• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
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• v.6 no.3
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• pp.131-140
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• 2019

The study aims to examine the impact of productivity in addition to the policy of increasing the foreign investors' ownership rate on the performance of businesses which were listed on Vietnam's stock exchange market from 2010 to 2017. With the database of 3.961 observations, the study employs a statistical method - multiple regression to estimate the relationship between labor productivity, foreign ownership as well as other firm-level characteristics and firm performance. Research findings show that increasing labor productivity and increasing foreign ownership rates help increase firm performance. In addition, except for financial leverage, variables such as liquidity and firm size have positive effects on firm performance measured by Tobin's Q. These findings have theoretical contributions and practical implications for managers, investors and government in Vietnam. Managers should pay attention to improving labor productivity through employing incentive mechanisms, building a good working environment, investing in technology, etc. in order to enhance the firm performance. Investors could utilize the labor productivity and foreign ownership indicators to select stocks of good companies for investment. For Vietnamese government, relaxing the limit of foreign ownership and accelerating the divesting of State capital in State-owned enterprises could help increase the investment scale of foreign investors and resulting in positive effects on the firm performance.

• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.873-882
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• 2021

The study investigates the key factors that affect the adoption of the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) by companies listed on Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange (HOSE) in Vietnam. The factors that are studied in this research include total debt-to-equity ratio, firm size, return-on-equity ratio, audit quality, foreign investment, and financial institution category. The authors have utilized quantitative and qualitative analyses in combination with a logistics regression model and other available analytical tools for conducting the research. All statistics processed in the paper were based on 379 audited financial statements issued in 2018. The results reveal that factors like firm size, return on equity (ROE), audit quality, foreign investment, and financial institution category positively affect the IFRS adoption of HOSE-listed companies, while total debt-to-equity ratio negatively impacts the adoption. The findings suggest Vietnamese law and policy-makers, when promoting the adoption of IFRS by listed companies, should focus more on five variables with positive influence and they can disregard the total debt-to-equity ratio that is insignificant as a factor affecting the adoption of IFRS. This implication could be applied for other firms in Vietnam and for enterprises in other countries, which are in the same stage of IFRS application.

• Asia-Pacific Journal of Business Venturing and Entrepreneurship
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.167-178
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• 2021

The purpose of this study is to analyze the direct investment decision factors in the Kaesong Industrial Complex and Vietnam, and to contribute to the creation of domestic jobs and the revitalization of the inter-Korean economy. According to the analysis, most of the Kaesong Industrial Complex and Vietnamese investment companies are entering the complex for the purpose of utilizing cheap labor, cheap factory locations, sales/development of local markets, and bypass export production bases in third countries. This can be divided into production-efficient investors using differences in production price such as labor costs and market-oriented investors to sell and expand the local market, which seems to be consistent with global direct investment patterns such as Nike, Apple, and Amazon. However, even if the North Korea-U.S. denuclearization talks ease or lift sanctions, Vietnamese investors' willingness to invest in the North Korea has been most burdened by the possibility of closing special economic zones due to political risks. Last but not least, it is important to note that those willing to invest in North Korea are mostly smaller enterprises in textiles, sewing, footwear and leather industries-those that benefit from low-cost labor. Since their size is small, they need policy support in financing, especially in the early stages of their business. Even after they grow past the early stages, those without collateral would still need state guarantee letters to get financing. Thus, it is worth considering to use the Inter-Korean Cooperation Fund to compensate commercial banks for bad loan loss or for low-interest loans for smaller SMEs. The interviews with SMEs found that red-tape is one of the biggest difficulties they face. Thus, it is recommended that a one-stop service agency should be established to cover all processes and issues related to inter-Korean economic cooperation to eliminate redundancy and expediate government support for SMEs.

• International Area Studies Review
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.101-124
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• 2017

This study is to examine the current situation of the AEC (ASEAN Economic Community) and analyze macroeconomic situation of Vietnam since the launch of AEC. According to recent trade indicators, Vietnam is expected to be more productive in the manufacturing and processing sectors because it is at the heart of the global value chains (GVCs) in electronics, telephones, and textiles and shoes industry. Vietnam has signed or is negotiating free trade agreements with various countries around the world including Korea, Israel, EU and RCEP and so on. Therefore, it is expected that Vietnam's trade dependency and FDI inflows to Vietnam increase more and more. However, the fact that the proportion of exports by foreign-invested companies accounts for about 70% of the total exports implies the uncertainty of Vietnam's economy in the future. Attracting FDI investment can further reduce the competitiveness of domestic companies in Vietnam. Therefore, in order for Vietnam to maintain sustainable development in the future, it is necessary to reform the momentum of foreign-invested enterprises to the development of Vietnamese companies.