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In Lai Xá Village, Vietnam, studio photography is the village handicraft. Counter to Walter Benjamin's characterization of the click of a button, privileging eye over hand, but typical of many craft traditions, photographers there describe painstaking apprenticeships through which they learned to master the tools and materials of their craft. They learned to compensate for the shifting properties of light, climate, humidity, and irregular supplies of electricity, chemicals and printing paper, and adapted to changing regimes of technique and labor organization. As in many other craft traditions, apprentices often acquired their most valuable knowledge by stealth. We argue that studio photography belongs within contemporary discussions of craft as a handed, adaptive, engaged, small-scale social practice, and that craft awareness enables a richer ethnographic understanding of the work of studio photographers, both material and social. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using two waves (2013, 2015) of the Micro, Small, and Medium sized Enterprises (MSMEs) survey of Vietnamese manufacturing firms, this paper first explores what drives firms' decision to have a domestic standards certificate, taking into account a rich number of factors related to the cost and expected benefits of certification as well as institutional factors. It further explores the presence of a positive and significant effect of domestic certificates on firm growth, testing whether these serve as signalling devices for desirable attributes under information asymmetry. Evidence is indeed found for a signalling effect of domestic standards certification, being stronger for female-run businesses. Results hold even when controlling for international certifications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Plant essential oils have been used for hundreds of years as natural medicines to combat a multitude of pathogens, including bacteria, fungi, and viruses. The paper reports the chemical compositions of essential oil hydrodistilled from the leaves and rhizomes of Amomum unifolium Gagnep. from Vietnam. The main classes of compounds present in the essential oils were monoterpene hydrocarbons (10.1% and 23.9%, respectively), oxygenated monoterpenes (14.5% and 4.9%, respectively), sesquiterpene hydrocarbons (40.9% and 21.9%, respectively), and oxygenated sesquiterpenes (20.1% and 26.8%, respectively). Diterpenes (16.1%) were identified in sizeable proportion in the rhizome essential oil. The constituents occurring in higher amounts in the leaf essential oil were aromadendrene (6.9%), occidenol (6.8%), β-phellandrene (6.2%), β-elemene (5.7%), and δ-elemene (5.0%). However, the main compounds of the rhizome essential oil were β-phellandrene (18.5%), torulosol (16.1%), germacrene D (5.7%), α-cadinol (5.5%) and (6S, 7R)-bisabolene (5.1%). The leaf essential oil of A. unifolium displayed higher antibacterial activity than the rhizome oil. The leaf oil showed activity towards S. aureus ATCC 6538, and B. pumilus ATCC 14884, with MIC values of 75.0 μg/mL and 37.5 μg/mL, respectively. On the other hand, the rhizome essential oil displayed activity against the organisms at MIC value of 150.0 μg/mL. Both essential oils exhibited antibacterial activity to E. coli ATCC 8739, with MIC value of 150.0 μg/mL. The antimicrobial activity of A. unifolium essential oils are being reported for the first time as a confirmation of the ethnomedical uses of A. unifolium in the treatment of diseases especially antimicrobial infections. Furthermore, the paper discusses the chemotaxonomy of Amomum oil samples. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This special issue aims to advance our understanding of talent management in emerging market economies. The uniqueness of this special issue was that it invited and accepted contributions on talent management in emerging countries at multiple levels. At the macro level, i.e. from a country level perspective, given the prevalence of state intervention in emerging economies, we were interested in understanding the impact of state ownership/intervention on talent management in those markets. From a meso level, i.e. from a firm level perspective, we were interested in empirical evidence, as to how talent management contributes to performance in emerging markets. Finally, at a micro level, i.e. from an individual level, we were interested in empirical work on research topics such as the career expectations of talent in emerging markets, and the factors that determine the attractiveness of employers for employees in emerging markets. The papers that represented contextual data from lesser-represented emerging countries, were included in this special issue. More specifically, these papers contextually represented the emerging countries namely Nepal, Russia, The United Arab Emirates, Vietnam, Poland, Iraq and the last study included a collection of data from 19 African countries. We contribute through this editorial piece by comparing the seven papers included in this special issue to both, previous work in the last two decades or so (2000–2022), globally and within International Journal of Human Resource Management, and identify meaningful future research directions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper focuses on Vietnamese PhD students' imaginative geographies of their destination countries. Using the data collected from in-depth semi-structured interviews with 18 Vietnamese PhD students, the study examines the participants' preparation for their sojourn before their departure, as well as their first multi-sensory experiences of the study countries on the first days of arrival, which then revealed how their imaginative geographies had been constructed and how they perceived the contrast between their imaginative geographies and reality. The findings of the study suggest that when the students chose to study overseas, they had diverse imaginations of the destinations that had been constructed over long periods of time thanks to the influences of movies, newspapers, media, and experiences of those in their social networks. Furthermore, the paper also highlights the collective imagination about countries in the West and the imagination of the collective West among Vietnamese students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper focuses on the role of classroom observation in the development and assessment of schoolteachers in Vietnam through a narrative review of current policy and cognate research literature. The overall aim of this review was twofold. Firstly, to contribute to a growing bank of Vietnam-based studies to maximise the value of the insights from this scholarly work into recent policy reforms on teachers' professional development in Vietnam. Secondly, to widen access and exposure to published work on the topic in Vietnamese that is not readily accessible to English-speaking scholars. This review revealed a long history and engrained culture of using observation as a teacher performance evaluation tool. In recent years, there have been policy reforms and research studies that have repositioned observation as a tool for teacher learning and development. However, the implementation of these reforms has been inconsistent across Vietnam, along with recent reform having encountered resistance from a culture of compliance in schools. This paper identifies some of the key issues that policy makers and educational leaders need to address in practice in order to ensure the effective and meaningful implementation of the reforms relating to the use of observation for learning and developmental purposes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The 2019 Vietnamese Labour Law, coming into effect on 1 January 2021, allows for the establishment of workers' representative organisations, namely Internal Employee Organisations (IEOs), independent from official trade unions of the Vietnam General Confederation of Labour. This reflects widespread endemic industrial conflicts marked by illegal wildcat strikes led by unofficial workers' representatives in the absence of effective trade union representation. The new legislative framework can be seen as a significant step towards industrial democracy and there is the potential to see a change of course in Vietnamese industrial relations in regards to representative dynamics at the workplace level, with likely outcomes in terms of working conditions, law enforcement and conflict resolution to be assessed. However, more than two years have transpired since the legislation was enacted, no IEO has been established to date. This paper provides an in-depth analysis of why this is the case. It also demonstrates how the corporatist and authoritarian political system in Vietnam has adapted to sustain its longevity and legitimacy in the era of globalisation. Finally, the paper outlines a research agenda on the conditions of emergence, development and future function of IEOs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the ongoing debate on the interaction between the informal sector and agglomeration economies in cities, little is known about whether informal agglomeration generates the wage premium in cities in developing countries. This paper provides empirical evidence on the impacts of urbanization and localization, separated from formal and informal sources, on the earnings of informal workers and how the concentration of informal workers affects the wages of formal employees in cities in Vietnam. Using data from the 2013-2020 Vietnam Labor Force Surveys, this paper shows higher wages in bigger cities. In addition to workers' skills and local non-human endowment, agglomeration generates the wage premium in cities. Nevertheless, the impacts are different between small and large cities. Our results show that while informal workers benefit from urbanization and localization in large cities, their existence is over-concentrated in small cities and crowds out the formal sector in large cities of Vietnam. Thus, urban development policies should focus on the over-concentration of informal sector workers in cities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Vietnamese government announced the National Digital Transformation Programme by 2025 to invest in Artificial Intelligence (AI) development, to become one of the top players in Southeast Asia by 2030, challenging frontrunners like Indonesia and Singapore. Through educational policies such as establishing AI and data science majors in public universities, the country has started to nurture a domestic talent base. Research labs both within university systems as well as at private industry labs such as VinAI and FPT have recruited Vietnamese nationals as well as international researchers to bolster AI research that puts Vietnam on the global map of AI development. However, the country's pursuit is facing obstacles. Issues involve an AI talent shortage, weak intellectual property laws for solid and safe innovation, and unstable global venture capital funding. We argue that Vietnam could benefit from more policy learning on AI from other jurisdictions such as the European Union and China. Drawing on policy documents from these three jurisdictions, this paper aims to elucidate the core issues shaping the nation's AI development and governance strategies. Our findings shed light on the areas Vietnam should prioritise in order to propel itself into a significant role within the regional and international AI spheres. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Empowerment projects and research have focused on marginalised women, but often with less attention to the intersectional and relational conditions affecting their marginalisation. Ethnic minority women in Vietnam have multiple marginalising conditions, and they are targeted by government programmes to increase their participation in labour markets, their income, and their empowerment. Yet what the empowerment process looks like and achieves for these women is an important area for further study. This paper draws on a mixed-methods longitudinal study of an economic empowerment and livelihoods project that involved Hmong and Dao households in Vietnam. The quantitative data showed differences in women's and men's empowerment as measured on the A-WEAI, and among the different ethnic groups. Given these differences, we explored how power relations in the household and in the community affected Hmong and Dao women's empowerment differently. We used a relational capabilitiarian approach to analyse the relations between men and women as well as the community structures that affected empowerment and wellbeing. The analysis shows that women's and men's sharing of information, resources and workload are critical for improving women's livelihoods and wellbeing, but these processes look different for Hmong and Dao women, and they are affected by different social structures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The concept of social capital has gained significant attention in recent years due to its potential for improving individual and collective well-being, and for its significance in shaping social, economic, and political structures. This study aims to measure the social capital of rural Vietnam households with data from 2008 to 2016. The authors identified different aspects of household social capital as well as social capital proxies from livelihood papers. This paper applied the fundamental theories (the resource theories and network theories to measure the household social capital in Vietnam. We propose to apply the MIMIC model (multiple indicator multiple cause model) to construct the household social capital along with integrating the indicators in both views of household social capital. Results highlight the importance of understanding the multifaceted nature of social capital, which includes different forms of social networks, social participation, and social costs. The findings suggest that participation in diverse organizations plays a vital role in the formation of household social capital. In addition, the MIMIC model shows that participation in social networks is the most important factor in the formation of household social capital. Therefore, we give some implications for the measurement as well as characteristics in the social capital of households in Vietnam. The study contributes to the existing literature on social capital by emphasizing the importance of understanding the different aspects of social capital and how they interact with each other in shaping the livelihoods of rural Vietnamese households. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses various possibilities and perspectives for the future of Vietnamese CLE. Informed by the Vietnam Empirical Research and based on the current status of CLE in Vietnam, the paper has made suggestions for various directions for Vietnamese law schools to follow in addressing the challenges that face the adoption and incorporation of CLE in law curricula. These include choosing appropriate CLE models; designing CLE programs as accredited subjects in law curricula; and improving clinical supervision. In the current Vietnamese legal education system with various challenges, the Vietnam Empirical Research generally affirmed CLE as an appropriate educational strategy for the future. As the global advancement of CLE progresses, this opinion is widely and increasingly held among different legal education stakeholders in Vietnam. However, the success and long history of CLE elsewhere will not necessarily guarantee a similar result in Vietnam, given the differences in social, political, and legal systems. The future of Vietnamese CLE therefore will depend on how law schools, central government, relevant national agencies, and other legal education stakeholders in Vietnam regard and adopt clinical approaches in teaching law. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: This paper aimed to review and synthesise the qualitative research evidence on the experiences and perceptions of dementia in Vietnam and among the Vietnamese diaspora. Methods: Systematic searches were conducted in June 2019 using Medline, Embase, Emcare, PsycINFO and Cochrane electronic databases, as well as grey literature. Keywords and Medical Subject Headings [MeSH terms] for dementia and associated terms were combined with keywords for Vietnam and its provinces. Qualitative research articles published in English or Vietnamese were included to examine evidence on the life experiences of Vietnamese people with dementia using thematic analysis. Results: Our searches resulted in 3,940 papers, from which 21 qualitative research studies were included for final analysis. The majority of research has not been undertaken in Vietnam but with the Vietnamese diaspora in Western countries and has taken a cultural perspective to analyses. Research in Western countries has focused on the need for culturally adapted and culturally sensitive models of care. Emerging themes about the life experiences of Vietnamese people with dementia identified from the studies included: many people do not have diagnostic terms for dementia but use the descriptive language of symptoms; stigma was a reported problem and on occasions can be observed in the descriptive language used for people with dementia; cultural and traditional values create both an opportunity and a barrier, supporting compassion, family care and relaxation, but creating barriers to accessing health services or long-term residential care. Conclusions: This is the first systematic review reporting qualitative evidence on the life experiences of people with dementia in Vietnam and among the Vietnamese diaspora. Future research is needed on the voice of people with dementia themselves and their caregivers particularly in Vietnam, and low and middle-income countries with regards to living with dementia, pathways to care from diagnosis, treatment, care and support, additional social care and preparedness for end of life care for people with dementia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the representative and performative aspects of the legal title ‘marriage migrant’, which surrounds the everyday lives of Vietnamese women who married South Korean men. While previous studies have predominantly addressed how categorisation by receiving states reproduces certain identities and treatments for those on the move, little is known about how it influences migrants’ behaviour. Drawn on observations and in-depth interviews with Vietnamese women married to South Korean men, this paper demonstrates that the category ‘marriage migrant’ not only carries gendered and socioeconomic hierarchised identities but further shapes Vietnamese women’s actions in response to those responsibilities and classifications. The research findings emphasise how categorisation and discourse reconfigure ethnic networks at the intersection of gender, class, and mobility. This study offers a nuanced understanding of intra-group dynamics within migrant communities, highlighting the implications of migrant agencies in categorising politics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores ten Vietnamese female dance teachers' experiences, motivations to become dance teachers, and the professional challenges they encountered as they pursued dance teaching in the Vietnamese context. The findings reveal the dance teaching career was a way for the participants to maintain their passion in dance and bring them job satisfaction and financial security. The challenges and opportunities that the participants grappled with as dance teachers and female teachers are unique, but they could successfully navigate their professional and personal roles to thrive in the dance industry. Supporting artists and arts education such as dance teachers and dance education is the key to building a vibrant cultural life. Therefore, we highlight the need for a more proper understanding of artists' lives in Vietnam, including professional dance teachers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines factors influencing agricultural land-use efficiency among 35 ethnic minority groups in Vietnam during the 2010–2018 period. A hybrid approach comprising the Difference-in-Difference model with Propensity Score Matching (DID_PSM) is adopted to examine the effect of different land sizes, land elevations, and land tenure on land-use efficiency. The results show that: (1) land size and agricultural production form an 'U-shaped' relationship; (2) farming on high land decreases efficiency by around 7.7%–8.0%; (3) farmers purchasing or hiring land in long-term are 7.3%–8.2% more efficient. The paper also discusses typical land characteristics of mountainous areas including steep and fragmentation related to the three comparing factors. From these results, implications are made for Vietnamese authorities about 'land accumulation' policies and other 'farming on elevation' techniques. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Secondary cities are home to most of the world's urban populations vulnerable to climate change, yet researchers and policymakers have devoted less attention to them than large and megacities. To help address this gap, this paper explores the relationship between incomplete decentralized governance, climate change, and urban resilience. It does through the case studies of secondary cities of Cambodia, Myanmar, Thailand, and Vietnam. Secondary cities are of importance because they are the fastest growing cities in the Global South but also because they have weaker capacity to address climate risks. Through these case studies, the paper draws comparisons between the different cases to look at the linkages between decentralization and urban resilience in secondary cities. Overall, it argues that climate governance, due to the retention of power and resources by central bureaucrats along with fragmented governance structures, and misaligned incentive structures which prioritize economic growth over climate protection have undermined resilience building and contributed to the uneven distribution of climate risks in these cities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the dynamic complementary interaction between investment in technological capability and investment in specific innovation projects based on a decision model of innovation, using Vietnamese MSME data. The empirical results show that firm size, technological capability and current specific R&D investment have a positive impact on innovation. Firm age was positive but not significant, implying that conscious technological effort may be more important for innovation than passive learning by doing. The combination of significant economies of scale and technological capability imply that government assistance for firms with low technological capability maybe important, but government assistance is shown to be either insufficient or ineffective. Results from this paper suggest that government policy aimed at facilitating increases in firm size and providing technical extension services would be more constructive than merely providing R&D subsidies to MSMEs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the COVID-19 vaccine diplomacy of the United States and China in Vietnam and conceptualises Hanoi's practical responses. The deployment of vaccine diplomacy is closely associated with US-China strategic rivalry and is thus labelled as proxy competition in this paper. This paper found that both Washington and Beijing leveraged vaccine diplomacy to achieve general strategic objectives and specific foreign policy objectives in relations with Vietnam. For the USA, vaccine donation consolidated Hanoi's strategic trust in Washington during tough times. Meanwhile, despite widespread mistrust and suspicion regarding the quality and efficacy of Chinese-made vaccines amongst Vietnamese people, China's vaccine donation to Vietnam could still prevent Hanoi from further spiraling into the US-led anti-China coalition. Nevertheless, Vietnam has constantly been at a crossroads, for it not only strives to respond reasonably to the USA and China at the international level but also has to accommodate the Vietnamese public's policy preferences at the domestic level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper assesses whether industrial growth in Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam has been inclusive. While inclusiveness of growth is both a highly debated topic in the development discourse and an official government ambition in all three countries, it has not been assessed systematically in this context. In this paper, we focus specifically on one aspect of inclusiveness by examining the wage inequality between five occupational levels in the manufacturing sector. Based on survey data of companies operating in the electronics, food and beverage, and garment sectors, we show that average wage levels have increased for all occupational levels (although at different rates). We observe a U-shaped wage growth distribution, and argue that this could be a result of automation, dependency on foreign buyers, or an oversupply of pre-employment training programs at the technician level. We further observe particularly high wage growth for lower occupational levels in Cambodia and Laos – indicating relatively inclusive wage growth. In Vietnam, however, there is a development towards more wage inequality. Lastly, our study finds a clear convergence effect in the manufacturing sector; here, improved market information or increased labor mobility and reallocation of (training) resources could be contributing factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, I explored how two media aid projects from Sweden were used to intervene in the development of Vietnamese journalism between 1993 and 2007. Vietnamese journalism and media aid are contextualized in this paper by unfolding pedagogical ideology, journalistic culture, and the negotiation of professional ideals. Based on an interview study with Swedish trainers from the media aid projects and informed by document analysis, the main research question concerned the role of the trainers in negotiating journalistic practices during the aid projects and the implications of these. Furthermore, I explored the ways in which the aid influenced journalistic ideology in Vietnam, and how the projects fulfilled their political aim to contribute to the democratic development of media in Vietnam. The paper adds to the growing body of literature seeking to de-colonialize media theory to rethink the development of journalism in the Global South. The key findings demonstrate how social norms disrupted the implementation of the ideology of journalism being conveyed from Sweden, while the transfer of technological equipment and knowledge impacted journalism production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Can EU comprehensive trade agreements effectively promote international labour standards, despite their soft enforcement rules? And if so, under what conditions? This paper addresses these questions by focusing on a hard case study, namely Vietnam's ratification in 2019 of the ILO Convention 98 on the right to organize and collective bargaining. Such a ratification is an epochal change for a mono-party regime lacking recognition of independent trade unions. This paper shows that the EU has emerged as a key partner of ILO in promoting international law in Vietnam and explains such a result from a political economy perspective. This case study provides insights into the extent to which a trade partner is dependent upon international trade increases the leverage of the EU, and especially the European Parliament, and ultimately affects the ability of the EU to emerge as a normative power through trade. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the last remaining typical categories of traditional vernacular architecture of Vietnam including the "Dinh" (communal hall) and the "Nha Ruong" (vernacular house). Even though their owner is from the same ethnic group as the Vietnamese, they are unique indigenous in the regional vernacular architecture originating from different technical origins. In this study, we mainly focused on the viewpoint of architectural technology. Through a series of site surveys, interviews with the traditional master carpenters, studying the carpentry tools and design methods, prototyping analysis of the remaining vernacular buildings, and doing the experimental model studies, the designing methods of traditional vernacular architecture of Vietnam and their potential technical origins have been determined. In addition, this study also defined the acculturation phenomenon in architecture that happened between the Vietnamese and the Chams during the 16th — 19th centuries in the middle region of Vietnam. The study results are expected to enhance academic education in the field of architectural history and to help architects and students to create new architectural products accommodated to modern social life, refining and inheriting the quintessence of architectural heritage to enrich the cultural identity in the architecture of Vietnam and Southeast Asia, as well. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the evidence of productivity spillover from foreign-invested enterprises (FIEs) to local firms through horizontal, backward, and forward spillover channels, using establishment-level data from Vietnam in 2006–2017. The paper also considers the effects of foreign ownership types on the existence and magnitude of the productivity spillover. In addition, the paper examines whether the involvement of domestic firms in global production networks (GPNs) impacts on the nature of the spillover. The findings indicate that productivity from FIEs spills over to local firms through backward and forward channels, but not horizontal channels. Ownership structures of FIEs serve as an important determinant of productivity spillover: joint ventures tend to generate more significant positive productivity spillover to domestic firms than fully owned foreign firms. Lastly, local firms operating within GPNs benefit more from the presence of FIEs compared to those involved in horizontal specialization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Globalization and transnationalism have expanded the physical territory of television and are responsible for global reshaping of media industries and cultures. In the contemporary mediascape, Indian television industry is an interesting site for excavating new transnational patterns wherein the circulation of Indian TV content extends beyond the diaspora and caters to non-diasporic audiences, especially, in South Asia and South-east Asia. The popularity of Hindi language TV soaps in Indonesia, Vietnam, Sri Lanka, etc., have aided in mapping a new 'tele'-visual geography of popular culture that deems Western media influence as almost insignificant, if not absent. Chronicling the success of two Indian TV programmes – the story of a 'child-bride' Balika Vadhu (2008–16) in Vietnam and a Hindu mythological Mahabharat (2013–14) in a Muslim-populated Indonesia; this paper traces the transnational circulation of Indian TV content amongst non-diasporic markets in South-east Asia. Drawing from Daya Kishan Thussu's notion of 'contra-flows' and Brian Larkin's conception of 'parallel modernities', the paper argues that the success of Indian television programmes in non-West media markets diverts our attention towards new kinds of transnational media flows which I have termed 'neo-global' flows that operate amongst emerging centres of media production and need not be mapped against dominant Western flows. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the impact of economic policies on the development of Vietnam's electronics industry. We identified, reviewed, evaluated and interviewed various stakeholders in the industry about the policies implemented by the Vietnamese government during the period 1986–2017. We argue that while the policy aiming at learning through technological spillover from foreign direct investment led to the specific level of the technological development, problems during its implementation, coupled with institutional failures brought about unintended consequences. We conclude that trade liberalisation alone did not deliver the desired technological upgrading for domestic firms in Vietnam. Our paper provides policy implications for technological development in developing countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper overviews Vietnam's outcomes in implementing policies in the rural water supply and then applies a Delphi technique to determine the key factors in attracting the private sector in the context. Five factors were identified, including: government commitments; a unit at the central level to support projects; an authority at the local level to promote the activities of projects; guaranteed financial capacity to support projects; and a legal framework for the realization of projects. The findings from this study provide insights that may promote the participation of the private sector in Vietnam. The paper offers some lessons for other developing countries to pursue similar approaches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Intermediaries are indispensable for processing the mobility of international migrants. In the absence of an official migration policy in Japan, this requirement of intermediaries is not an exception. This paper examines the different approaches of Japanese intermediaries towards Japanese client firms and Vietnamese early-career professionals employed in the information technology sector in the cross-border labour market between Japan and Vietnam. Two major results are derived based on data from semi-structured interviews. First, recruitment companies instruct labour users, and recruitment organizations seek to 'frame' a job post for migrant workers for a successful visa application. Second, temporary staffing firms 'package' multiple Vietnamese workers to provide the necessary labour to clients. This study argues that different types of intermediaries are present in the employment process of early-career foreign skilled labourers and that a temporary staffing firm intervenes the most actively in the employment process of skilled migrants among other intermediaries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Young people2 are more likely to migrate than older people. During the transition to adulthood, they make important choices regarding education, labour force participation, and family formation. Using a unique panel dataset on youth born in 1994–95 in Ethiopia, India, Peru, and Vietnam, this paper investigates whether young migrants are 'positively' self-selected in observable characteristics, specifically on educational attainment. First, I document patterns on prevalence, frequency, timing, reasons and streams of migration. Second, I describe the factors associated with young people's reasons for migrating. Results suggest that 'favourable' self-selection only holds for those moving for education: a year of schooling is associated with a higher probability of moving for studies, while an extra year of education is correlated with a lower probability of moving for family formation. In sum, migrants are a heterogeneous group: there are systematic differences in the characteristics across them depending on their reasons for moving. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

After the Asian currency crisis in 1998, Vietnam's economy entered a new period of economic growth. Using a unique dataset of 5,267 foreign firms with investments in Vietnam during the period 2005 to 2016, Quan and Nguyen investigate the entry mode choice of foreign investors when entering Vietnam. Nguyen and Vu analyze the degree of asset investment diversification that affects firm performance through the mediating effect of business diversification. [Extracted from the article]

Indonesia has traditionally been viewed as a de facto leader of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and the regional body remains the cornerstone of Indonesian foreign policy. The paper addresses the question of whether other member states have become influential actors or even sectoral leaders in their own right by playing a direct role in a particular aspect of ASEAN affairs. This question is addressed by examining the regional policies of Vietnam, a country that has been mostly neglected in the existing ASEAN literature despite its strategic weight. The paper focuses on the evolving role of Vietnam in ASEAN and highlights its diplomatic initiatives, as well as various conditions to evaluate its potential to take up a leading security role in the regional body in the years to come. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Teachers stand at the face of educational change, and it is therefore important to understand the identity work that they do if reform is to be successful. This paper explores how two Vietnamese university language teachers renegotiated their professional identity in the context of dramatic changes to language provision in the tertiary-sector in Vietnam. These changes were brought about by higher education reforms and the national plan to improve the quality of English language teaching, commonly referred to as National Project 2020. The authors use the concept of Figured Worlds, and the related notions of figurative and positional identities, to analyse the narratives that permeated these teachers' professional identities. Their storylines provide an illustrative case which highlights the complex forces that reshape teacher professional identities in times of externally imposed reform and professional transition. The findings of our study show that prior experience, language affiliation, emotional responses to change, professional orientations and actions, confidence, and self-esteem were key influential forces shaping the teachers' identities. The findings have relevance for the broad field of teacher professional identity as well as for language education in Vietnam and other Southeast Asian countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we report on an international collaborative project designed to address the professional development needs of Vietnamese teachers for the implementation of Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL). We collected data on a group of CLIL Vietnamese teachers and leaders through online interviews. Drawing on Cultural-Historical Activity Theory (CHAT), the paper illuminates how CLIL teachers, as the subject of the professional learning (PL) system, utilized tools to develop their capacity for CLIL teaching against the backdrop of various sociocultural factors that regulate this learning process. The analysis helped us to identify various challenges facing CLIL teachers' PL. These challenges arose from an absence of an effective learning system mostly related to contextual obstacles and widespread misconceptions, even among the leaders and CLIL trainers, about the nature of CLIL. This study contributes suggestions to enhance the quality of PL for CLIL teachers, which is a pressing issue for the successful implementation of CLIL in the context of Vietnam and beyond. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Goat raising has increased in Lao People's Democratic Republic due to meat demand from Vietnam. Goat production is low input using free grazing and minimal husbandry. Technical constraints are well known but socio-cultural contexts are poorly understood. This paper describes qualitative research on farmer's motivations, experiences and learning pathways, to improve goat husbandry. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 30 smallholder goat farmers in Lao's South-Central province of Savannakhet. The interviews revealed that farmers relied on their experiences and observations of goat raising in their communities to make their management decisions. Trial and error was a valued learning strategy. Farmers took guidance from the exchange of goat raising experiences with other goat farmers and preferred participatory learning that fostered discussion in familiar village settings. Lao smallholder goat farming systems are a product of compromise across a number of resources. Project interventions that required low investments of labour, land or capital were most readily implemented and adapted by farmers. This study questions the assumption that project interventions are inherently optimal and beneficial for smallholder farming systems. Recommendations propose how farmer's experiences, constraints and preferences can be incorporated into development approaches to ensure management system changes reflect the desires of smallholder farmers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Almost simultaneously, two developing countries – Kenya and Vietnam – set out to promote industrial development through FDI. Vietnam embarked on a targeted strategy aimed at selecting FDI that could specifically aid the country's strategic export sectors through linkages to local industry. In contrast, Kenya embarked on a cross-the-board FDI attraction policy with no specific sector orientation and with few specific linkage policies. This paper asks how FDI has contributed to local industry development in the two countries. Based on an analysis of firm level data from the World Bank Enterprise Survey, the paper compares the two countries' ability to generate spillovers from FDI spillovers and discusses what explains differences and similarities. The paper finds that in spite of the obvious differences between the two countries in terms of local industrial development and policy, firm and industry factors appeared to be better predictors of variations in spillovers than country level factors. Among the policy implications drawn are that developing countries should focus their FDI policies on firms and industries that have high linkage and hence spillover potential rather than adopting cross-the-board policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the experience of Vietnamese game companies in operating and localising online games in Vietnam. The findings were retrieved by analysing the interview results with leaders and experts of notable game companies in Vietnam who know profoundly and broadly about the industry. The main themes include the operational flow of the industry and the localisation process. The analysis reveals that another factor that can be added to the value chain in the current intra-Asian market is Vietnam since this country has deeply engaged with the process of producing and distributing online games. Their operational procedure and localising process also display some distinctive patterns that are analysed in depth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The relationship between Earnings Management (EM) and Corporate Social Responsibilities (CSR) has raised a considerable number of attentions, especially, in financial and accounting field since they determine firms' performance as well as market positioning. On the contrary, in an emerging country as Vietnam, the number of relevant studies are rare together with several limitations. Thus, this paper is the pioneer investigating the cause and effect among Accruals Earnings Management (AEM), Real Earnings Management (REM) as two proxies for EM, and CSR. Next, Granger's causality replacing for traditional method is employed in order to interpret this nexus. The analysis relies on the sample size of 225 companies during the period 2014–2018 from Hanoi Stock Exchange (HNX) and Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange (HOSE). We figured out executives prefer REM to AEM when implementing earnings manipulations. Consistent with the expectations and prior scholars, we found there is a negative correlation in the association of AEM and CSR while it is positive in the case of REM and CSR. Besides the consistent results with multivariate regression analysis (MRA) in terms of CSR-EM association, the fsQCA findings also explore more combinations regarding the relationship between CSR-EM. Additionally, all empirical results also provide evidence that there is cause-and-effect relationship in terms of AEM, REM and CSR which has never been researched and discussed over the past several years. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Corporate governance reports (CGR) and annual reports are two fundamental corporate documents disseminated to shareholders about the companies' financial condition and operation. While the annual reports could be seen as outside appearance, the CGR reflects internal processes that an entity monitors the actions, policies, practices and decisions (Muttanachai and Thanyaorn, 2022; Ho and Taylor, 2014). Vietnam's publicly traded companies are compulsory required to provide annual reports and CGR to shareholders. The purpose of this research is to investigate the link between the level of corporate governance disclosure (CGD) and the quality of annual reports in the context of Vietnam—an emerging and dynamic country in South East Asia. The existing literature review is developed by using a bibliometric analysis (via VOSviewer software) with Scopus database from 2002 to 2022 provides comprehensive evidence for mixed effects of the level of CGD on quality of annual reports, therefore, the paper attempts to contribute to the ongoing debate by examining whether the association between CGD and the quality of annual reports is nonlinear. Furthermore, the quality of annual reports and level of CGD are measured basing on scorecard of Vietnam Listed Company Awards (VLCA) reflect the typical research issues in the context of Vietnam. A panel smooth transition regression (PSTR) model is applied in order to test the relationship and calculate the value transition threshold of 356 Vietnamese listed companies from 2017 to 2022. Empirical findings indicate that there has been a nonlinear relationship between two tested variables. In addition, the quality of annual reports positively increases when the level of CGD exceeds the value transition threshold. Hence, the listed companies with high level of CGD (exceeds threshold value) have an incentive of preparing high quality annual reports. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) has long been considered a global policy in language education. It has been borrowed and adopted by different polities across the world. However, it is still not clear why the CEFR, intended for European usage, has become a ubiquitous tool for overhauling the quality of teaching and learning English in many education contexts. In this paper, we examine the CEFR in Vietnam in order to gain an understanding about the underwritten socio-economic and political conditions, which induced the employment of this global language education framework. The paper proposes to consider the borrowing of the CEFR in Vietnam as a socially constituted phenomenon to elucidate the historical and social background of its local adoption. We argue that the Vietnamese authorities' decision to adopt the CEFR can be explicated on the basis of at least three sociocultural conditions: (1) recent changes in English language policy; (2) need for concrete economic and political innovations, and current efforts to reform higher education; and (3) the current tendency for administrators to look outwards for solutions to domestic issues in contemporary Vietnam. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses how outward-oriented industry policies are made or changed in Vietnam, an illiberal state facing a rapidly liberalizing global economy, using the case of Vietnam's automotive sector as a spearhead sector for industrialization. It provides a new perspective by highlighting collective concerns among state elites in Vietnam, a relevant but relatively overlooked factor in understanding key industrial policy reforms in Vietnam. Specifically, this study argues that the positional characters of Vietnam as an illiberal non-major state in the international asymmetrical liberal order help us see when policy reforms, particularly in outward-oriented industries, are likely to be initiated and in what forms or in what directions changes can be made. Drawing on conceptual discussions of conflicting concerns among the illiberal state elites governing developing countries in a liberalizing global economy, this paper discusses how closely major policy reforms in automotive sector are aligned with elites' interests in reducing these dual concerns in a balanced way. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) constitute a majority of firms, they still have little knowledge about environmental issues and generally encounter difficulties when integrating environmental aspects into their activities. Similar arguments are also highlighted by Ha et al. in the case of Vietnam. This paper, therefore, builds a guideline for promoting SMEs' organisational environmental innovation adoption based on Environmental Standard Certification (ESC) by investigating the effects of R&D, networking, and leadership roles in Vietnam. By using SME survey data in Vietnam from 2011 to 2015, the empirical results show that R&D spending and organisational capabilities proxied by already owning ESC are positively associated with green innovation implementation. We also find that either collaboration with different partners, including competitors, banks, and public agents or communication networks, affects firms' decisions on green innovations. The demographic characteristics of managers such as gender, educational level, and knowledge about the environmental laws play determining roles in these decisions. Finally, we advanced the literature by indicating the moderating effects of men in leadership roles and leaders with better related knowledge on the impacts of firms' internal resources (R&D) and firms' international orientation (export). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cultural professionals in the art and cultural sector in Hanoi, Vietnam, are carrying out digitization projects and utilizing digital platforms, tools and applications in order to curate their own narrative on Vietnamese art and culture. This can help to counter digital orientalism by redressing the imbalance in the amount of accessible content online as well as control over the production and circulation of cultural content. An increase in the amount of digitized cultural content can help to engage local audiences and introduce a contemporary image of Vietnamese culture to an international audience. Today, Vietnamese cultural professionals are able to decide what to digitize, what to make publicly accessible and how to curate it online. This paper presents findings from a case study on Manzi Art Space, including a digital ethnography of an augmented reality public art project entitled 'Into Thin Air' and 20 interviews with art and cultural professionals working in Hanoi. The findings show how digitization allows cultural professionals to shape the narrative on contemporary Vietnamese art and culture. However, the findings also show there are particular challenges faced by cultural professionals in Hanoi, including lack of human resources, technical resources and funding as well as concerns around copyright law and government permissions. These challenges are hindering the ability to utilize new digital technologies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines whether heterogeneities in financial development among Vietnamese provinces matter for firm growth in Vietnam. Using a nationally representative firm survey that covers more than 41,000 firms for the period 2009 − 2013, we estimate the impact of provincial financial development on the growth rates of firms by accounting for sectoral differences in growth opportunities. We find that province-level financial development promotes the growth rates of sales, investment and sales per worker of small firms, and reduces the growth rate of the wage-to-sales ratio. Our results imply that firms grow faster in provinces with a higher level of financial development. Moreover, the effect of financial development on growth rates is larger when firms operate in sectors with better growth opportunities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many transnational corporations have been operating in Vietnam, contributing to economic and social development in this country. However, these actors have caused a number of high-profile environmental incidents in Vietnam through the activities of their local subsidiaries, injuring the local community and destroying the natural ecosystem. This paper discloses the causes of corporate environmental irresponsibility in Vietnam. Additionally, this paper argues that Vietnam's private international law fails to combat pollution in this country. To promote environmental sustainability, Vietnam should improve ex-ante regulations to prevent and tackle ecological degradation effectively. Additionally, this paper suggests that Vietnam should remedy its national private international law rules to facilitate transnational liability litigation as an ex-post measure to address the harmful conducts against the natural ecosystem of international business. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper estimates the causal effects of education on political concern and political participation in Vietnam by employing the 1991 compulsory schooling reform to instrument for plausibly exogenous changes in education. The paper finds that, in general, education does cause favorable impacts on political outcomes. In particular, one more year of schooling, on average, results in increases in the probabilities of political concern and political participation by about 6-12 percentage points and 6-8 percentage points, respectively. This paper significantly provides suggestive evidence on the role of education in explaining political behaviors using the developing country context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper uses a fixed effects model and a fixed effects quantile regression to explore the relationship between government spending and poverty reduction in the 63 provinces of Vietnam from 2010 to 2020. Our study argues and finds that government spending plays a significant role in reducing the poverty rate in Vietnam. Furthermore, the paper shows that income per capita is a good proxy for the poverty rate. Given the influential role of government spending in reducing impoverishment, the study also finds that income inequality is a challenge to the Vietnamese government. It contributes to the literature on public finance in Vietnam and emerging markets. Additionally, it has policy implications for policymakers in these economies regarding addressing poverty alleviation and income inequality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Vietnam, under a population aging background, "elderly caregiver" is the prominent topic. Concerned with this, the traditional filial value has emerged. Traditionally, the filial piety profoundly influenced by agricultural tradition, Confucianism, Buddhism, has been the foundation of intergenerational bond and family-based eldercare. This paper's goal is to explore how filial value has shaped eldercare culture, how its expressions have been expressed and how it has impacted the new type of elderly care institutions in Vietnam today. My findings revealed that filial piety has been persistently and profoundly remained. Based on this, although the care institutions began to be introduced and evaluated as necessary, their role is limited and subordinate. Accordingly, to consider the long-term elderly care system today in Vietnam, it is necessary to comprehensively explore the filial piety tradition. Through it, the family concept, the religious concept, the gender norm of Vietnamese people could be also observed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Picture books are reported as beneficial for children to develop cultural and intercultural awareness. However, little research has examined the ways in which Asian picture books can be interpreted with Asian philosophies. This paper aims to examine perceptions of contemporary Vietnamese artists towards the application of the Taoism Yin–Yang balancing principle, particularly the concepts of Yin, Yang, and Qi in their artworks. Findings from interviews with artists reveal that the Taoism Yin–Yang balancing principle is essential for Vietnamese artists to create visual meanings in their artworks. Our analysis also indicates that Taoism concepts of Yin, Yang, and Qi are applicable to interpret visual meanings of picture books about Vietnam. These findings are significant for teachers to explore visual meanings in Vietnamese picture books specifically and provide researchers with ideas to develop a framework that can account for non-Western meaning-making in images of picture books. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The existence of zombie firms is one of the more notable problems in many transition economies since these companies can hamper sustainable economic development. This paper examines the impact of credit access on the existence and recovery of zombie firms. Using a comprehensive dataset comprising a large number of firms operating in Vietnam during the period from 2006 to 2015, we find that having access to credit reduces the likelihood that a firm is a zombie. We also find that credit access is only useful for firms to escape from being zombies up to a certain threshold. While access to credit reduces the likelihood of private domestic firms being zombies, the study finds that it has no significant effect on state-owned and foreign invested firms. Moreover, the impact of credit access is only detected when firms borrow from formal sources of credit. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The chemical constituents of essential oils from Zingiber plants are known to exhibit chemical variability. The objective of this work was to analyze for the first time the contents and the chemical diversity of the essential oils from the leaves, stems and roots of Zingiber pellitum Gagnep, belonging to Zingiberaceae family collected in Binh Chau-Phuoc Buu Nature Reserve, Ba Ria-Vung Tau, Vietnam. The essential oils were isolated by hydrodistillation and their constituents were investigated by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC/MS-FID). The essential oils from Z. pellitum were obtained in yield of 0.20% (leaves), 0.12% (stems) and 0.27% (roots). The essential oils from the leaves of Z. pellitum consist mainly of β-caryophyllene (51.7%), β-pinene (12.0%), α-pinene (10.0%), while β-caryophyllene (24.9%), β-pinene (19.8%) and α-humulene (18.8%) were the main constituents of the stems essential oil. On the other hand, 9-epi-(E)-caryophyllene (7.5%), humulene epoxide II (7.4%), α-humulene (6.4%), caryophyllene oxide (5.9%), β-caryophyllene (4.9%), camphene (4.3%), epi-α-cadinol (4.0%) and cyperotundone (4.0%) were the significant compounds of essential oil from the roots of Z. pellitum. Since the composition of the studied leaves, stems and roots of Z. pellitum essential oils differed considerably from each other and previous reports on the other parts of the plant, the paper discusses further the chemotaxonomic implications of the obtained data with respect to Zingiber pellitum and other Zingiber essential oils from Vietnam. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]