism, etc. The fields or jobs that are legal and provide people with high chances of employment. Moreover, CIMB Bank Plc also provides various loans, such as long term loan, short term loan, trade supply chain, business loan etc. Before the bank offers loan, there are a few cases that the bank need to carefully consider. For instance, the bank will look at whether the individual has high commitment in their job or life, and will examine the financial statements of the companies and organizations. Despite the interest rate, CIMB Bank Plc provides customers with reliability and safety in their deposits and loans. 

Thanks you for coming and support us :)