Among those companies honoured, 17 were given the gold medals, while the remainder received the silver.
In addition, the Ba Ria Vung Tau Urban Sewerage and Development Co. Ltd (BUSADCO), the Tien Phong Plastic Joint Stock Company, and the Agrimex Nghe An Joint Stock Company were presented with the 2012 Global Performance Excellence Award (GPEA) by the Asia-Pacific Quality Organisation (APQO).

Speaking at the ceremony, Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Thien Nhan stressed that the award is the recognition of Vietnamese enterprises’ efforts in a difficult economic situation.

He expressed his hope that it will drive Vietnam’s 400,000 active businesses to improve product quality and to build a good reputation in domestic and international markets.

It is also necessary to improve the award’s quality to attract more enterprises to compete, he added.
Award winners were selected on criteria, which are similar to seven criteria of the US Malcolm Baldrige Award.

More than 1,400 businesses have been presented certificates of merit since the awards were launched in 1996.