Trading relations in Vietnam's emerging private sector are shaped by two market frictions: the difficulty of locating trading partners and the absence of legal enforcement of contracts. Examining relational contracting, we find that a firm trusts its customer enough to offer credit when the...

This paper investigates how start-up firms in Vietnam operate in the face of two significant market frictions: a poorly developed legal system and inadequate market information. We argue that these two market frictions actually offset each other. Poor market information and the consequent...

Using a survey of private firms in Vietnam, we examine how ongoing relationships serve information-provision and contract-enforcement purposes, substituting for absent market infrastructure. We find that ongoing relationships work when firms face high costs in finding alternative trading...

A survey of private firms in Vietnam is used in this paper to examine ongoing interfirm relationships; this survey gives detailed data on a firm's relationships with specific trading partners. We take as our measure of a firm's trust in its trading partner the amount of trade credit it grants....