The Private Manufacturing Sector in Vietnam: An Analysis of the Winners

Vietnam has witnessed a dynamic restructuring of its non-state enterprises since the initiation of market reforms in the late 1980s. Based on the results of 371 private sector enterprises surveyed in 1991 and 1997, this paper analyses the transformation of one category of resurveyed enterprises with the highest growth - the fast growing in the period 1991-97. The performance of these fast growing enterprises are examined, separately for urban and rural, in terms of various internal and external determinants to the survival and growth of firms. These include organisational form, line of activity, enterprise history, entrepreneurial characteristics, scale of operations, employment, linkages - forward, backward and horizontal; production relations, continuity of operations, government assistance etc. in 1990-91 and 1996-97 and the changes in the intervening period. It is found that the fast growing enterprises have undergone enormous changes and displayed remarkable flexibility in facing the challenges of uncertainty in the changing economic environment of Vietnam.