Trung Nguyen Coffee was one of the first businesses in Viet Nam to implement franchising. Established in 1996, Trung Nguyen has so far developed its trademark in all localities nationwide, with more than 1,000 franchised cafes.
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market research about Trung Nguyen
Following Trung Nguyen, various businesses in the country have also pursued this strategy with success. Experts forecast that with an estimated annual growth of 15-20 percent over recent years, franchising would be a fast-growing form of business in Viet Nam when the country officially joins the World Trade Organisation.

As almost all Vietnamese enterprises are not strong enough to expand their outlets abroad, franchising is considered to be an appropriate way to help them compete with foreign businesses in the domestic market and indirectly penetrate into larger markets at lowest costs while being able to protect trademarks, experts said.

"Franchising has helped Trung Nguyen trademark be popular not only in the country but also in the US, Russia, Japan, China, Cambodia, Singapore and Thailand," according to the company's Marketing Director Nguyen Tran Quang. He stressed that his business planned further expansion into big markets such as China, Japan and Russia.

Kinh Do and Pho 24 are also well-known trademarks engaging in franchising.

Pho 24 had, by the end of 2006, developed 46 pho ( rice noodle) restaurants throughout the country as well as in Indonesia and the Philippines. It is expected to promote its trademark in Australia, the Republic of Korea and Japan in the next three months.

Kinh Do, a confectionary and bakery, now boasts a network of 150 distributors and 30,000 retailed stores throughout the country.

Owner of a chain of Carings home electric appliance supermarkets, the Ben Thanh Trade and Marketing Co. Ltd., recently signed a