This study aims at discovering the relationship between the improvement in the capacity of tax authorities and its effect on the transfer pricing activities of foreign direct investment (FDI) enterprises in four provinces/cities of Vietnam: Ha Noi, Ho Chi Minh, Dong Nai, and Binh Duong province. These are the first localities in Vietnam to establish the Division of Transfer Pricing Inspectorate in local Tax Department, under the direction of General Department of Taxation of Vietnam. The paper then proposes a further study on how the tax authorities of Vietnam should improve their capacities to make FDI enterprises more compliant with the transfer pricing regulations in Vietnam. The authors deploy the method of quantitative research through collecting self-administered closed format questionnaires from people in charge of finance/accounting/transfer pricing of FDI enterprises operating in Ha Noi, Ho Chi Minh, Dong Nai, and Binh Duong province of Vietnam. The findings suggest that there was a strong probability that the capacity of tax authorities would impact on the transfer pricing activities of FDI enterprises in Ha Noi, Ho Chi Minh, Dong Nai, and Binh Duong of Vietnam. Vietnamese Government should enhance the capacity of the tax authorities; establish Transfer Pricing Inspectorate Division in all local Tax Departments of Vietnam. The authors believe that the improvement of tax officials’ capacity especially those in charge of transfer pricing auditing will prevent the FDI enterprises from transfer pricing manipulation, hence these enterprises will be more compliant to transfer pricing regulations of Vietnam. The most significant value of the study is to support Vietnamese policymakers, especially those in the field of Finance (Ministry of Finance, General Department of Taxation) to improve their capacity when carrying out transfer pricing audit in FDI enterprises. The more transparent and aggressive the tax officials are, the better these enterprises follow the regulations.

Arsenic in drinking water is a severe public health risk in Vietnam especially in the Red River Delta (RRD), northern Vietnam. Located in the RRD, Hanam is the most affected province by arsenic contamination of groundwater. Several programs have been initiated and implemented in Vietnam especially in the rural areas to address the problems of arsenic in drinking water, among those piped water from centralized water plants. However, it is the fact that like many developing countries, in Vietnam efforts have been focused mainly on engineering aspect of technologies, while the nature of water users’ needs is neglected. This study assessed the determinants of piped water connection in arsenic contaminated areas of the RRD based on a field survey of 443 households in Hanam province. We found that, most of the respondents in RRD were aware of arsenic contaminated water but did not have deep knowledge on the issue and long-term health effect of consuming arsenic contaminated water. Connection fee, arsenic awareness index and household expenditure presented the most influential factors affecting the decision of getting connected. We discussed the implication of connection subsidies, awareness raising and collective action policy for providing safe water for the welfare of all society.

Culture is a powerful tool to communicate values and promote objectives of public interest that are broader than wealth creation. The economy of culture entails both cultural and creative sectors. The contribution of the culture to the economy has gradually been acknowledged, with the development of the cultural industries. Using the input output table methods, this research presents one way of measuring the economy of culture focusing on the impact of final consumptions of culture industry’s output on the growth of value added (GDP). Also, this study employs forward and backward linkage indicators of cultural industry that reveals the relationship between the cultural industry and other sectors in the economy. With the data from 2007, 2012 and 2016 input – output tables, the results show that although the contribution of cultural product consumption to the GDP is less than other sectors, the contribution of the cultural consumption to economic growth is quite high. The power of dispersion index of cultural industry in both 2012 and 2016 is quite high and nearly equal to 1, meaning that a unit of cultural industry change will lead to one unit of change in other industries, thus in turn leads to double the number of changes in value added of the whole economy.

The study examines how loan growth affects performance of banks, in the form of credit risk, bank profitability and bank solvency in Vietnam during the period from 2006 to 2017. Overall, the regression results by both static and dynamic panel data models provide some evidence that loan growth indicators could have the great impacts on bank performance. In particular, growth in lending increases loan loss provisions from 2 to 3 subsequent years, lowers bank capital ratio the next year; while bank profitability gains positive effects from loan growth both in the short term and long term. These findings show the robustness when applying alternative estimation techniques. The study emphasizes the importance of caution in expanding lending activities aggressively as well as it provides implications for banks in terms of risk governance and capital management.

The literature addresses the link between command and control environmental regulation and environmental performance. However, there is a lack of attention paid to how environmental strategy plays a mediating role in this relationship. In addition, the environmental research in the context of third-party logistics service providers seems to be underexplored. Thus, through the theoretical lens of institutional theory and contingency theory, this study examines the mediating role of environmental strategy on the relationship command and control environmental regulation and environmental performance. Data were collected from small and medium enterprises operating in the logistics industry of Vietnam and partial least square structural equation modeling was employed to examine the proposed hypotheses. The result indicates the full mediating effects of environmental strategy on the link between command and control environmental regulation and environmental performance. In this regard, this study contributes to growing empirical evidence showing that the link between environmental regulation and environmental performance is indirect through mediators. Besides, this study also extends the current knowledge of environmental strategy pursued by third-party logistics providers.

This study was conducted with the aim of assessing the impact of corporate social responsibility on supply chain performance through corporate reputation. The study also evaluates the effect of corporate social responsibility on corporate reputation and firm performance. The study made over 507 observations from businesses in the textile, seafood and food industries in Vietnam. The data was analyzed using SmartPLS 3.6 software, and the results showed that corporate reputation plays a full mediator role in the relationship between corporate social responsibility and supply chain performance. Corporate social responsibility has a positive impact on corporate reputation and firm performance. Finally, we offer recommendations to help businesses implement corporate social responsibility more effectively.

This study was conducted to measure the level of economic linkage in key economic zones in central Vietnam generally and to measure the level of economic linkage in the tourism sector. Secondary data were collected from the Statistical Yearbook published by the General Statistics Office and the Local Bureau of Statistics and primary data collected from surveys of 102 hotels and tourism firms in the center of Vietnam. We used the Moran Index (I) to quantify overall economic aggregation across the region and that scoring method was used to measure the degree of linkage in regional tourism. The results show that the level of overall regional economic linkages was very low and this was also relevant when analyzing the tourism sector in some areas of the center of Vietnam. Based on the results, some recommendations are given for strengthening economic linkages in key economic regions of Vietnam.

The paper studies the monetary approach to exchange rate for a group of five Pacific Basin economies, using quarterly data for the period of post – Asian financial crisis. Estimated results reveal that for Thailand and the Indonesia which were most affected by Asian financial crisis, monetary model did not work for explaining exchange rate movements. For Korea and Malaysia, the results show that there were long-run relationships between exchange rates and their monetary variables. However, the proportionality hypothesis of exchange rate to relative money supply did not hold for the two countries. Conversely, for Vietnam, it appears that the monetary model worked well in explaining exchange rate movements. Especially, the estimated coefficients of money and output variables are consistent with any traditional variants of monetary model.

Prior studies suggest that differentiating strategy (DS) has an intervening impact on the relationship between entrepreneurial orientation (EO) and performance. However, they only examine the impacts based on each dimension of EO, provide a lack of theory underpinning why this strategy is the mediator, and focus on the manufacturing industry of an emerging market. Addressing these gaps, the purpose of this study draws from the contingency theory in strategic management to examine whether this strategy is the mediator in the context of Vietnam. Partial least square structural equation modeling used to assess the research model with data collected from 142 SMEs operating in Vietnam. The result indicates that DS fully has an intervening effect on the association between EO and SMEs' performance.

Project management tools and techniques provide the efficiency and effectiveness in managing and handling the projects. Many tools and techniques have been discovered and applied widely for a long period of time among project managers around the world with great contributions to the success of projects. Vietnam is a developing country and has become an attractive hub for national and international business opportunities. Consequently, there has been an increasing development and expansion of business projects in Vietnam. The purpose of this study is to analyze the use of project management tools and techniques in Vietnam. More specifically, this study aims at investigating: 1) the awareness of business people related to projects, 2) the application of project management tools and techniques within the organization and 3) the challenging obstacles that have prevented organizations in using the tools and techniques. The mixed-method methodology is employed to collect and analyze the data. This study uses interview and questionnaire techniques to collect the data for the study. Several companies in different industries in Vietnam participated in collection of the data. The findings of the study indicate lack of indepth understanding and recognition of project and project management tools and techniques in Vietnamese businesses. The term “project” has not yet become popular in Vietnam. Hence, companies in Vietnam have been facing many obstacles with the application of project management tools and techniques affected on the performance of the projects. The study suggests that the definition and recognition of Project Man-agement should go beyond the current assumption of the Vietnamese business people. Better exercises and practices of the concept of Project Management can benefit the local and international companies. Achieving higher awareness of projects and project management tools can significantly improve economic success of Vietnam.