SUMMARIZING DISSERTATION “FACTORS AFFECTING THE COMPETITIVENESS OF SMALL AND MEDIUM SIZED AQUACULTURE ENTERPRISES IN THE NORTH OF VIETNAM” PREFACE Market economy and international integration are creating many opportunities and challenges for enterprises, especially the Small and Medium Sized Enterprises So how Vietnam’s Small and Medium Sized Enterprises should operate to survive and develop in a competitive and integrative environment is now a major issue worth being paid great attention to The study focused on factors affecting competitiveness of Small and Medium Sized aquaculture Enterprises in the north of Vietnam The study arose from the fact that to date no study has been conducted to study the factors affecting competitiveness of SMEs in aquaculture of Northern Vietnam The Research utilized Both Primary and secondary Data The respondents in this study were members of board of directors at 122 small and medium aquaculture enterprises of six coastal provinces in the North of Vietnam Data for this study was collected via email with director of aquaculture enterprises The raw data was analyzed The study concluded that at the moment in the context of Vietnam there are some factors affecting competitiveness of SMEs in aquaculture of Northern region This includes Financial Capability, Human Resources, Manufacturing equipment and technology capability, Production capability, Management Capability, Marketing, R&D and Intangible assets The study also concluded that SMEs in aquaculture sector of QuangNinh province has the highest competitive advantage of six coastal provinces in the Northern Vietnam However, the study also found out that the level of competitivenes of aquaculture enterprises in the Northern Vietnam is identified at average level The study recommends some solutions to factors affecting the competitiveness of aquaculture enterprises in the North of Vietnam The report for this study is presented in five chapters Chapter one deals with introducing the concept and context of the study as well as the purpose of the study Chapter two gives the literature review while chapter three explains how the research was designed Chapter four gives the result and discussion Chapter five gives conclusion and recommendations CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION Background of the study Market economy and international integration are creating many opportunities and challenges for enterprises, especially the Small and Medium Sized Enterprises So how Vietnam’s Small and Medium Sized Enterprises should operate to survive and develop in a competitive and integrative environment is now a major issue worth being paid great attention to In recent years, Vietnam's economy in general, in particular aquaculture sector is in the process of economic integration in the region and the world This is also a great opportunity for aquaculture enterprises in the North of Vietnam However, aquaculture enterprises in the North have met the big challenges such as fierce competition Statement of the problem Aquaculture sector is strength of Vietnam and has now been identified as key economic sectors of the country by the achievements that this sector has achieved in the past and future prospects Currently, the Northern region of Vietnam has 122 aquaculture enterprises in six coastal provinces Every year, the manufacturing aquatic sector brought considerable income for the region and for the country Therefore, the author has chosen thesis “Factors affecting the competitiveness of Small and Medium Sized aquiculture Enterprises in the north of Vietnam” In this study, the authors focus on identifying the factors that affect the competitive advantage of the business between the aquaculture enterprises in the northern region to propose recommendations to improve the capacity competition for them In order to achieve the aim of study, the researcher will have to answer the following research question:  Which factor affects the competitiveness of the small and medium sized aquaculture enterprises in the North of Vietnam, nowadays?  How is competitive level of aquaculture enterprises in the North of Vietnam evaluated? Significance of study The results of this study are the picture of the factual situation of the Small and Medium Sized Enterprises in aquiculture in the north of Vietnam This study will identify factors affecting the competitiveness of the small and medium sized enterprises in aquiculture, especially in the north of Vietnam The result of study will show some suitable solutions to each factor that affecting the competitiveness of aquaculture enterprises to meet the circumstances and environment of stiff competitiveness in the Northern region of Viettnam Scope and limitations of the study The research focuses on presenting the current situation of some aquiculture SMES in the north of Vietnam Beside that it determines factors for improving the competitiveness of enterprises in aquiculture in the north of Vietnam It is limited to the factors cited in the study affecting the competitiveness of enterprises in aquiculture in Vietnam and giving some solutions to improve the competitiveness of small and medium sized enterprises in aquiculture in the future The study will be carried out in small and medium sized enterprises in aquiculture in six coatstal provinces the north of Vietnam CHAPTER II: REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE AND STUDIES Review of related studies This section present of 29 literatures related to the topic Theoretical framwork Main aspects of Porter’s five forces affecting competitiveness of enterprises Value chain analysis can help the researcher understand the key strengths and weaknesses of the enterprises and how the firm differs from its competitors The study adapted from David Aker’s model (2007) for analysing the factors impacting competetiveness of enterprises David Aker proposed a model to rank a business against its competitors based on key success factors (KSF) 3 Conceptual framework From theory and definition in section 2.1 and 2.2, the framework of this thesis the author has focused on the micro factors affecting the competitiveness of small and medium sized enterprises in aquaculture sector Group micro factors:  Financial Capability  Human Resources  Manufacturing equipment and technology capability  Production capability  Management Capability  Marketing  R&D  Intangible assets CHAPTER III: METHODOLOGY Research design Based on the research objectives of the thesis, the author research as following steps: Clarify the factors affecting the competitiveness of Small and Medium Sized aquiculture Enterprises in the north of Vietnam”; Study theory of competitiveness and the indicators affecting the competetiveness; apply theoretical model to identify factors and different impacting levels of these factors on the competitiveness of enterprises; analyze compare the indecators impacting on the competetiveness of small and medium sized enterprises in aquaculture industry; Quantitative research using multivariate regression models to measure the impact of factors affecting the competitiveness of SMSEs in aquaculture of the northen Vietnam Data were analyzed by using statistical software SPSS The study adapted from David Aker’s model (2007) for analysing the factors impacting competetiveness of enterprises David Aker proposed a model to rank a business against its competitors based on key success factors (KSF) Source of competitive information and data Both primary and secondary data are used in this study Primary data are extracted from a survey of 122 aquaculture enterprises in six provinces of the North of Vietnam Secondary data are sourced from various government agencies, a number of publications, and industry associations This is a descriptive type of research that makes use of a survey questionnaire to determine the factors that affect the competitiveness of aquaculture enterprises Sample Size: Author has taken investigation through questionnaire for all aquaculture enterprises in the North of Vietnam The questionnaire will be sent via email Description of research points Measurement of the impact of eight factors on competetiveness between aquaculture enterprise and provinces in the North of Vietnam : QuangNinh, HaiPHong, NamDinh, ThaiBinh, NinhBinh and ThanhHoa A five-point Likert scale was used for the scoring indicators of indicators It is including scales: extremely low, low, neutral, high, extremely high In order to analysis, the results obtained from the questionnaire were entered into SPSS spreadsheet Research Instrument The researcher will use a questionnaire and document analysis as the main instruments for data gathering The questionnaires shall contain items to be asked to respondents with multi- choice questions Data gathering procedures The study used both primary and secondary data to identify the factor affecting competitiveness and access the level of competitiveness of aquaculture enterprises Primary Data Collection Method Primary data was collected through a survey with 122 aquaculture enterprises in the north of Vietnam The survey was done in weeks Secondary Data Collection Method The data situation of aquaculture enterprises in the North of Vietnam is moderately complicated by the fact that there are in fact two parallel data collection systems in operation - one conducted by the sector itself, and the other managed and controlled by the General Statistics Office (GSO) Statistical analysis - Comparative value method - Frequency scale for 08 factors through indicators: financial capability, human resources, manufacturing equipment and technology capability, production capability, management capability, marketing, R&D and intangible assets which impact on competitiveness of aquaculture enterprises in the North of Vietnam It use Cronback'alpha method to evaluate the reliability of the scale of the information collected; - ANOVA was used to analyze differences of competitiveness between 06 provinces in northern region CHAPTER IV: RESULTS AND DISCUSSION Evaluating the reliability of statistic data In order to evaluate the reliability of scale, the thesis uses coefficient of Cronbach’alpha Analysis the indicators of the competitiveness between Small and Medium Sized Aquaculture Enterprises of the six provinces in the North of Vietnam Financial capability - QuangNinh: 20 enterprises (48.8%) - HaiPhong: 17 enterprises (41.5%) - NamDinh: enterprises (7.3%) - ThanhHoa: enterprise (2.4%) - The two remaining provinces of Ninh Binh ThaiBinh and There are no enterprises in two this provinces are considered high Management Capability Table 1: Number of companies assessed management capability of six provinces Intangible assets Figure 1: Number of enterprises having high rate of intangible assets According to the survey, results showed that the number of enterprises in QuangNinh has extremely high rate in intangible are (accounting for 58,3%), in Haiphong province there are enterprises ( 33,3%), in ThaiBinh province there is only one (8,3%) Many products of these enterprises are known not only in the domestic market but also in international markets Manufacturing equipment and technology capability Quangninh and Haiphong provinces have number of entterprises evaluated technology and equipment at a good level is quite high (Quangninh now- 21 entterprises 32.8%; Haiphong 24 enterprises accounting for 43.6%) However, the rest entterprises in four provinces accounted for low rate Even, there is no enterprise in Ninhbinh province Marketing Figure 2: Market share of six province in 2012 in domestic market 7.00% 6.00% 5.00% 4.00% 3.00% 6.50% 5.30% 4.70% 2.00% 1.80% 1.00% 1.20% 1.60% 0.00% Quang Ninh Hai Phong Nam Dinh Thai Binh Ninh Binh Thanh Hoa This table above showed that in 2012 market share of QuangNinh province was the highest at 6.5% and ThaiBinh is the lowest- only 1,2% in domestic market compared between provinces in the North of Vietnam (Source from VASEP- Annual report 2012 ) Production capability At high rate of Production capability : there are 14 enterprise (22.2%) in QuangNinh; 26 enterprises in HaiPhong (41.3%), NamDinh has got 10 enterprises ( 15.9 %), ThaiBinh – enterprises (7.9%), NinhBinh – 6( 9,5%) and ThanhHoa has only – 2( 3.2%) Human Resources Figure 3: Number of aquaculture enterprises is rated human resource in six provinces surveyed at high rate The result of the survey indicates that QuangNinh province has focused on human development It is very clear that there are three enterprises in QuangNinh are at extremely high rate and 23 enterprises - at high rate There are no ones at low and neutral rate Research and development Research and developmen: QuangNinh provice is the highest There are two enterprises in QuangNinh and HaiPhong has only one at extremly high rate whereas the others (NamDinh,ThaiBinh, NinhBinh and ThanhHoa) has no one At high rate of research and development: there are 24 enterprise (49.0%) in QuangNinh; 15 enterprises in HaiPhong (30.6%), NamDinh has got enterprises ( 16.3 %), ThaiBinh – enterprises (2.0%), NinhBinh – 1( 2,0%) and ThanhHoa has no one ( 0.0%) The difference of competitiveness between provinces in Northern Vietnam in aquaculture industry According to evaluating eight indicators : Financial Capability, intangible assets, equipment, marketing, production capacity, the manpower, research and development At the factors, competetiveness advantage of Quang Ninh province is different from the rest five provinces in the northern region of Vietnam Evaluating the competitiveness of the aquaculture industry in the north of Vietnam Based on the evaluation results in terms of capacity’ factors of enterprises in the provinces: Quangninh, HaiPhong, NamDinh, Thaibinh, Ninhbinh, Thanhhoa well as differences in the competitiveness of these provinces we can see the whole picture of the competitiveness advantage of the aquaculture sector in the Northern region It is ranked at the average rate This shows that aquaculture sector in the Northern region of Vietnam has to make many efforts to strengthen the competitiveness in today's environment in Vietnam as well as in the world CHAPTER V: CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS CONCLUSIONS The present study used theoretical approach of competativeness between small and medium sized enterprises and statistical analysis and synthesis of competative indicators of aquaculture sector in the North of Vietnam According to results of Chapter in this thesis, the author conclude that: For the Small and Medium Sized Enterprises in the field of aquaculture, the quality of input factors still generates low rate of economic growth Northern Vietnam’s Small and Medium Sized Enterprises are still lagging far behind the bigger enterprises in the country and the region in terms of capital, ability to get access to credit systems, standards of work skills, work productivity, and technology in all phases are lack All of these are challenges to aquaculture enterprises in six coastal provinces of Northern Vietnam There are many factors which impact on the competitive advantage of aquaculture enterprises in the North of Vietnam The main indicators are financial capability, human resources, manufacturing equipment and technology capability, production capability, management capability, marketing, R&D and intangible assets Among these factors, human resources play very important role in creating competitive advantage for development of aquaculture enterprises In chapter IV, indicator of human resource is evaluated at the highest value 10 RECOMMENDATIONS 1- Financial Capability - Attracting investments - Creating favourable conditions for the Small and Medium Sized Enterprises to get access to official financial and credit sources 2- Human Resources - Technical workers operating in all basic areas of fisheries, such as exploiting, rearing, preserving, and processing, all standardized - Management experts for economic research, approaching new knowledge and management requirements - Scientists able to approach advanced science and technology and apply them immediately in processing - Inspectors for controlling quality, food safety and hygiene; able to inspect and certify quality of sea products under national standards and international standard - Set up international co-operation in training - Organize training courses inside the country and overseas to supplement aquaculture Vietnam with management staff, researchers, and marketing staff to improve their skill and knowledge 3- Manufacturing equipment and technology capability * Applying extensively the achievements of information technology * Creating new products * Applying biotechnology, especially in technology of seedlings reproduction, feeds and epidemic prevention *Continuing in-depth investment, innovation of technology and equipment; mechanize and automate processing line by attracting foreign investment in order to rapidly approach advanced processing technology of the world 4- Production capability 11 - Build and efficiently carry out programs of developing products of high value, - Focus on building and implementing strategies of product diversification, - Push up the activities of product research, - Upgrade working condition, apply management system of hygiene and food safety according to HACCP, GMP, SSOP - Build a system of quality standards - Reorganize production - Strongly develop aquaculture to achieve high productivity, - Improving productivity of exploitation, aquaculture, and processing will help reduce expenses and increase profit margin 5- Management Capability Reforming administrative procedures strengthen the reformation of administrative procedures and improve the quality of public services to create favourable condition for goods to pass customs at border gates Improve profession standard and responsibility of the managers who directly deal with administrative procedures for enterprises 6- Marketing - Maintain and develop sea product market - Build a network for distributing Northern Vietnam’s sea products in other regions and countries to actively regulate goods to bigger markets - Build business relationships with big distributors, supermarket chains, and food service providers in bigger markets - Improve methods of developing market towards specialization, diversification and expansion of sales promotion - Get commercialists and company staff to improve their knowledge standards of international laws for international integration Actively cope with conflicts and trade barriers set by the importers 7- R&D 12 - Product designing and listing - The importance of the research and development of products is to aim the introduction of product design, materials, features, new uses - Conduct supporting activity to raise sales efficiency and increase prestige for businesses - Build and protect a business personality of each enterprise - Building and managing brand: Push up the building and managing of brand of each product and the entire company 13 Published works Phan Thi Mai Huong Fators affecting competitiveness of small and medium aquaculture enterprises in the North of Vietnam Corporate finance magazine N0 4- 2013 pages 24-26, 2013 14 [...]... businesses - Build and protect a business personality of each enterprise - Building and managing brand: Push up the building and managing of brand of each product and the entire company 13 Published works 1 Phan Thi Mai Huong Fators affecting competitiveness of small and medium aquaculture enterprises in the North of Vietnam Corporate finance magazine N0 4- 2013 pages 24-26, 2013 14 ... knowledge and management requirements - Scientists able to approach advanced science and technology and apply them immediately in processing - Inspectors for controlling quality, food safety and hygiene; able to inspect and certify quality of sea products under national standards and international standard - Set up international co-operation in training - Organize training courses inside the country and. .. supplement aquaculture Vietnam with management staff, researchers, and marketing staff to improve their skill and knowledge 3- Manufacturing equipment and technology capability * Applying extensively the achievements of information technology * Creating new products * Applying biotechnology, especially in technology of seedlings reproduction, feeds and epidemic prevention *Continuing in- depth investment, innovation... RECOMMENDATIONS 1- Financial Capability - Attracting investments - Creating favourable conditions for the Small and Medium Sized Enterprises to get access to official financial and credit sources 2- Human Resources - Technical workers operating in all basic areas of fisheries, such as exploiting, rearing, preserving, and processing, all standardized - Management experts for economic research, approaching new knowledge... strengthen the reformation of administrative procedures and improve the quality of public services to create favourable condition for goods to pass customs at border gates Improve profession standard and responsibility of the managers who directly deal with administrative procedures for enterprises 6- Marketing - Maintain and develop sea product market - Build a network for distributing Northern Vietnam s... for international integration Actively cope with conflicts and trade barriers set by the importers 7- R&D 12 - Product designing and listing - The importance of the research and development of products is to aim the introduction of product design, materials, features, new uses - Conduct supporting activity to raise sales efficiency and increase prestige for businesses - Build and protect a business... innovation of technology and equipment; mechanize and automate processing line by attracting foreign investment in order to rapidly approach advanced processing technology of the world 4- Production capability 11 - Build and efficiently carry out programs of developing products of high value, - Focus on building and implementing strategies of product diversification, - Push up the activities of product... Upgrade working condition, apply management system of hygiene and food safety according to HACCP, GMP, SSOP - Build a system of quality standards - Reorganize production - Strongly develop aquaculture to achieve high productivity, - Improving productivity of exploitation, aquaculture, and processing will help reduce expenses and increase profit margin 5- Management Capability Reforming administrative... products in other regions and countries to actively regulate goods to bigger markets - Build business relationships with big distributors, supermarket chains, and food service providers in bigger markets - Improve methods of developing market towards specialization, diversification and expansion of sales promotion - Get commercialists and company staff to improve their knowledge standards of international