When Vo Van Dai started working at Vietnam’s Van Phan Dien Chau fish sauce company in the late 1980s, the state-run firm comprised five departments overseen by 18 managers. By the time he rose up the ranks to take charge of the company after its privatisation in 2000, the Nghe An province-based firm had slashed management by two-thirds.

During the same time, revenues exploded tenfold to over 20 billion dong (US$860,000) and the regular workforce more than doubled to 180 employees.

Read the full article on the South China Morning Post.