[SBA News] Bridging Theory and Practice: TÜV NORD Vietnam CEO Shares Internal PR Strategy with MBA Class

In pursuit of the motto “learning by doing”, and to raise teaching quality and give students a hands-on perspective, the leadership of the School of Business Administration (SBA) – VNU University of Economics and Business, namely Assoc. Prof. Dr. Phan Chi Anh (Director) and Assoc. Prof. Dr. Nguyen Thu Ha (Deputy Director), organized a special session with a guest speaker in the Public Relations module for more than 60 students of the Master of Business Administration programme.

An experienced speaker from a multinational group

The guest speaker was Mr. Le Sy Trung, General Director of TÜV NORD Vietnam. Drawing on his management experience at one of the world's leading testing, inspection and certification groups – founded in Germany in 1869 and present in more than 100 countries with over 15,000 employees – he shared strategic and practical insights into how a global company builds trust and brand.

“People are our greatest asset” – from philosophy to practice

The session focused on employee relations – an important pillar of PR that is often overlooked. Based on TÜV NORD's core philosophy that “people are the foundation of service quality”, the speaker outlined a people-management formula built on two pillars:

• A transparent, performance-based reward system: pay according to competence, linking individual benefits to company goals.
• A distinctive corporate culture: summed up in the values “CHẤT – MỚI – YÊU” (Quality – Innovation – Passion), the “key” that enables TÜV NORD Vietnam to retain a long-serving team, with some members having been on board for 18 years.

Theory meets practice through a case study

Going beyond the lecture, the class came alive with group discussions and a case study exercise. Acting as HR managers, the students drafted communication talking points to spread the “Chất – Mới – Yêu” values to all employees. Lively debate and creative proposals for internal communication channels made for an inspiring academic environment.

Why it matters

Inviting industry experts and CEOs as guest speakers helps students understand the role of PR in building trust (“Built the TRUST”) and equips them to handle real management situations. For MBA students – tomorrow's leaders – it is a valuable opportunity to learn modern people-management thinking: “Technology can be copied, but people and culture cannot.”

According to the School of Business Administration, its continued engagement with respected experts reaffirms the quality of its programmes and its commitment to a dynamic academic environment where scholarly knowledge is constantly enriched by the realities of the global economy.

Source: School of Business Administration – VNU University of Economics and Business.