Guerilla Capitalism

Summary Aimed at globalising companies, institutional investors, business researchers, students and practitioners, this book analyses the nature of the business system and behaviour of state owned enterprises in Vietnam, one of the fastest growing countries in the world. Written by an insider, the book is based on first hand case studies containing full and frank interviews with local managers on the country's business culture. It thus provides those seeking to do business in Vietnam with an unparalleled insight into how and why its businesses in general, and state owned enterprises in particular, are structured and managed - a topic about which little has been previously written. The book also presents researchers and students with a comprehensive, societal approach to the study of organisational behaviour, and offers a distinctive interpretation of the common problems of state owned enterprises in transitional economies that goes beyond the traditional economic explanation. The Author Dr Nguyen is currently working for the International Finance Corporation (IFe in Vietnam where he leads a technical assistance programme that aims at improving the regulatory environment for business and corporate governance practices there. Prior to that, Dr. Nguyen lectured at Vietnam's National Economics University Business School where he taught economics, business law, and project management. He has carried out extensive research on business environment issues in Vietnam. Readership The book would be of interest to both potential investors and companies already operating in Vietnam, as well as researchers, business school academics and students interested in comparative business systems, organisational behaviour, and SOE. Contents The analytical background - the soft budget constraint; principal/agent theory; Boisot and Child's ispace framework; Hofstede's culture dimensions; institutional theory The theoretical framework - theoretical framework and research issues; formal and informal; assumptions about human behaviour Research methodology - methodology; data sources and data collection methods An overview of Vietnamese history and culture - overview of Vietnamese history; overview of Vietnamese culture and society; An overview of the Vietnamese economy in transition and the reform of state-owned enterprises - the legacy of French colonialism; the Soviet-style development model 1955-1980; the reforms; the Vietnamese economy - reform process and the position of SOEs in 2002; the reform process in Vietnam - 'adjustment to a given world' The institutional matrix and typical form of capitalism in Vietnam - the formal laws and institutions in Vietnam; informal norms in economic transactions; guerilla capitalism Authority relations within Vietnamese SOEs - research process and assessment methods; the Aston data of centralisation of decision making; the Central Domain The industrial governance of SOEs - the governance structure - a formal framework; the nature of the relationship between the enterprise and the higher hierarchical levels The management problems of the Vietnamese SOEs: other peoples' money - the 'bonus' problem; the shoe enterprise; additional evidence from the shoe enterprise and from the garment and the light bulb enterprises; other peoples' money: reconsidered Embedded materialism - the limitation of the incentive structure in Vietnamese SOEs - Marx's labour theory of value; payment practice in the Vietnamese SOEs; embedded materialism, incentive structures and the problems of Vietnamese SOEs Policy implications - privatisation/equitisation; further reform of the SOEs Summary and conclusions