The Gambler,the Carrots,and the Cook: A Critical Evaluation of Investment Potential in the Vietnamese Software Industry

The Vietnamese software industry has shown substantial development in recent years. On the basis of interviews with informed respondents this article investigates the condition and potential for further development of the industry, using a soft systems approach. Finegold's eco-system model is used to build a model of the industry. Partnerships and networks are identified as important factors in industry evolution, with the key role played by venture capital. Furthermore, the Vietnamese government and its institutions will continue to have a significant influence on the industry.     

Importance‐Performance and Segmentation: An Application at a Biosphere Reserve in Vietnam

This paper examines how importance‐performance analysis (IPA) used with segmentation can be an effective natural resource management tool. Data were obtained from visitors (n = 368, response rate = 66%) to the Can Gio Mangrove Biosphere Reserve, Vietnam. Two distinct user segments were identified according to their preference for facility development within the reserve. The two segments differed in their importance‐performance ratings for (a) attractions, (b) beach facilities and services, (c) facilities in the area, and (d) beauty of the area. Those favoring development rated each of these reserve attributes as more important (p < .001) than those less disposed to additional development. Those favoring development rated the performance of three of four attributes positively, while all four attributes received negative performance scores for those less disposed to additional development. Implications show that segmentation can allow for more accurate planning and decision making.     

Empirical Studies of Self‐Employment

This paper presents a review of empirical studies of self‐employment for the Australian, Canadian, Dutch, UK and US labour markets. Both cross‐sectional and longitudinal studies are analysed. Analyses using cross‐sectional data examine the propensity to be self‐employed at any one point in time, whereas longitudinal studies focus on the transition into self‐employment from wage/salary employment and the survival rate in this state over time. Various hypotheses advanced in the economics and sociology literatures on self‐employment are tested. These include the relationship between managerial ability and the propensity to be self‐employed and the impact of financial constraints on entry into self‐employment stressed in economic models of entrepreneurship, and the relationships between self‐employment choice and the nature of the work and group characteristics (e.g., ethnic enclaves) stressed in sociological models of entrepreneurship. The evidence shows that self‐employment outcomes are significantly affected by factors such as individual abilities, family background, occupational status, liquidity constraints and ethnic enclaves.     

Training and firm performance in economies in transition: a comparison between Vietnam and China

This paper provides a comparative analysis on the role of training and its impact on firm performance in some economies in transition in Asia. The starting point is an examination of country contexts and training, and how these have shaped organizational approaches to human resource (HR) training. The paper also reviews the results of recent studies that have investigated the relationship between training and firm performance in Vietnam and China. The review results show that training is positively related to firm performance and reveals some convergence of HR training in both countries. On the basis of this, some caveats on HR training development in the future in these two countries are given. The paper ends with theoretical and practical implications.     

Exclusive versus inclusive devolution in forest management: Insights from forest land allocation in Vietnam's Central Highlands

The devolution of forest management is high on the agenda in international forest policy. Devolution is generally conceived as a policy that aims to include a more diverse set of actors in forest management. One of the most problematic outcomes of devolution policies, therefore, is their tendency to exclude the claims of some local actors. This paper examines the exclusionary effects of devolutions in settings characterized by overlapping state and customary regulations and links these effects to exclusive notions of property and governance contained in particular devolution policies. The paper draws on insights gained in a pilot initiative of forest devolution in Vietnam's Central Highlands. Forest land allocation, as the initiative is called in Vietnam, took an exclusive approach to devolution by assigning ownership-type rights on forest to local actors, obliging those to protect the forest against encroachment by other actors, and centering governance in the state. In this particular case, exclusive devolution failed to diminish the gap between state and customary regulations, created conflicts among local actors, and contributed to forest loss. The unintended outcomes of exclusive devolution suggest the need for an inclusive approach to devolution that accommodates diverse kinds of overlapping claims made by multiple actors. The key elements of inclusive devolution are proprietary but not ownership rights granted to individual users and nested governance relations involving state and customary actors.     

Attitudes Toward Economic Risk and Occupational Choice

This paper examines the effects of attitudes toward economic risk on occupational choice. Workers with a more favourable disposition toward economic risk have a higher probability of being employed in the more prestigious, high‐paying Professional and Administrative occupations. Potential biases associated with omitted genetic and family background factors are considered. The marked differential in attitudes toward economic risk between males and females, however, makes only a minor contribution to the considerable occupational segregation on the basis of gender in the contemporary Australian labor market.     

The Cross-Section of Expected Stock Returns: New Evidence from an Emerging Market

Over 300 factors have been found to explain the cross-section of expected stock returns. Empirical studies also show that findings from multifactor asset-pricing models have not been consistent in an emerging market. Using DuPont analysis and a residual income valuation model for 284 nonfinancial companies on Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange during the period 2008–2014, findings suggest that the return on equity and its change are informative for stock returns in Vietnam. In addition, the level of capital turnover, financial cost ratio (FCR), and changes in capital and in the FCR contain incremental explanatory power for stock returns.     

Information control in the hold‐up problem

We study the use of information control to mitigate hold‐up risks. We identify a distinction between asymmetric information that creates an ex ante investment incentive and asymmetric information that causes ex post inefficiency, which then allows ex post inefficiency to be eliminated without compromising the ex ante investment incentive. We characterize the properties of the optimal information structure and the payoffs and welfare achievable with information control in the presence of hold‐up risks.     

The effects of environmental regulation on the stock market: the French experience

The impact of environmental regulation on the French stock market is investigated by using event study methodology and asset pricing models. The impact of environmental regulation on the stock prices of environmentally friendly businesses and polluters is assessed. Additionally, we estimate the change in systematic risk following the introduction of new regulations. According to the results, the French stock market is particularly sensitive to the environmental regulation embodied in the European Union Emissions Trading System and less so to the regulation on water, soil and air. The chemicals, oil and gas industries exhibit negative reactions, whereas other polluters (such as construction and materials, and industrial transportation) produce positive abnormal returns.     

Endogenous formation of multiple social groups

This paper explores a model of group membership formation in which agents decide to join or not multiple social groups. The membership formation process induces a bipartite graph structure with social groups listed on one side and agents listed on the other side. Among members of multiple social groups, we consider two decisive types of agents: the grand star and the mini star. The former type is the unique agent in a society who participates in all social groups. The latter type includes agents who participate in more than one, but not all, social groups such that every social group pair has one and only one common member. We analyze the efficiency and stability conditions of group membership formation, and we establish sufficient conditions under which a connected graph that contains either a grand star or a set of mini stars becomes the unique strongly efficient and stable graph.