1. Title: The Growing Vietnamese Economy and Issues for Further Development: A Survey of Vietnamese Firms (based on a paper of the same title, authored by Hitoshi Hirakawa, Nguyen Thi Bich Ha, Shin Kawai)
2. Total Expected Duration: 30 minutes
3. Presenter: Prof. Hitoshi Hirakawa (Nagoya University)
4. Overview of Session Mechanics
1. Presentation: 25 minutes
2. Q&A: 5 minutes
5. Abstract of Presentation Content
The Doi Moi policy is well known even in Japan as the opening up policy of Vietnam, which has been showing remarkable growth. Since the second half of the 1990s, together with the growing interest in China as an investment destination, Vietnam has become the focus as the next investment destination under the “China +1” scheme. Entering this century, Vietnam has attracted further interest, so much so that with the investment boom towards Vietnam, rising labor costs have been reported.
However, it is not only Vietnam that has been continuously growing. East Asia has been achieving growth as a region, through several waves of growth: the NIEs from the second half of the 1960s, followed by the early member nations of ASEAN in the 80s, China in the 90s, and then the late member nations of ASEAN. During this period, the 1997-98 Asian Currency Crisis, and the 2008-9 World Financial Crisis erupted. Nevertheless, the East Asian countries have grown, admirably betraying all pessimistic predictions following the crises. Vietnam has continued to grow amidst this latest big wave.
Would this growth continue? International financial institutions like the World Bank and the Asia Development Bank reports simulations showing that in the not too distant future, East Asia will be creating a dominant part of the world’s wealth and bring about a historical restoration of Asia, should the growth of the past decade continue. However, on the other hand, there is discussion that some major East Asian countries may be losing speed. This is the so-called “Middle Income Trap”. This warning has been raised for China, India, Indonesia, and other countries including Vietnam.
Bearing this in mind, we are currently undertaking survey/research related to the management and reform of human resources of Vietnamese corporation towards overcoming issues in development. In this report, we consider the development possibility of local Vietnamese firms based on our survey, as well as organize our problem awareness leading to this survey. Based on our survey, we also have confirmed the situation that Vietnam’s local firms are supporting economic development. At the same time, we can count on a potential. The issue would be how such potential would manifest itself.
The report has the following outline: I. Features of Vietnam’s Economic Growth; II. Introduction to the “Middle Income Trap” Discussion; III. Consideration of the Present Condition, Issues and Development Potential of Vietnamese Small- and Medium-Scale Enterprises; IV. Conclusions
6. Required Equipment
1. Microphones (2): one for main presenter, and one for the audience
2. Projector and Laptop (1): for PowerPoint slide presentation
3. Table (1)
4. Chair (1)