The Transformation of the Private Manufacturing Sector in Vietnam in the 1990s

The private manufacturing sector has been called upon to play a key role in the transformation and development of the Vietnamese economy since the launching of market oriented reforms a decade ago. Drawing on a comprehensive survey in 1991 of some 1,000 non-state manufacturing enterprises in Vietnam, a repeat survey in 1997 of some 400 of the enterprises surveyed in 1991 and a parallel survey in 1997 of some 500 not previously surveyed enterprises the present study provides an in-depth analysis of the development and transformation of the private manufacturing sector in Vietnam in the 1990s. It is found that this sector has seen considerable consolidation in terms of size, capital intensity and labour productivity in the 1990s and that this process has been accompanied by a sharp reduction in the regional differences in this regard. This transformation has taken place through two parallel processes. Firstly, through the appearance of new enterprises that are fundamentally different from existing enterprises with regard to size, capital intensity and labour productivity and, secondly, through a growth and transformation of the existing enterprises. These two processes are analysed in detail and a main part of the study is devoted to an analysis of the development of the cohort of enterprises between 1991 and 1997.