Master of Arts in Law and Diplomacy Thesis Development of Supporting Industries for Vietnam’s Industrialization: Increasing Positive Vertical Externalities through Collaborative Training December 2005 Junichi Mori The Fletcher School, Tufts University e-mail: junmori0707@yahoo.jp Junichi MORI / Development of Supporting Industries for Vietnam’s Industrialization Acknowledgement This paper is written as my thesis for the Master of Arts in Law and Diplomacy at the Fletcher School, Tufts University. It compiles my academic work in the Fletcher School and the research and survey work conducted in the spring and summer of 2004 and the summer of 2005, when I was a visiting researcher at the Japan-Vietnam Economist Club (now VDF Tokyo) and the Vietnam Development Forum. I would like to express my sincere appreciation to Professor Carsten Kowalczyk and Professor Julie Schaffner for their guidance and support as my thesis advisors at the Fletcher School. I greatly appreciate that they provided me with economic and policy analysis skills through classes and many individual tutorials.
Special thanks to Professor Kenichi Ohno of the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies and the Vietnam Development Forum, who gave me a lot of valuable advice and research opportunities in Vietnam. Special thanks to Professor David Dapice of Tufts University and Harvard University, who provided me with precious insight into the economic conditions and policy-making processes in Vietnam. Thanks to the officials and experts in the Vietnamese and Japanese governments, and international organizations who provided me with valuable information and perspectives. Thanks also to all the enterprise managers who provided me with useful information based on actual business conditions in Vietnam, Malaysia, and Japan.
1 Junichi MORI / Development of Supporting Industries for Vietnam’s Industrialization Table of Contents Executive Summary………………………………………………………………. Economic Growth through Development of Supporting Industries………. What is Supporting Industry?: Concept and Characteristics…………………………. What is the Role of Supporting Industries in FDI-Driven Growth?.
Tradable and Non-Tradable Inputs in MNCs’ Optimum Procurement Strategy……. Do Supporting Industries Accelerate the Agglomeration of FDI?. Competitive Supporting Industries for the Long-Run Economic Growth…………………16 2. Development Paths in Advanced ASEAN Countries, Difficulties in Vietnam…………….
Rationales for Policy Intervention: Two Types of Barriers ………………………. Differences from “Infant Industry” in Rationale and Primary Target…………. Analyzing Supporting Industries in Vietnam: Possible Policy Recommendations to Reduce Market Failures……………………………………………………………. MNCs’ Small Demand for Local Procurement of Production Parts………………….
Supply-Side Constraints: Barriers Which Hinder the Development of Supporting Industries…………………………………………………………………………………. How Can Public Policy Contribute to Removing Obstacles?. Upgrading Technology to Overcome the Minimum Efficient Scale Problem……………34 3. Policy Recommendation: Promoting Collaborative Training Programs………………….
Toward More Concrete Policy Proposals…………………………………………………. A Good Practice for Collaborative Training: The Penang Skill Development Center in Malaysia……………………………………………………………. Learning from a Good Practice in Malaysia……………………………………………. Establishment of the Penang Skill Development Center……………………………….
Structure of PSDC’s Training Programs…………………………………………. The Global Suppliers Program (GSP): Strengthening Backward linkages………. PSDC’s Contribution to the Development of Supporting Industries……………………49 4. Primary Factors for PSDC’s Success………………………………………………….
What are MNCs’ Incentives to Participate in PSDC?. Conditions that MNCs Prefer Collaborative Training Programs…………………….…57 2 Junichi MORI / Development of Supporting Industries for Vietnam’s Industrialization 4. Roles of the State and Federal Governments to Support PSDC…………………………. Shortcomings of PSDC’s Programs……………………………………………….
How to Apply Lessons from PSDC in Vietnam…………………………………………67 5. Project Analysis in Vietnam (A): The Project for Strengthening the Training Capabilities of Technical Workers at Hanoi Industrial College……………. Establishment of the HIC-JICA Project……………………………………………. Structure of Educational Programs in the HIC-JICA Project…………………………….How Does the HIC-JICA Project Contribute to the Development of Supporting Industries?.
What Attracts MNCs and Domestic Supporting Industries to Participate in the HIC-JICA project?. Comparison to PSDC: Collaborative Training in a General Education Program…. Costs and Benefits for the Involvement of Local Government…………………………. Project Analysis in Vietnam (B): the Technical Assistance Center Project….
Establishment of the TAC Project…………………………………………………………77 6. Expected Benefits of TAC’s Training Programs………………………………………. Comparison to PSDC: Lack of Collaborative Training. Policy Options for Adding Collaborative Training.
Optimal Combination of Vocational Training and General Education……………………80 7.…92 3 Junichi MORI / Development of Supporting Industries for Vietnam’s Industrialization Executive Summary Vietnam opened up to the outside world in the early 1990s, and expected that the massive inflow of foreign direct investment (FDI) would accelerate economic growth. However, FDI inflow actually decreased after a small boom in the mid 1990s. While various external factors are responsible for this, internal factors have also affected the flow of FDI. In particular, the weakness of supporting industries is considered to be one of the primary factors responsible for this.
Competitive supporting industries are required to attract more FDI into Vietnam, because multi-national corporations (MNCs) consider them to be an important factor in the decision to expand FDI, in addition to labor costs. Moreover, the development of supporting industries is necessary for amplifying FDI’s positive externalities in Vietnam. Although many developing countries are trying to attract FDI in order to accelerate economic growth, the net externalities of FDI for host countries seem ambiguous due to two conflicting effects. Entries of MNCs to the market may cause negative externalities for domestic competitors in the same sector, while they may improve the productivity of domestic suppliers through backward linkages.
Therefore, a country will have more chances to exploit the net positive externalities from FDI if it has competitive supporting industries which can expand business deals with MNC assemblers. However, the development of supporting industries in Vietnam is impeded by two types of barriers: the minimum efficient scale problem and information failure. In this situation, appropriate public policies may help domestic supporting industries overcome these obstacles, since the market has not been able to resolve those issues. They may help domestic supporting industries overcome the minimum efficient scale problem by upgrading their technology, while they may reduce information failures through promoting interactions with MNC assemblers.
Among various policy options, the establishment of a collaborative training program between MNCs and domestic supporting industries is highly recommended. It may promote technology transfer from MNCs to domestic suppliers. In order to establish an effective collaborative training system in Vietnam, it would be beneficial to learn from the success of the Penang Skill Development Center (PSDC). The participation of MNCs, the bottom-up and regional approaches, and support from the local and national government are key factors in establishing a successful collaborative training program.
Furthermore, whether MNCs would actively participate in a collaborative training program depends on 4 Junichi MORI / Development of Supporting Industries for Vietnam’s Industrialization the business architecture of the product and the degree of industrial agglomeration. Currently, there are two projects related to the development of supporting industries in Vietnam: i) the HIC-JICA project as a general education program and ii) the TAC project as a vocational training program. The HIC-JICA project focuses on educating prospective production engineers, emphasizing practical training through actual manufacturing activities based on orders from foreign enterprises. On the other hand, the TAC project, which is still in the planning stage, aims to directly contribute to technology upgrading of domestic suppliers in a vocational training program.
Taking into account the lessons learned from PSDC, the TAC project may attract MNCs’ participation in regions with high degrees of industrial agglomeration, such as Ho Chi Minh City, but it may not in regions with low degrees of industrial agglomeration such as Hanoi and Danang. In contrast, a general education program such as the HIC-JICA project may establish interactions with foreign enterprises even in regions with low degrees of industrial agglomeration, although its impacts may be more indirect for the development of supporting industries. Therefore, the author recommends that policy makers select either a vocational training program or a general educational program, taking into consideration the degree of industrial agglomeration, the business architecture of products in major industries, and other local-specific demands in each region. The optimal combination of the above two policy options may effectively promote the development of supporting industries and thereby stimulate economic growth in Vietnam through industrialization.
5 Junichi MORI / Development of Supporting Industries for Vietnam’s Industrialization 1. Introduction Vietnam opened up to the outside world in the early 1990s and expected that the massive inflow of foreign direct investment (FDI) would accelerate economic growth. However, FDI inflow actually decreased after a small boom in the mid 1990s. While various external factors are responsible for this, such as the recession in other East Asian countries, internal factors have also affected the flow of FDI.
In particular, the weakness of supporting industries is considered to be one of the primary factors responsible for the decrease. Given this situation, there seems to be a general consensus among Vietnamese officials, foreign and local enterprises, and foreign government agencies that the development of supporting industries is important. This was also stated in the Vietnam-Japan Joint Initiative to Improve Business Environment, which was agreed on December 2003 between the Vietnamese and Japanese governments. 1 However, there are still unresolved gaps regarding the definition, target area, and means to develop supporting industries.
For instance, the Vietnamese government may regard production parts, machine tools, and raw material supply companies as “supporting industries,” while others may consider that only production parts and machine tools suppliers should be included in this category. Moreover, there is a persistent suspicion that the development of supporting industries, which may seem to be “low-tech,” may not really contribute to the economic growth of Vietnam. Thus, my tasks in this paper are to define “supporting industries” and address the question: What role can supporting industries play in promoting economic growth? After the importance and effect of supporting industries are discussed, the question of how to develop supporting industries still remains. Therefore, my second question is: how can supporting industries be developed? Should the government play a role in correcting some imperfections in the market? If so, what kind of policy options does the government have? 1 Vietnam-Japan Joint Initiative to Improve Business Environment with View to Strengthen Vietnam’s competitiveness.
(2003), 7 Available from: http://www.jp/ 6 Junichi MORI / Development of Supporting Industries for Vietnam’s Industrialization In order to answer the above research questions, the following section will explore the roles of supporting industries for economic growth in a developing country like Vietnam. Section 3 analyzes the current situation of supporting industries and obstacles to their development in Vietnam. In Section 4, the Penang Skill Development Center that has accelerated the development of supporting industries in Malaysia is examined as a good practice, in order to draw some lessons for Vietnam. Section 5 analyzes the HIC-JICA project in Vietnam, which has contributed to technology upgrading through a general educational program.
Section 6 examines the TAC project in Vietnam, which is targeting the technology upgrading of domestic suppliers. Section 7 is the conclusion. Economic Growth through Development of Supporting Industries 2. Introduction While the development of supporting industries is emphasized in Vietnam as stated in the Vietnam-Japan Joint Initiative to Improve Business Environment, its definition and impacts on economic growth are rather ambiguous.
Policy-makers in Vietnam would not be convinced of the importance of supporting industries, until those become clearer. In this section, supporting industries are defined in economic and business terms. Then, their impacts on the economic growth through the backward linkage are examined, reviewing related literatures. Finally, the rationales of policy intervention for the development of supporting industries are discussed.
What is Supporting Industry?: Concept and Characteristics The term “supporting industries” is widely used, especially in East Asia. However, its definition has not yet been made clear in either business or economic terms. In economic theory, supporting industries are defined as a group of producers of manufactured inputs. Finished goods are produced through multi-layer processes, which consist of the manufacturing and assembling processes of inputs.
Supporting industries produce these inputs, more specifically, intermediate and capital goods. For example, in the manufacturing processes of consumer-electronics goods, production parts such as plastic 7 Junichi MORI / Development of Supporting Industries for Vietnam’s Industrialization and metal parts are considered intermediate goods, while machinery and tooling to produce those intermediate goods are capital goods. In the framework of business, supporting industries manufacture production parts as well as machinery and tooling to produce those production parts.