• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
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• v.7 no.11
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• pp.1033-1039
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• 2020

Vietnam is conducting an export-led growth model and labour-intensive industries contributing majorly to the total export value. In the context of Industry 4.0, the labour-based industries are significantly affected; hence, enhancing productivity is the key measure to maintain these industries. The garment industry contributes significantly to the total export value of Vietnam. Based on meta-frontier framework, the approach of data envelopment analysis is used to measure technical efficiency of Vietnamese garment firms and the global Malmquist TFP index is utilised to identify productivity change and its components including efficiency, technology and technical gaps between different groups of firms. The data of Vietnamese garment firms from 2013 to 2018 collected from the Vietnam General Statistic Office is used in this study. The results show that: (i) The total factor productivity of Vietnamese garment firms growth, technical progress is the main contributor; (ii) The private garment sector is the leading group; (iii) There is a large technological gap among Vietnamese garment sectors. The private and FDI garment firms have experienced a growth in all components of total factor productivity change. Meanwhile, technological progress change is the main reason to constrain the productivity growth of state-owned garment firms.

• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
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• v.7 no.7
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• pp.391-401
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• 2020

The objective of this study is to prioritize the Total Quality Management (TQM) factors based on fuzzy Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) method in Vietnamese supporting industries. Through an in-depth literature review, eight criteria were identified. These criteria were then divided into 32 sub-criteria. The fuzzy AHP is used to determine the percent weightings of eight categories of performance criteria that were identified via a review of the quality-management literature. These criteria include management commitment, role of the quality department, training and education, continuous improvement, quality policies, quality data and reporting, communication to improve quality, and customer satisfaction orientation. An empirical analysis of the criteria of each stage using the fuzzy AHP methodology and the expert opinion of quality management are used to evaluate the percent weightings of the criteria and sub-criteria that are synonymous with TQM implementation. The results showed that management commitment is the most critical factor; among sub-criteria, supports and responsibilities of top management is the most important. The study also identified the rank order of critical success factors of TQM. The findings suggest a generic hierarchy model for organizations to prioritize the critical factors and formulate strategies for implementing TQM in supporting industries, as well as other industries in Vietnam.

• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.47-58
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• 2020

The research aims to investigate the determinants of the financial performance of 1343 Vietnamese companies categorized into six different industries listed on the Vietnamese Stock Exchange over a four-year period from 2014 to 2017 using STATA software. Those determinants include firm size, liquidity, solvency, financial leverage, and financial adequacy while the financial performance is evaluated by three different ratios: return on assets (ROA), return on equity (ROE), and return on sales (ROS). The research results from these companies during the given period indicate that: (1) Firm size has a positive impact on both ROA and ROS, especially ROA but it has the opposite effect on ROE, (2) Adequacy ratio impacts positively on ROA and ROS but negatively on ROE, (3) Financial leverage considerably negative influences on ROE and ROS but positively impacts on ROA, (4) Liquidity has a positive effect on both ROA and ROE but a negative one on ROS and (5) Solvency has a positive impact on ROA and ROS but the negative impact on ROE. Furthermore, agriculture accounted for the highest percentage of profitability at the beginning, which was replaced by service for ROA but manufacture for ROE from 2016 to 2017 as opposed to the least in transportation.

• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
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• v.8 no.7
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• pp.91-101
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• 2021

The paper examines the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the stock market prices. The vector autoregression model (VAR) has been used in this analysis to survey 341 stocks on the Ho Chi Minh City Stock Exchange (HOSE) for the period from January 23, 2020 to December 31, 2020. The empirical results obtained from the analysis of 11 economic sectors suggest that there is a statistically significant impact relationship between COVID-19 and the healthcare and utility industries. Additional findings show a statistically significant negative impact of COVID-19 on the utility share price at lag 1. Analysis of impulse response function (IRF) and forecast error variance decomposition (FEVD) show an inverse reaction of utility stock prices to the impact of COVID-19 and a gradual disappearing shock after two steps. Major findings show that there is a clear negative effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on share prices, and the daily increase in the number of confirmed cases, indicate that, in future disease outbreaks, early containment measures and positive responses are necessary conditions for governments and nations to protect stock markets from excessive depreciation. Utility stocks are among the most severely impacted shares on financial exchanges during a pandemic due to the high risk of immediate or irreversible closure of manufacturing lines and poor demand for basic amenities.

• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
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• v.8 no.9
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• pp.235-247
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• 2021

The objective of this paper is to clarify the relationship between ICT application and labor productivity in Vietnamese manufacturing firms and connect it with the context of economic restructuring in Vietnam. The study uses data of 3,428 manufacturing firms from the General Statistics Office of Vietnam and regression models. In addition to the general model, the study also runs the models for sub-samples of firms of different production technology levels. Research results show two main points. First, information technology can enhance the labor productivity of Vietnamese manufacturing firms. This is true for both ICT hardware applications, ICT services, ICT software solutions, and employees' ICT skills in firms. Second, manufacturing firms with higher levels of production technology use ICT more effectively and achieve a higher impact on labor productivity. The results confirm that the Vietnamese government can stimulate ICT application and digital transformation in firms, thereby increasing labor productivity and promoting economic restructuring in the direction of shifting from agriculture to industry and from low-tech industries to high-tech ones. The results also provide implications for business managers and policymakers in other developing countries who are adopting the digital economy as a development strategy.

• The Southeast Asian review
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.163-191
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• 2017

This article aims to review the recent, especially focusing on the year of 2016, situations and prospects of the Vietnamese politics, economy, and international relations. Politically, Vietnam completed the election of members for the National Assembly and organized new leadership at the 12th National Congress of the Vietnamese Communist Party in 2016. One characteristic of the new leadership is that the politicians, especially the members of politburo, from the North continue to occupy the position of majority. The other one is that the new leadership promised to carry out the restructuring of economy toward industries producing higher value-added commodities even though Vietnam industries admittedly need to accelerate present industrialization and modernization as a developing country under the seemingly contradictory slogan of "the development of market economy for socialism." The declared goals of the new leadership in Vietnam are inevitable in a sense since the development of Vietnamese economy has been heavily dependent upon Foreign Direct Investment(FDI) taking advantage of Vietnamese cheap labor and simultaneously it is evident that its future is unsecure if it maintains status quo. In fact, the Vietnamese economy has impressively showed high growth rate by the help of foreign capitals since 1990s despite the repetitive recessions of global economy but its growth is not likely to be sustainable anymore if it will not reduce foreign dependency and social economic inequality in a long term. In a short run, global economic recession, the financial and monetary policies of global powers, and recent protectionism and uncertainty of trade agreements will be three crucial variables to affect Vietnamese economy. In terms of international relations, Vietnam is continuously expected to practise the policy of checks and balances among the powerful countries. Vietnam has seriously disputed with China on islands sovereignty in the South China Sea and attempted to maintain close relationship with other powerful countries including especially America. However, mainly due to the new protectionism by the regime of American president Donald Trump, the Vietnamese government also need to keep close relationship with China increasingly for both economic and diplomatic security. Under the circumstances, Vietnam is expected to maintain more practical and balanced international relations.

• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
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• v.7 no.2
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• pp.75-87
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• 2020

This paper aims to not only investigate the nature of financial security and its measurement, but also to compare financial security level in 629 listed companies divided into four different industries (materials, industrials, health care, and consumer goods) before building a theoretical framework and regression models to examine the determinants of financial security. By gathering 2,167 financial statements published in Vietnamese Stock Exchange during eight years from 2012 to 2019, with the support of STATA, the research results indicate that six different internal factors, which are liquidity, profitability, firm size, debt management ratios, asset management ratios, and cash flows, explain 77.7% the change of financial security ratio and 3.4% the change in sustainable growth ratio. Specifically, while firm size has a positive impact on sustainable growth ratio but a negative impact on financial security ratio, deb management and profitability have an insignificant influence on the financial security level. Furthermore, an increase in asset management ratios would result positively in both two dependent variables whereas a rise in sustainable growth and a decline in financial security ratio are expected to witness if there is an increase in cash flows.

• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
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• v.8 no.5
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• pp.607-616
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• 2021

The European Union Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA) took effect on August 1 paving the way for increased trade between the EU and Vietnam; this marked a huge turning point for the Vietnamese economy. Agriculture products, especially fruits, must be listed when it comes to Vietnam export industries that profit the most from EVFTA. After a period of study, with the desire to contribute to the improvement in the efficiency of Vietnam's agricultural products to the EU, the researchers want to assess the impact of the EVFTA on the flows of Vietnamese fruits to the EU market. The study uses a quantitative analysis method via the WITS-SMART model with data on export turnover and tariff reductions in parallel with the analysis of changes in factors affecting the trade flows of fruits between the two markets when the EVFTA takes effect. As a result, Vietnam's fruit importing from the EU is expected to escalate by 29.18% in 2021, while the flow of export will only inch up by 0.955%, which is rather low compare to the increase in import value. Hence, effective policies must be introduced in Vietnam to innovate production methods and increase product quality, so that the EVFTA can be used to boost Vietnam's fruit exports to the EU.

• Fashion, Industry and Education
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.11-23
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• 2016

This study investigated the comparative advantages of the Bangladeshi and Vietnamese apparel industries using Global Value Chain (GVC) framework. In this study, the GVC framework was expanded to include social and environmental sustainability issues. Secondary data, for the 2012 - 2013 period, were collected and analyzed for each component of the apparel GVC. The findings indicated that while both countries have unique comparative advantages, Vietnam clearly emerged as a leader on many GVC components. Bangladesh's comparative advantage lies in lower wages, producing high volume orders, and lean manufacturing. In spite of Vietnam's higher labor costs, it has comparative advantages in higher productivity, skilled and trained workers, manufacturing of intricate styles of high quality, agility and flexible manufacturing, more developed infrastructure and logistic services as well as greater social and environmental compliances. This study contributes towards insight into best sourcing fit for fashion brand business models. Based on the findings, fashion driven companies offering more complex styles at a faster rate will benefit from choosing Vietnam. In contrast, Bangladesh might be a better choice for high volume driven companies that offer basic apparel and better value for their consumers. From theoretical perspective, the research makes an important contribution by expanding the GVC framework.

• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
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• v.9 no.7
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• pp.101-108
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• 2022

The outbreak of Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has caused serious impacts not only on human health but also on the economies around the world. Enterprises play an important role in the development of every country but it is also one of the most affected sectors during the pandemic. Drawing on panel data of 131 enterprises listed on the Vietnamese stock exchange from 2016Q1 to 2021Q3, this study aims to investigate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on firm performance. Enterprises are classified into seven industries including Agriculture, Material, Industry, Real estate and Construction, Energy, Consumer, and Service. The paper also analyzes the variation of the effects among companies, focusing on differences in revenue and capital structure. The results show that the COVID-19 pandemic negatively affects business performance. In addition, the empirical findings indicate that revenue and debt decreasing can cause deterioration of firm performance during the pandemic period. The decrease in revenue has a direct impact on firm profitability. The reduction of debt levels affects the corporate leverage leading to adverse effects on firm performance. The negative effect is more pronounced for companies in some specific sectors including industry, real estate, construction, consumption, and services.