Recent Developments in Vietnamese Business and Finance, is the first volume in the series titled Vietnam and the Global Economy. This edited volume is a collection of papers presented at the International Conference on Business and Finance (ICBF) 2019, organized by the Institute of Business Research (IBR), University of Economics Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, and focuses on recent issues in business and finance with Vietnam as the main focus of study. The book covers various issues from innovation to gender equality and the banking sector, with analyses on the policies and managerial implications.
This 2019 Article IV Consultation with Vietnam highlights that gradual fiscal consolidation, strict limits on government guarantees and robust growth in recent years have led to declining government debt, expected to continue under current policies. But while there is some fiscal space, fiscal needs are large, for infrastructure, social spending and to deal with population aging. The tightening of credit growth continued in 2018; however, liquidity remained ample, aided by the strong balance of payments and tight fiscal policies. The State Bank of Vietnam has initiated plans to modernize its monetary framework with IMF technical support. The authorities’ efforts to improve economic institutions and governance continue and the fight against grand corruption has resulted in significant sentences in recent high-profile cases. Improvements in transparency and statistical systems are underway, with support from the IMF and the Financial Action Task Force’s Asia Pacific Group.
"Recent Developments in Vietnamese Business and Finance, is the first volume in the series titled Vietnam and the Global Economy. This edited volume is a collection of papers presented at the International Conference on Business and Finance (ICBF) 2019, organized by the Institute of Business Research (IBR), University of Economics Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, and focuses on recent issues in business and finance with Vietnam as the main focus of study. The book covers various issues from innovation to gender equality and the banking sector, with analyses on the policies and managerial implications"--
Thirty years of Ä?ổi Má»›i (economic renovation) reforms have catapulted Vietnam from the ranks of the world’s poorest countries to one of its great development success stories. Critical ingredients have been visionary leaders, a sense of shared societal purpose, and a focus on the future. Starting in the late 1980s, these elements were successfully fused with the embrace of markets and the global economy. Economic growth since then has been rapid, stable, and inclusive, translating into strong welfare gains for the vast majority of the population. But three decades of success from reforms raises expectations for the future, as aptly captured in the Vietnamese constitution, which sets the goal of “a prosperous people and a strong, democratic, equitable, and civilized country.†? There is a firm aspiration that by 2035, Vietnam will be a modern and industrialized nation moving toward becoming a prosperous, creative, equitable, and democratic society. The Vietnam 2035 report, a joint undertaking of the Government of Vietnam and the World Bank Group, seeks to better comprehend the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead. It shows that the country’s aspirations and the supporting policy and institutional agenda stand on three pillars: balancing economic prosperity with environmental sustainability; promoting equity and social inclusion to develop a harmonious middle- class society; and enhancing the capacity and accountability of the state to establish a rule of law state and a democratic society. Vietnam 2035 further argues that the rapid growth needed to achieve the bold aspirations will be sustained only if it stands on faster productivity growth and reflects the costs of environmental degradation. Productivity growth, in turn, will benefit from measures to enhance the competitiveness of domestic enterprises, scale up the benefits of urban agglomeration, and build national technological and innovative capacity. Maintaining the record on equity and social inclusion will require lifting marginalized groups and delivering services to an aging and urbanizing middle-class society. And to fulfill the country’s aspirations, the institutions of governance will need to become modern, transparent, and fully rooted in the rule of law.
Rent seeking continues to be a topic of much discussion and debate within the political economy. This new study challenges previous assumptions and sets out a new analysis of the dynamics of rent and rent seeking in development, using Vietnam as a case study. This book provides an alternative approach to the study of economic development and illuminates new perspectives in a contemporary context. It argues that not only has there been an incomplete understanding of Vietnam’s industrial development over the last three decades, but that neoclassical economics do not adequately address many of the issues endangering Vietnam’s development. A significant observation of the Vietnamese experience is the analytical view that rents can be developmental and growth enhancing if the configuration of rent management incentivizes industrial upgrade and conditions firm performance. Underlining the need to reexamine how economic actors and the state collaborate through formal and informal institutions, this study fills a gap in the scholarship of the political economy of rent and rent seeking and how rents might be used for developmental purposes.
The demand for workforce skills is changing in Vietnam’s dynamic economy. In addition to job-specific skills, Vietnamese employers value cognitive skills, like problem solving, and behavioral skills, like team work. This book presents an agenda of change for Vietnam’s education system to prepare workers to succeed in Vietnam’s modernizing economy.
Despite starting as one of the poorest countries in the mid-1980s, Vietnam has achieved rapid developmental progress, reaching lower middle-income status in 2010. In line with rapid economic growth, Vietnam has achieved impressive progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) during this time. This paper sheds light on some elements of Vietnam’s success story, highlighting crucial policies in education and electricity sectors. It undertakes a forward-looking costing exercise that focusses on five sectors – education, health, roads, water, and electricity infrastructure. Achieving the remaining SDGs in Vietnam will be a challenge, with total annual additional spending needs in the 5 subsectors estimated at 7 percent of GDP by 2030.
This book is a collection of high-impact papers accepted and presented at the 2019 Vietnam’s Business and Economics Research Conference (VBER2019) organised by Ho Chi Minh City Open University held on 18th–20th July 2019. The Special Issue is associated with a broad coverage of the contemporary issues in Business and Economics in Vietnam and other emerging markets reflecting a key theme of VBER2019: Vietnam’s Place in the Asia Pacific Region. A total of 14 papers were published from more than the 120 submissions to the VBER2019 Conference. Published papers had been undergone a rigorous reviewing process conducted by the Journal of Risk and Financial Management. The papers incorporated in this book address contemporary issues in business and economics from Vietnam and other emerging markets in the Asian region from various angles such as economics, finance, and statistics to management science. At the time of writing this note, some of the papers have attracted more than 1000 downloads in 3 months. In particular, a paper on “Foreign Direct Investment and Economic Growth from Developing Countries in the Short Run and Long Run” by Trang Thi-Huyen Dinh and her team has attracted almost 6000 downloads in 3 months. These statistics indicate that the papers published in this Special Issue have attracted the wide interest of readers. Among these 14 published papers, three main areas of important contemporary issues in Business and Economics in the Asian region can be identified. First, a block of papers deals with various important and fundamental issues in the emerging markets the Asian region, from exchange rate regime, financial inclusion, and financial development to energy consumption and environmental degradation. On the issue of CO2 emissions, energy consumption and economic growth in the ASEAN, Vo, Vo, and Le utilized various time series econometrics approaches. Key findings from this paper indicate that there are no long-run relationships among carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, energy consumption, renewable energy, population growth, and economic growth in the Philippines and Thailand, but a relationship does exist in Indonesia, Myanmar, and Malaysia. Loo, in his paper on financial inclusion for the ASEAN, concluded that advancing internet capability and availability present investors an opportunity to offer financial technology or Fintech to meet the need for financial services in this digital era. Second, a challenge in quantitative studies for a single country, such as Vietnam, with limited data is generally noted. However, various empirical studies on Vietnam’s business and economics issues have been conducted. Nguyen, Quan, and Pham examined the cultural distance and entry mode of foreign direct investment in Vietnam. A key finding from their paper is that when there is a great cultural difference between Vietnam and their home country, foreign-invested firms prefer wholly owned subsidiaries over equity joint ventures. Within the Vietnamese market, Pham, Vo, Ho, and McAleer conducted a study on the issue of corporate financial distress. The authors conclude that the corporate financial distress prediction model, which includes accounting factors with macroeconomic indicators, performs much better than alternative models. In addition, the evidence confirms that the global financial crisis (GFC) had a damaging impact on each sector, with the Health & Education sector demonstrating the most impressive recovery post-GFC, and the utilities sector recording a dramatic increase in bankruptcies post-GFC. At another extreme of the spectrum, Van and Nguyen considered that competitive context, social influences, the understanding of managers about corporate social responsibility (CSR), and the internal environment of companies are the four drivers of CSR. The authors also argued that in the four drivers, competitive context has the strongest impact on adopting CSR. Third, last but not least, various papers focus on an important aspect of public finance. For an example, Pham, Pham, and Ly documented the effect of double taxation treaties on the bilateral trade of Vietnam with ASEAN member states, thereby making an extensive comparison with its EU partner countries. Their findings indicate the significant contributions of the tax treaties to Vietnam’s trade performance, not exclusively with ASEAN but also with EU partner countries. In addition, regarding public finance for Vietnam, Nguyen, Vo, Ho, and Vo investigated the contribution of fiscal decentralisation to economic growth across provinces in Vietnam. For the first time in Vietnam, the fiscal decentralisation index together its two subcomponents, including fiscal importance and fiscal autonomy, are developed. Findings from this paper indicate that while fiscal importance and an overall level of fiscal decentralisation have provided negative impact on provincial economic growth, fiscal autonomy has a positive impact on economic growth across provinces in Vietnam.
These previously unpublished papers by leading American and Vietnamese economists analyze the dramatic transformation of Vietnam's economy during the 1990s and its prospects for the future. The three main sections of the book discuss Vietnam's turbulent history, recent economic reforms, and the country's emerging role in the world economy and geopolitics. The contributors examine a myriad of issues, including specific reforms in agriculture, banking, and tax policy, as well as the attempts to create a business-oriented legal infrastructure, the development of foreign trade and a viable balance of payments, and U.S. policy reactions to Vietnam's rapid development in the last decade.
This Handbook presents recent trends and new developments in Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) research within the realms of business, finance, and sustainability. Divided into three distinct parts, it encompasses 19 chapters that offer insightful studies conducted in diverse national environments and organizational settings.Part I focuses on DEA applications in business, including healthcare, supply chain management, and governmental organizations. Part II delves into the application of DEA in banking and finance, providing valuable insights into the efficiency and performance of financial institutions. Part III explores DEA's diverse applications in sustainability, addressing topics such as sustainability indicators, resource mobilization, food production, and farming. In essence, this Handbook stands as an invaluable reference work for stakeholders seeking to optimize organizational efficiency and performance across a variety of sectors.
