Key determinants of SMEs' performance in Vietnam - Combining quantitative and qualitative studies
Abstract
This paper aims to identify key determinants impacting on a firm performance
of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) in Viet Nam. SMEs have contributed
significantly to the overall Vietnamese economy. However, in the context of
emerging market in Viet Nam nowadays, SMEs have to deal with a tough competitive
market. Hence, an awareness what factors enhancing firm performance enables them
to achieve sustainable development. Based on the survey of 2551 Viet Nam SMEs,
which was conducted by Science & Social Association, Viet Nam Ministry of LaborInvalids and Social Affairs, the paper provides the holistic view of several
perspectives’ impacts on the performance of SMEs. We find out that three main
factors, including human resource, education level of entrepreneurs and training cost
have significant effects on the performance. As considering in the field of
international trade, the results illustrate the more SMEs conduct export activities, the
better enterprises’ performance. Specifically, we point out that other factors such as
formalization, credit access, informal loan and firm location are strongly associated
with the performance. Furthermore, we also conducted in-depth interviews with 6
entrepreneurs and top managers to explore current challenges of Vietnamese SMEs
and suggest appropriate solutions to overcome them.
Keywords: SMEs, performance, human resources, export, investment, credit
access, infrastructure, formalization.