Journal of Macromarketing

Vietnam is an evolving political economy and marketing system. Since the implementation of Doi Moi, the 1986 policy to invoke a shift from central economic planning to a more market-oriented system, the country has made extraordinary progress on several socioeconomic indicators. Some observers contend Vietnam is a development model; others suggest the country still has numerous challenges to overcome before it can reach its development goals. This article provides an overview of Vietnam’s socioeconomic development; it introduces eight refereed articles and four commentaries that comprise the scholarly contributions to the first special issue of the Journal of Macromarketing to feature research on a single country. Vietnam is that country. Contributors provide detailed research, analysis, and reflection on the interplay of markets, marketing, and society. Topics studied include system complexity and entrepreneurship, retailing evolution, consumption dynamics and societal wellness, family policy and consumption, education and human resource development, living standards and quality of life, ethical/unethical foreign direct investment, ritualistic consumption, and marketing, trade and protectionism, land policy and environmental sustainability, and implications for Vietnam’s economic and geopolitical future.

This study focuses on the phenomenon of entrepreneurial private enterprises and their macromarketing implications in Vietnam—a vibrant economy transitioning from a centrally planned economy to the current system of socialist-oriented market economy. Relying on the writings on entrepreneurship and associated theoretical frameworks (including the complex adaptive system [CAS] perspective), especially in emerging economies, this study develops a framework for capturing the macromarketing implications of entrepreneurial private enterprises. Further, this study suggests that entrepreneurial private enterprises play a crucial role in the economic well-being (a key aspect of quality of life) of citizens in Vietnam; and the growth in entrepreneurial private enterprises is influenced by nonroutine actions by key stakeholders such as the government; and associated with the availability of skilled human resources.

This article reports the findings of a study on modern domestic retailers in Vietnam. The authors based this study on (1) a survey of fifty-six firms that control almost all the modern retail format stores in Vietnam, (2) in-depth interviews with chief executive officers (CEOs) and government officials, and (3) store visits and observations that were carried out by the authors. The authors discuss the operation and retail renovations of local modern retailers, the structure and the background of competitors, the problems retailers face, and their prospects for future development. These findings provide a comprehensive picture of modern retailers in Vietnam and have significant implications for policy makers as well as for local and foreign retailers.

In this article, the authors examine the impact of status orientations on consumer purchase preferences for foreign products, an emerging disposition in Vietnam. Both qualitative (in-depth interviews and focus groups) and quantitative methods (survey with urban Vietnamese consumers) were employed in this investigation. The results of structural equation modeling (SEM) provided empirical evidence for the positive influence of modern status orientation (MSO) on willingness to buy imported products. Traditional status orientation (TSO) was found not to be a predictor of willingness to buy. Consistent with the findings from literature, consumer ethnocentrism was negatively related to willingness to buy imported products. Implications for public policy and marketers pertaining to the emerging proclivity of status-seeking foreign purchase and the social motives underlying this phenomenon are provided.

Vietnam is undergoing a rapid transformation to a more prosperous society. This article analyzes household decision making in a transforming economy that has undergone modification of the traditional view of the family, from being an autonomous unit to an object of state policy. This is relevant because policy interventions shape household consumption through gender equality programs and thus have an impact on sex-role specialization. The aim of this study is to advance understanding of Vietnamese household consumption decisions and spouses’ current influence patterns by investigating sex-role specialization in Vietnamese middle-class families’ decision making. Overall, no significant sex-role changes were observed. It seems that traditional Vietnamese sex-role specialization does not (yet) differ among age groups. Instead, traditional sex-role segmentation remains predominant across all investigated age groups. While economic and consumption habits change rapidly, middle-class families appear to preserve their traditional influence patterns in purchase decisions.

Vietnam has become an attractive destination for foreign investors looking to maximize economic gains due to an increasingly young and educated population, a fast growing middle class, political stability, low labor cost, and loose operational standards. The inflow of foreign direct investment (FDI) has brought many positive outcomes to Vietnam, but its dark side is beginning to emerge. This article discusses one of the negative aspects of FDI-driven economic development in Vietnam through a high-profile, ongoing scandal involving Vedan, a Taiwanese company caught in the poisoning of the Thi Vai river. The authors provide implications for policy making and future research.

This study examines the roles of psychological capital (PsyCap) in job performance and quality of work life (QWL) of marketers in a transitioning market, Vietnam. It also investigates the impacts of marketers’ QWL on their job performance and quality of life (QoL). A test based upon a sample of 364 marketers in Ho Chi Minh (HCM) City reveals that PsyCap has positive impacts on both job performance and QWL of marketers. In addition, QWL underlies both job performance and QoL of marketers. These findings confirm the importance of PsyCap in marketers’ work and lives in a transitioning market.

The degree to which the impact of schooling on real per capita household consumption expenditure (rpce) depends on the intensity of local labor market activity was estimated and changes in that relationship during a substantial part of Vietnam’s transition period (1993–2004 were documented). Key variables in the analysis are the years of schooling attained by the best-educated member of each household, an index of labor market activity at the commune level, and the interaction between the two. As schooling is likely to be endogenous, average educational attainment of others in the same age, gender, and commune cohort was used as an instrumental variable (IV). The estimated impact of educational attainment on rpce is economically substantial, statistically significant, increasing over time, and is powerfully enhanced by increasing labor market activity.

This article examines the historical role of marriage and wedding rituals in Vietnam, and how they have changed during Vietnam’s transition to the market. The authors focus on how changes reflect the society’s increasing dependence on the market, how this dependence impacts consumer well-being, and the resulting implications for public policy. Changes in the meanings, function, and structure of wedding ritual consumption are examined. These changes echo shifts in the national economy, social values, social relations, and gender roles in Vietnamese society during the transition. The major findings show that Vietnamese weddings are reflections of (1) the roles of wedding rituals as both antecedents and outcomes of social changes, (2) the nation’s perception and imagination of its condition relative to “modernity,” and (3) the role of China as a threatening “other” seen as impeding Vietnam’s progress toward “modernization.”

Over the past decade, US catfish producers have been collectively engaging in protectionist rent seeking against lower-priced import competition, most notably from Vietnam. This one-sided strategy, which has ironically characterized the so-called Catfish Wars thus far, has lead to the imposition of several nontariff barriers (NTBs). For Vietnamese exporters, uncertainty as to trade conditions in the United States, including the ultimate impact of the low-visibility NTBs in existence, has been a persistent problem. This problem is characteristic of a contemporary phenomenon affecting exporters worldwide: the prevalence of disguised forms of protectionism. Viewing the Catfish Wars as a rent-seeking problem, this article discusses the incentives and other factors that lead to disguised protectionism. Further, it discusses how exporters doing business in the United States can reduce the potential impact of disguised protectionism though coordinating with consumer-oriented groups.

Land policy is crucial to Vietnam’s socioeconomic development. Yet, land policy in Vietnam often is short-sighted, resulting in inequities and a form of commons tragedy. In this essay, the author reviews the evolving land policy in the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, pointing out inconsistencies and shortcomings. The essay concludes with recommendations to improve policy and the long-term well-being of Vietnam and its people; specifically, several events should occur for Vietnam to achieve middle-income status by 2020, as the government of Vietnam intends. Rapid industrialization and modernization should continue; land currently used for agriculture (particularly rice) need to be converted to industrial parks; residential areas, and infrastructure; and all land should be used in ways that yields the highest social returns. Public investment should help boost agricultural (and land) productivity; and environmental (and land) management should ensure that the institutions and incentives support environmental sustainability.

The Mekong Delta is the agricultural heart of Vietnam and home to nearly 20 million people. Its contributions to the entire country and global food consumers are enormous. The Delta’s delicate ecosystem, however, is distressed by several domestic and regional forces, including rural development, resource mismanagement, upstream damming, climate change, and failure to implement policies to link several systems. The authors examine trends and forces affecting the Delta and offer plausible adjustments to enhance the watershed’s well-being. Solutions will come from scale economies; higher value crops and branding; improvements to marketing channels, technologies to improve data collection and analysis, crop yields, and communication; foreign and domestic investment; and integrative policies to sustain Vietnam’s southern Delta and the entire Mekong Basin.

US and Vietnamese relations have progressed remarkably since diplomatic relations between the two countries were normalized in 1995. The purpose of this essay is to reflect on this progress and to consider implications for the future. Trends suggest the United States and Vietnam will continue to cooperate closely and pragmatically on matters of trade and foreign direct investment, education, public health and well-being, and strategic interests, including military cooperation. While these trends are viewed as beneficial to both countries, they also are considered important to the regional balance of power, as China continues to increase its influence in Southeast Asia and beyond.