Internship Report

HO DANG ANH LE CHOLIMEX FOOD JSC
BA060028 Summer Internship Report

I. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY OF THE INTERNSHIP:
Import and Export Management plays an important role in the economy and is considered
as the most powerful key element of an economy in every country, includes Vietnam. It
influences and facilitates many different but integrated economic activities like enhancing your
domestic competitiveness; increasing sales and profits; gaining your global market share;
promoting different productivities; etc
Among many companies that have been successful in international trade is CHOLIMEX
FOOD JOINT STOCK COMPANY, a professional specialized in producing; processing and
supplying the agricultural products, forest products, sea products, foodstuffs, handicrafts,
garments, leather shoes, consumer goods, ... From 1997 until now, CHOLIMEX is one of the
top Food Suppliers in Traditional Vietnamese style with international standard quality, aiming to
earn the utmost satisfaction from the consumers.
With the pride of working in such a well-known company like this, I began my internship
period at SalesPlanningImport and Export Department of Cholimex Food JSC from July 04
2011 to August 31 2011. During those 2 months, I was involved in the real business. I have
worked hard to succeed the jobs given and to learn as many experiences as I could. Some of the
work that I did in this department included analyzing data, discussing on problems and
measurements, personal research activities as well as going on field trips to the Port or
Companys workshops and enjoyed working in The Weekend Fair for Workers at Vinh Loc
Industrial Park. Although I did not make any serious mistakes, there was a major problem in the
lack of experiences that prevented me to be more helpful to the Departments activities.
Lastly, 2011 is the challenging year for Vietnam and all other economies in the world
with complicated, unpredictable and even contrary movements, especially in international trade.
Despite such unfavorable context, Cholimex Food JSC is growing steady in a suitable way. It is
energetic and confident on the pathway of international economic integration to continuously
being the leader of food industry in Vietnam and in the competition among other companies
from all over the world.
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II. DESCRIPTION OF THE COMPANY:
1. Companys Profile:
Cholimex Food Joint Stock Company (Cholimex Food JSC)
Address: C40-43/I - Road No.7 - Vinh Loc Industrial Park - Binh Chanh Dist. HCMc.
Contact number: (08) 37653389/ 90/ 91 37653315.
Showroom: 629B Nguyen Trai St. D. 5 Ho Chi Minh City.
Website: http://www.cholimexfood.com.vn
2. Historical development:
On April 15 1981, Cholimex Food JSC was found by the People Committee of Ho Chi
Minh City Permit No.73/QDUB with the name District 5 Import & Export Partnership.
On June 02 1983, The People Committee of Ho Chi Minh City established the Permit
No.78/QDUB to divide Cholimex into 2 organizations:
- The Supplying Goods Enterprise of District 5.
- The Export Processing Enterprise of District 5.
In 1988, the Export Processing Enterprise of District 5 was changed into Sea Food
Processing and Food Exporting Enterprise. It was changed again into Cholimex Food Joint
Stock Company and was officially established under the Business Lisence No.4103005042
dated July 19 2007 by The Investment and Planning Department of Ho Chi Minh City.
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3. Type of ownership:
Cholimex Food Joint Stock Company is a Collective State-run enterprise established in
1981 with the charter capital is 60,000,000,000 (Sixty billion VND).
The Capital Structure:
State shareholders: 2,473,500 shares (41.225% shares).
Stock in the enterprise: 510,835 shares (8.514% shares).
Other shareholders: 3,015,665 shares (50.261% shares).
4. Companys Growth Paths:
Producing, Processing and Trading food, fast dietary, frozen food, maritime products ;
Raising sea and maritime products;
Trading breeds, materials and equipment for raising sea and maritime products, trading
cattle food, household appliances, mechanic and electronic goods;
Trading and consigning agents; Services on custom clearance, transportation agency.
Services on goods transportation;
5. Companys Products:
Quality Standards: ISO 9001:2008; HACCP, BRC & HALAL.
Frozen food: Spring rolls, breaded food, dimsum, sea food

Processing food: Sea food, Agricultural products

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Sauce: Tomato sauce, plum chili sauce, hot chili sauce, soy sauce

Spice: Pepper and salt, Soup powder, Hot pot spice

6. Customer base :
a. Local Market
Figure 1: Cholimex Food JSC Local Market
(From www.cholimexfood.com.vn)
H Ni Bun M Thut
Tp.HCM Lt
Hi Phng Phan Rang
Nng Phan Thit
Rng Sn ng Nai
Qung Ninh Bnh Dng
Thanh Ha Vng Tu
Vinh Long An
Hu Vnh Long
Kontum M Tho
Quy Nhn Tr Vinh
Tuy Ha C Mau
NhaTrang Trng Sa
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b. Distribution Network:
Distribution system was formed on the old system of 200 agents with 60 distributors to
bring the products to 63 provinces of Vietnam. They sell Cholimex products with defined prices
and they are always willing to support the company in investment projects, human resources
management or product delivery...
c. Export Market:
Cholimex has been marketed in 38 countries, including United Kingdom, France,
German, Russia, Switzerland, USA, Japan, Australia, Hong Kong, etc
Figure 2: Cholimex Food JSC Export Market
7. Organizational structure:
a. Number of Employees:
Table 1: The number of employees in the period 2007-2009
(From Annual Report of Sale Planning Import & Export Department)
Year Employees (People) Average Salary (1,000VND/month)
2009 850 3,200
b. Organizational Structure:
Figure 3: Organizational Structure of Cholimex Food JSC
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c. Departments: Rights and Duties:
C Sales-Planning-Import and Export Department:
Manage many important fields such as sales plan, synthesizing business strategy and raw
materials import products export plans for production and other business activities.
C Domestic Trading Department:
Manage local business planning, marketing, market development, transactions, manage
the stores, dealers, supermarkets, distribution networks based on the production of the company.
C Finance and Accounting Department:
This is the adviser of the Board of Director in financial planning and econometric
analysis to monitor and evaluate the economic efficiency of all other departments and units; to
mobilize and manage capital assets, entries, management of cash through the fund to exploit and
use efficiently the funds for the operation of the company's economic and market regulation.
C Human Resources Management:
Organize the labor wages and administration such as management, competition, legal,
construction, application, the quality of management system throughout the organization and
operations to ensure the working conditions for the whole company.
C Technical Department:
This department takes responsible on major fields of technology management, production
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and processing techniques, the environment conditions, and the quality management.
Sea Food Processing Plant and Food Processing Plant:
Assist the leadership organization, management, labor distribution to manage the
production; manage the supplies and assets within the workshop to complete the assigned plan
according to the companys schedule with the exact amount and quality base on the
requirements of the production and the company.
C Mechanic Maintenance Plant:
It helps the Board of Director in the fields of engineering, maintenance, repair and
equipment maintenance, installing and manufacturing projects in the company's production.
8. Companys Performance in the period 2007-2009.
2008 and 2009 were difficult years for Vietnam and many economies in the world with
the complicated movements of world economic. Despite such unfavorable context, CHOLIMEX
FOOD JSC kept growing steadily in a sustainable way. In the context of market volatility, the
company still obtained impressive achievements.
Table 2: Key performance indicators
(From Annual Report of Sale Planning Import & Export Department) Unit: million VND
Figure 4: Comparison of the yearly revenue in the period 2007-2009
Indicators Unit 2007 2008 2009
% of
2007 vs 2008
% of
2008 vs 2009
A B 2 4 6
1. Total Revenue
Million
VND
134,273 214,862 291,208 160 136
Export activities 48,285 81,030 107,000 137 132
Local trade 85,988 133,832 184,208 156 138
4. Total Cost 129,273 204,291 266,994 158 131
5. Profit before Tax
Million
VND
5,000 10,571 24,214 211 229
6. Profit after Tax
Million
VND
5,000 9,685 21,887 194 226
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(From Annual Report of Sale Planning Import & Export Department) Unit: million VND
The total revenue in 2008 was VND 214,862 million, a 160% increase compared to VND
134,273 million, the total revenue of 2007. In 2009, the total revenue increased from VND
214,862 million to VND 291,208 million in 2008, equivalent to 136%. This is the results of
severals activities that the company has taken during the period such as: Cholimex has registered
its information on some well-known global websites such as: Alibaba.com, world trade directory
(WBD) ... which is helpful ways to contact new customers from all over the world. Cholimex
also participated in 4 international food fair, which were Gulfood (Dubai - UAE); MIFB (Kuala
Lumpur - Malaysia), SIAL (Upper customs - China), ANUGA (Cologne - Germany) to find new
customers; to advertise its products and brands to international markets. Cholimex also did
several surveys and customer care programs in Europe: England, France, Switzerland, etc and
Asian countries like Malaysia, Singapore ... The company has made all the best to develop its
efforts in the United States and Eastern Europe (Russia) market with the sauce products.
The revenue from domestic trading was VND 133.832 million in 2008, a 156% compared
to 2007, VND 85,988 million. In 2009, the revenue from domestic trading was VND 184.208
million, a 132% compared to 2008. Because the distribution network has been expanded and
developed widely, distribution channels were also strengthened. Many different products of
Cholimex were voted as "Vietnam high quality by local consumers. Those are the results of
effective marketing activities such as: positioning the new brand for Cholimex food, promoting
advertising and companys images on the media, attending local commercial fairs, conducting
new promotions like the "Lucky Gold in the kitchen during Tet 2010.
9. Development Trend and Business Strategy of the company.
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a. Development Trend:
Build the product structure based on the company strategy and the strength of the product group.
Consolidate and develop the local market strongly to be the basis for exporting activities.
Improve the management to increase the productivities and the competitive advantages.
Increase the share value of shareholders and institutions.
Search for new investors with financial capitals for investment plans and company development.
Provide jobs as well as improve the suitable income levels for workers.
b. Business Strategy
To ensure the transition and the development in a long-term, the company will conduct
an organization and management system to fit the model of a joint stock company.
The company will radically reform the management to improve the production and
management. Besides the improvement of the new system, a new model will be built under the
fair-paid system, which is calculated base on the effectiveness and capacity of staffs and
employees to increase their creativity and responsibility.
Specialized in training: building and composing training programs with relevant content
that serve the practical needs of the company such as: knowledge integration, process, product
range, knowledge of quality management, market, business, products, and professional
knowledge.
III. INTERNSHIP ACTIVITIES:
1. Sales-Planning-Import and Export Department:
a. Department description:
I did my internship at Cholimex Food JSC in Binh Chanh District, Ho Chi Minh City, for
a total duration of two months and the department I worked at during that time was the Sales-
Planning-Import and Export Department, an important department at Cholimex Food JSC that
performs the following functions:
Export companys products such as: frozen food; agricultural products; sauces
products and import materials for production.
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Provide information, translate the documentaries, be the interpreter for Board of
Directors; Coordinate with other departments to complete the export processes.
Synthesis the business plans, build the business strategy for short and long term;
Make the assessment for planning and supporting other departments in the
implementation plan.
Monitor and synthesis information as well as moderate and evaluate the quality of
productivity.
Supply materials for the productivity and manage the storages.
b. Problems and Solutions:
Problems of the department:
- The company has not build a professional Marketing Division for the Sales-
Planning-Import and Export Department, which mainly concentrate on new
market and customer research. Marketing activities for exporting markets
has not been properly emphasized, the business success mostly based on
business relationships of personal achievement rather than the collectives
achievement.
- The costs for marketing activities, products promotion, etc are lower than
the requirements to expand the market. In the international market, the
competitiveness is always higher among many companies operating in the
same industry, especially the company with foreign investment, so that, the
marketing and advertising activities are playing the key role to help the
company assert its position in the food industry. One competitive
disadvantage of the company is the lack of initiative in production sector,
for example, the cold storage can not satisfy the reserves demands and the
preservation of raw materials, these lead to incurred costs and taxes for
renting warehouses or container anchor, etc and affects exporting
processes.
- The company still lacks of some specialized units to support the import and
export processes. For example: They have not had the storage systems or
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any department to manage the transportation, which would normally be in
charged by Documentary Department. This affects the production costs and
the development of the company. The materials transporting and delivery
often organized without a gathering to take advantage of transportation. In
other hand, the delivery costs of a contract can not be saved in a proper way
by renting transportation from other companies.
- Another situation happening in both Cholimex and other companies is that
the salary regime paid to employees sometimes could not match their living
expenses, which seems to be changed everyday. This may reduce the
employees passion and enthusiasm for the jobs while the company wants
to increase the productivity.
Solution to for the problems above:
- Establish a professional Marketing Division and they will take the
responsible of these activities: research to find new potential markets for
exporting based on the frozen food products and sauce, spice, sauces
products; research then identify new customers demands and respond them
promptly.
- Continuously strengthen the company brand, improve the competitiveness,
join to be listed in Vietnamese stock markets to find new investors for
company's investment and development projects. For export markets, the
department must research on the standards of product quality as well as the
necessary procedures to avoid the incurred extraordinary costs, for
example, the European market has very high and very strict standards for
imported food, it is necessary to understand and follow the requirements
before exporting to this market.
- The company should divide the responsibility of each stage to a division or
a staff that is
specialized in that problem. This helps the jobs of each stage to be carried out quickly and
efficiently. This also enables the process to be resolved quickly without overlapping on other
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job. In addition, the company will easily control the job processes undertaken through the result
of each stage. The import and export staffs need to improve the specialized knowledge and skills
to complete the procedures faster and more accurate.
- Depend on the real situation of employees' living condition and other
economy volatility, the company should consider and adjust the salary
regime of employees. Once the living conditions are improved properly, the
employees will work with all passion and enthusiasm to increase the profit
for the company.
2. Internship activities:
In the Sales-Planning-Import and Export Department, I had done several activities such as:
a. Self-research about the Company:
As a new staff to the Department, I was asked to read and understand everything included
the Company History, Company Regulations, Company Annual Reports and some important
documents of Sale-Planning-Import and Export Department. Understanding the regulations and
the current performance of the company helps me to save a lot of time when I start working at
the department as an intern. I spent most of the time in the first week on reading, searching,
analyzing all the given information. I tried to catch all the information, especially the
Guideline of Import and Export Process, which provides many clear, important and specified
points about the import and export processes, the container delivery, the Custom Procedures, the
Standard requirements for import and export activities To help me, the staffs will give
explanation or let me watch them completing the procedures.
I also have to remember the duties of each department or each staff in my department in
order to contact them for necessary reasons. For example, if I need information about the
financial activities, I will contact the Accounting and Finance Department for Annual Reports
b. Teamwork:
I am not the only one who does the internship period in Sales-Planning-Import and
Export Department, there three other interns there so we made a team of four interns. The
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Teamwork began with the sharing of companys documentaries. Then we usually worked in
team whenever our supervisor gave us a project. Each of us played a role in running the given
project, if one made a mistake or submit his/her part late, our final result would be influent.
Some teamworks I had enjoyed with my team were:
- Translate catalogue and product list: this is a preparation for the Vietnamese High
Quality Products Fair, which will be held in the end of 2011 September. My supervisor assigned
this task to my team with some requirements as the first team task. Cholimex deals with many
foreign customers so, translating the companys catalogue and product list from Vietnamese into
English is an inevitable step for the customers to have full information about the company and
the products. Requirements for a catalogue when it reaches a customer is having exhaustively
and clearly translated information, all the sentences should be read fluently with the correct use
of technical terms. My part is to translate the company information and selling introduction into
English and submit it to the team leader for the editing.
- Collect and Quote price: this is an important part of the import and export transaction.
Every customer has his/her own requirements for the products ordered, so we had to follow the
information on the contract and the invoice closely. My job was to enter the product code after
receiving the product list from the storage manager. I had to work carefully because the
company might lose hundred to thousand million VND when only one number was entered
incorrectly.
- Drafting reports: The truth is that I and my team were assigned to complete many
report, such as: weekly sale report, monthly report, storage checking report, Each of team
member took the responsibility for a part of the report or we worked together to complete the
most important part of the report, which is usually the part about jobs evaluation and
suggestions. One of me task was to collect necessary data from the staffs or other departments,
list them into table and give comments. Sometimes, with the advantage of presentation skills, I
would take the role of presenting the report to the department.
c. Join the field trips to the Sai Gon Port or Companys Workshop:
As I mentioned in the Self-research section above, some activities or procedures could
not be explained in words. In these cases, a field trip to the Ports or Companys Workshop
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would help so much. Cholimex Food JSC is a well known company in the food industry and it
owns many workshops for food processing such as: frozen food processing plant, food
processing plant (breaded food, agricultural products, sauces products) To help me to
understand more about the companys production, my department also gave me some chances to
follow and have a look at the production lines, product storages... to see how the real production
activities are, how they package and deliver the products, e.g. I have learned how The First In
Last Out process was applied when arranging goods into the deliver truck, the goods for the
last customers will be loaded in first and the goods of first customers will get in last
Moreover, on a day which had been noticed before, I had a chance to go to the Sai Gon
Port to have a full view of organizing an export process in the reality. All activities in the port
seemed to always happen in a hurry and time to learn at the port was not long enough but I have
equipped myself with the basics and indispensable experiences. I have known about the basic
customs procedures and how an export process to be completed step by step from the office to
the port. In details, the following steps will be conducted by the department after finishing the
order and receiving the export inform:
1) Prepare document for the exporting process. (e.g. Book the cold container,
contact the port managers, fax the instructions to involved parties)
2) Prepare the Exporting documents. (e.g. Sales contract, Custom Application
Form, Commercial Invoice, Parking List
3) Prepare the documents for customers (e.g. Send customer copies of necessary
procedures, B/L, CO)
4) Contract Liquidation. (e.g. Record and update the contract status)
d. Enjoy WEEKEND FAIR FOR WORKERS activities:
Weekend Fair for workers is an activity that opened for workers with many products
(with lower prices compared to normal sales) and activities such as: awarding gifts to workers,
music shows, the program of Free-phone-call that let the workers call their relatives free through
Viettel sims The fair is not only a bridge for Vietnamese business to reach consumers in the
country but also contribute to create the conditions for low-income consumers to use the high
quality products with preferential prices. Weekend Fairs for workers are held in turn in different
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industrial parks of the Ho Chi Minh city such as Tan Thuan, Linh Trung, Tan Tao, Tay Bac Cu
Chi, Vinh Loc ... with the participation of many enterprises, production enterprises of Vietnam
and the enterprises who attended The Price Stabilization program.
The 2011 Weekend Fair was held at Road No.6 of Vinh Loc Industrial Park from July 20
to 24 July 2011 as a positive activity to contribute in stabilizing price in the current economy
situation. There were 44 stores and more than 200 kinds of products such as: food, clothes,
house-wares with preferential prices along with many other exciting activities. The fair has
attracted more than 4,000 turns of people to the fair each day.
I have done some activities at the Cholimex store, such as:
Transport the boxes of Cholimexs products to the store and back to the
storage.
Arrange the shelves in the store then arrange the products into the shelves.
Introduce about the Cholimexs products and sell them to consumers.
Count and check the remaining products at the end of the sale day.
Record the numbers of remaining products along with the daily profits.
After the fair is finished, I had to submit my supervisor a report to synthesis all the
activities I succeeded in the fair. In the report, I had to give clear numbers or data of jobs done
like: how many boxes of each kind of sauces and spices that we had sold, which kind of sauces
or spices is the most selling product, etc I also had to give some self opinions and suggestions
to improve the marketing sale activities for next fair. I recognized that this report was the
result of what I have learned from companys activities what I did was a contribution to expand
the company brand to consumers.
IV. SUGGESTIONS FOR THE THESIS TOPIC:
A research with evaluation and analysis of the import and export activities in Vietnam,
showing through the business activities of Cholimex Food JSC.
Foreign exchange risk management and its influences to import and export trading and the
role of Government in supporting and controlling import and export activities in Vietnam.
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V. AN ASSESSMENT OF THE INTERNSHIP:
Through out the last two months working as at Cholimex Food JSC, I have learned many
valuable lessons and experiences. I have taken my first steps into the real workplace by being a
part of this large and efficient company. Amid the financial crisis, Cholimex is still maintaining
its position in the food industry. My supervisor and other staffs in the Sales-Planning-Import and
Export Department were so nice helping me during my internship period. Thanks to them, I
have achieved following things, aside from the experiences mentioned in the Internship
activities section above:
- Analyze and evaluate the company performance in a period.
- Legal documents and regulations in company operation.
- Settle payment methods (e.g. Account transferring )
- Documents needed in claiming ownership of goods from freight
forwarders.
- Work with Governmental agencies (e.g. Custom Office, Tax Agency)
- Full export processes and paper works (e.g. Procedures to export frozen
food to EU markets)
- Succeed in team work.
- Each staff in the department plays an important role of a process. If you
finish your part late or make mistake, those will decrease your productivity and your
departments performance since it takes great time and effort to find and correct mistakes.
- The internship program had improved my communication skills by giving me an opportunity
to meet and socialized with many people while working at my department.
From a positive view, working in Cholimex Food JSC gave me the best opportunity to
observe how the whole system operates. I had a chance to compare what I did in my internship
and what I have learnt at school and recognized that those are slightly correlated with each
other. I have completed some important courses of International Business Major such as: Import
Export Management, Negotiation, International Marketing, etc and I saw how they were
applied in real life.
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Unfortunately, these are just a small fraction of my knowledge. It would be more
interesting if I can apply all the things I have learnt in practice as well as improving my
specialized levels and skills so that I can have more advantages in finding a good job after
graduated. The truth is that I felt a little disappointed when I could not help much in the
departments jobs because of my lacks of specialized skills and knowledge, but my interest in
import and export does not falter.
The internship had consolidated my plan of working in the Import and Export industry.
Working in this industry always requires you carefulness, patience and agility and I believe that
I can perform well with this kind of job. Moreover, after the internship, I can seriously consider
about getting a job in the Import and Export Industry after graduated.

VI. CONCLUSION OF THE REPORT:
1. About Cholimex Food JSC:
Sales-Planning-Import and Export Department of Cholimex Food JSC is a great place to
work with nice and enthusiastic executive staffs who were always ready to help me out of
queries and problems during the internship period. The office was well equipped with
everything needed for office comforts. Working in such office had given me the feelings and
pressures as I was truly a staff of the department. This internship was a useful way for me to
attend to a company.
According to the current situation of world economic, the fallout of the financial crisis
has driven a dramatic shift in operating income and profitability outlook for many industrial
sectors across the globe. This will have a significant impact on the import and export sector in
Vietnam, expressed through some import and export activities of Cholimex Food JSC. During
last two months, I can see the effort of all employees to support for the companys position and
expand the market. The truth is that the total revenues of Cholimex Food JSC are always high
and stable. Since its establishment in 1983, Cholimex Food JSC had achieved many awards and
most important thing is that it had received the trust of customers from Vietnam and all over the
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world. Cholimex Food JSC is a potential company in the food industry and it definitely will
grow strong in the future.
2. About the internship:
In summary, I have learned so many helpful things during this internship, not only about
the procedures and processes in the food industry, but also the soft skills such as using
photocopy machine, fax machine... Compared to myself before the internship, the
responsibilities and activities that I had taken during two months had developed the expertise
and skills that I lacked off before. All the lessons, skills and experiences I have achieved from
the internship period will surely help me to be successful in my future career.I now have a
strong belief and confidence about my career path, to be involved in Import and Export Industry.
This internship period is the most valuable experiences I have earned for my future is
the best thing I have recognized after the internship.
VII. REFERENCES
+ Web resources
Cholimex Food JSC (www.cholimexfood.com.vn)
CHOLON Investment and Import-Export Company (www.cholimex.com.vn)
www.vinacorp.vn
VNExpress (www.vnexpress.net )
+ Reports
Annual Report 2007, 2008, 2009 of the Sales-Planning-Import and Export Department.
Vietnamese Import and Export Department.
http://www.cholonsc.vn/CLSCFiles/BAN%20CAO%20BACH%20CHOLIMEX.pdf
VIII. APPENDIX:
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HO DANG ANH LE CHOLIMEX FOOD JSC

BA060028 Summer Internship Report

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