Essays On Enterprises, Standards Compliance, And Environmental Issues In Vietnam

Abstract

Globalisation has promoted economic prosperity in developed and developing countries. However, it also negatively impacts the environment. This thesis examines the relationship between standards compliance, environmental compliance, energy efficiency improvement and enterprises in Vietnam in the globalisation context. The findings are important for Vietnam and developing countries in similar contexts. First, standards recognition and compliance are essential to economic activities in an era of globalisation. The first core chapter of the thesis (chapter 2) investigates the impact of standards compliance on participation in the global value chain and labour productivity of Vietnam's small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). This chapter uses a 3-period panel dataset of SMEs combined with Vietnam's Provincial Competitiveness Index. I find that standards compliance by Vietnam's SMEs improved their participation in the global value chain via subcontracts with foreign direct investment (FDI) multinational firms and enhanced their labour productivity. My findings are robust to the choice of econometric models. The results suggest that better outcomes for both firms and society at large are possible if standards are recognised and respected. Second, improvements in energy efficiency are essential for sustainable economic and social development. Chapter 3 explores the effects of energy efficiency improvements on non-energy benefits, particularly profit and labour productivity. This investigation may provide information for firms when deciding their energy consumption behaviours. The chapter uses a 4-period panel dataset of Vietnamese manufacturing SMEs. I find that improvements in energy efficiency enhanced profit and labour productivity. My results are robust to different estimation techniques. The finding suggests that firms can benefit much more from improving their energy efficiency than is often assumed. Third, using panel data from 2011-2018, chapter 4 applies Data Envelopment Analysis to estimate the total factor energy efficiency (TFEE) to measure the energy efficiency of textile and apparel firms in Vietnam. This study also examines some influencing factors of TFEE by using various econometric models. I find that, on average, textile and apparel firms' TFEE was 40.7%, which strongly suggests that textile and apparel firms could have reduced their energy input by 59.3% while keeping their output unchanged. The TFEE significantly varied across firms and had a decreasing trend during the study period. The regression results also provide some noteworthy findings. First, the TFEE of the apparel sector was higher than that of the textile sector. Second, there was a U-shaped relationship between firm size and firms' TFEE. Third, there was no difference in the TFEE between FDI and other firms. Finally, the provincial institution environment did not impact TFEE. The chapter also suggests four policy implications. Finally, corporate environmental compliance (CEC) is critical for ecological protection. Chapter 5 investigates the impact of political connections on the environmental compliance of manufacturing small and medium-sized enterprises in Vietnam. The chapter uses a three-year panel dataset combined with Vietnam's Provincial Competitiveness Index. I find that politically connected firms' compliance with environmental regulations was lower than firms without such political connections. The results are robust to various econometric specifications. This chapter specifies one policy implication for Vietnam and developing economies in similar contexts. Overall, my findings suggest that efforts to comply with standards and improve energy efficiency are economically beneficial for both individual SMEs and, more generally, developing economies, the wider society and the planet itself. This thesis provides robust evidence supporting those seeking to advance economic activity while protecting the environment. Show more