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Competition via technological advantage in the global production network (a case study of East-Asian)

Economic reform for whom? Doi moi in comparative perspective

AT the roundtable meeting to assess 20 yeas of "doi moi" in Vietnam, the author confirms: "The lessons drawn from reconstruction and recovery of the economy have gone beyond Vietnam's and South East Asian borders". At the same time he points out the difficulty and challenges facing Vietnam in the coming years, especially how to deal with the relations of economic growth and liberalization and inequality. From the comparative perspective the author identifies the difficult and complicated relations between economic growth and social inequality that are taking place in each nation, each region and the world as a whole, through which he presents some suggestions for Vietnam. The key contents of his article incldue: 1.Global inequality 2.Inequality in each nation 3.Policies that help overcome inequality. In conclusion he maintains that economic renovation in Vietnam is designed to bring about benefits for everybody. Vietnam has been successful in social economic development and creating democratic institutions, however, Vietnam is still faced with difficulty and challenges in coming time. In the next stage of doi moi Vietnam is required to develop civil society based on granting civil political and social rights for everybody combined with fulfilling common responsibility for the community. Globalization is like a new and beautiful car. If it was driven carefully by a skilled driver, it would lead us safely to the final destination that we are expecting. But if it was driven by careless driver, it would be dangerous and may lead to an accident. From the successes Vietnam has recorded during doi moi years the author is confident that Vietnam have skilled and careful drivers in the next stage to lead us safely to our final destination and nobody will be left behind.

Elderly population and the retirement systems in Japan and China-Some suggestions for Vietnam's policy

According to several international organizations the elderly population is a natural trend in almost all developing and developed or transitional countries. This trend will leave no small impact on the structure of the labour market and operation of insurance system, including the retirement system. Through an analysis of the status of the elderly population in Japan and China, which represents the general trend in the far east, the author presents the impact of the changes in population structure on the sustainability of the insurance system and retirement system in these two countries, and proposes a number of problems related to policies for Vietnam, whose features are somewhat identical to China. The article is designed to focus on the following points: 1.The elderly population and the retirement system in China and Japan. 2.Some suggestions for policies to be applied in Vietnam: -In order to avoid financial instability for the retirement system the application of symbolic individual accounts as a transitional period from actual payment system to individual accounts is appropriate. -Financial management in pre-1995 and in the post-1995 period needs to be separated, as the nature of these two systems is quite different. -Beside it is necessary that an updated and reliable information system be supplied so as to formulate an appropriate insurance policy. In the immediate future Vietnam will also be faced with the elderly population, maintaining the present insurance system will be no longer appropriate, based on China's and Japan lessons Vietnam should think of formulating a sustainable and long term insurance strategy instead of short term one.

Fear of flying: why is sustaining reforms so hard in Vietnam

Vietnam has recorded social-economic achievements during "doi moi" for the last two decades, however, doi moi has also resulted in some problems for Vietnam's development in the following years. This article is designed to present both successes and challenges during the implementation of doi moi, and suggest some solutions to the problems in the process of international integration. The main contents of the article include: 1.Background 2.The first decade 3.The second decade 4.Some remarks: the slowdown, socialism and corruption 5.Law on businesses 6.The weak private sector 7.Which objectives does the state industry aim at? 8.How to idetify sufficiency? 9.Some bright points 10.Financial sector 11.Some initial conclusions. Doi moi has helped Vietnam to move forwards from a poor a propserous country; liberate production forces; and to improve living conditions for the people. Wherever doi moi is pursued, success comes along, wherever doi moi is denied a slow-down benefits. But to gain both economic and political successes depends on how doi moi is going to be implemented and to overcome weaknesses and challenges. In other words Vietnam should strengthen the fight against corruption, build up a law governed state, pursue a high quality education system. Besides the state should reduce investment into the state run industry and focus on managing the extremely necessary state run enterprises and cooperate with private run sector without letting the latter interfere into the policy making process.

Features and efficiency of the pig raising sector in the Red river delta

Rule of origin in services: an emerging factor in international trade and implication for maritime transport services of Vietnam

To create a competitive environment in the public sectors: some approaches and foreign experience

Raising the efficiency of the public sectors is one of the major objectives in the administrative reforms. This article presents a number of approaches to the problem and foreign experiences in terms of creating a competitive environment to be applied in Vietnam. The major contents of the article include: -Some approaches to competitiveness in the public sector -World bank's approach -Chicago's school of thoughts -Public management theory represented by member countries of OECD -Foreign experience to create competitive environment in the public sector -New Zealand's experience -England's experience -Singapore's experience. Some neccessary experiences for Vietnam: -Working out legal framework for reforms in the public sector -Working out a strategy for overall reforms in the public sectors -Creating structure and quantity for the market in the public sectors -Perfecting a competitive policy with a level playing field -Re-assessing the competitiveness of the entities involved. The application of mechanism for competitiveness to the supply of commodities for public sectors may lead an unexpected social problems. The article also points out that competition among public sectors brings about the reduction in social spending. In some cases competition is a driving force to raise the efficiency of the suppliers of commodities for the public sectors. On the contrary competition may result in supplying some inappropriate commodities.