Provincial foreign direct investment absorptive capacity of Vietnam

Objective: The objective of the article is to examine the importance of absorptive capacity in the relationship between foreign direct investment and economic performance in 63 Vietnamese provinces from 2007 to 2015. Research Design & Methods: The absorptive capacity at provincial level includes six components tested by confirmatory factor analysis, which allows for the argument that absorptive capacity of domestic firms is an important component of absorptive capacity of provinces. Besides this one, there are five other components, including financial development, human capital, the level of openness, the absorptive capacity of domestic firms, institutions, and infrastructure. The generalized two-stages least squares (G2SLS) random effect with instrumental variables regression is used with panel data. Findings: Firstly, foreign direct investment has a positive impact on the development of the 63 provinces in Vietnam. Secondly, among the six components, the four most important ones are infrastructure, the level of openness, human capital, and the absorptive capacity of domestic firms. Moreover, the article finds that foreign direct investment can bring negative impacts to provinces with a low level of trade openness. Implications & Recommendations: The government should focus on infrastructure, trading policy, human capital and capability of domestic firms. Contribution & Value Added: There is a lack of connection between absorptive capacity at the firm level and the macro level. Therefore, this article attempts to create this connection by constructing absorptive capacity at the firm level as a component of absorptive capacity at the provincial level. © 2020, Cracow University of Economics. All rights reserved.[IGA/FaME/2018/019 FDI

Predicting overall staffs' creativity and innovative work behavior in banking

This study focuses on the impact of empowering leadership and challenges work environment on both sale employee’s creativity and innovative work behavior in the Vietnamese banking industry. An empirical test, a structural equation model comprising a sample of 319 sale employees in 15 banks, indicates a strong relationship between sales staff creativity and innovative work behavior. Moreover, the findings indicate that both an empowering leadership and a challenging work environment can trigger sale employees’ creativity. Finally, innovative work behavior has a positive impact on innovative output. In general, this study contributes with some suggestions for bank managers to identify appropriate methods in order to stimulate the creativity and innovative work behavior of employees with the objective of achieving strong and sustainable business performance. © 2019, Sciendo. All rights reserved.Internal Grant Agency of FaME [IGA/FaME/2018/019

A major boost to the website performance of up-scale hotels in Vietnam

The study aims to enhance the customer experience on hotel websites in the context of venue's booking channels to others. The online filed survey is conducted with 321 internet bookers. The exploratory factor analysis is adopted to analyze the data. The progression of customer satisfaction proceeds in a linear fashion on luxury (ranking from 4-star to 5-star hotels) websites. Moreover, the study reveals how hotel website performance would affect the levels of customer attitude and its sustainable development in the context of perceived e-service quality. The exploratory results show that customer satisfaction in online environment has identical processes in the context of up-scale hotel industry. The female group compared to male group, has more sensitive to perceive the impact of functionality of lodging website in developing customer satisfaction. Caution is advised in generalizing findings of this study due to stratified sampling even though the study confirms results of previously conducted studies. This study provides practical tips for website sustainable progress especially for hotel management to pay more attention to the e-service formation process. Therefore, the appropriate marketing strategy can be established to fill gender specific expectations towards individual degree of customer satisfaction.Internal Grant Agency of Faculty of Management and Economics, Tomas Bata University in Zlin [IGA/FaME/2018/009

A Theoretical Study of Deflection of AFM Bimaterial Cantilevers Versus Irradiated Position

The bimaterial cantilevers of atomic force microscopes have been widely used in chemical and bio-sensing. Due to the difference in the thermal expansion coefficients of the two layers, the cantilever is deflected and its deflections is dependent on the heat absorption from the ambient environment or the objects adsorbed on the cantilever surface. In this study, we theoretically examine the deflection of this cantilever considering different irradiated configurations of a laser beam and thicknesses of the coating layer. We show that the temperature difference between the end and the clamped position is maximized for an irradiation at the cantilever end and this difference reduces with increasing coating thickness. Especially, the maximal deflection is seen for an irradiation in the middle of the cantilever, around 0.6 of the cantilever length from the clamped position. The obtained results could help determining an irradiated configuration of laser and the coating thickness to optimize the sensitivity of the cantilevers in thermally sensing devices

Motivators and its impacts on job satisfaction in FDI companies - A case study of Eurowindow Vietnam

This study investigates the factors motivating workers and their levels of job satisfaction at Eurowindow Vietnam - an FDI company in the furniture industry based in Hochiminh City, Vietnam. Data for this study were collected by a surveying 202 office workers of the company. A Likert-scale response format questionnaire was used to identify employment attitudes and job satisfaction. The research was carried out based on the theoretical aspects of job satisfaction. Cronbach's alpha and exploratory factor analysis (EFA) were deployed to test the unidimensionality, reliability, and validity of measurement scales. Correlation analysis was carried out to estimate the relation between dependent and independent variables, and within the independent ones. Moreover, multiple regression analysis was adopted to test the hypotheses of the study. The level of job satisfaction was measured by seven dimensions, namely payment, promotion, supervisor, co-workers, work itself, benefits and work environment. The research results showed that work itself, promotion, payment, and supervisor have significant influences on job satisfaction. Findings of this study provide necessary knowledge for the leadership of Eurowindow Vietnam in boosting job satisfaction of their staff. Other FDI enterprises with the same development level may find these results applicable for their organizations. Recommendations for future research are also presented at the end of the study.Internal Grant Agency of FaME [IGA/FaME/2018/019

Factors affecting the disparity of Vietnamese gold prices and worldwide gold prices

Gold is a precious metal which is highly appreciated because of its prominent role in the world of investments, savings, and consumption. Although gold is no longer used as a primary form of currency in some countries, it continues to have a strong influence on the value of the currencies of those countries. Compared to all the other precious metals used for investment and trade, throughout history gold has always been preferred. The value of gold is a factor mentioned in the commodities and futures market. Vietnam does not produce/mine enough gold to meet its domestic requirements. As the country has to import over sixty percent of its gold, Vietnam's gold price is mostly influenced by the world price movements, in turn increasing or decreasing domestically. Therefore, understanding and addressing the factors resulting in gold price disparities is essential in policy adjustments to stabilize the price of gold and prevent speculation, which may cause economic destabilization as well as a loss of competitiveness in Vietnamese market for gold and other precious metals. The study includes monthly data collected between January 2006 and December 2015. Exchange rates, import tax, and seasonal factor data are included in the model as independent variables. According to the empirical findings, the foreign exchange rate had a negative impact on the disparity between Vietnamese gold price and the world price. The import tax has a positive effect on the discrepancies among gold prices, while the seasonal factor variable was not statistically significant at 5 percent and negative concerning the disparity of the gold price.Internal Grant Agency of FaME; TBU [IGA/FaME/2018/019

Fiber Optical Tweezers for Applying and Measuring Forces in a 3D Solid Compartment

We developed an inclined dual fiber optical tweezers (DFOTs) for simultaneous force application and measurements in a 3D hydrogel matrix. The inclined DFOTs provide a potential solution for cell mechanics study in a three-dimensional matrix

The determinants of foreign direct investment in ASEAN: New evidence from financial integration factor

This paper examines the impact of financial integration and other variables on foreign direct investment capital inflows in ASEAN3 (Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam) and ASEAN5 (Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand, Singapore). Other variables are the gross domestic product, interest rate, infrastructure facility, labor cost, and trade openness. This paper uses the panel ordinary least square estimation with the method of first differencing for the period between 1996 and 2016. The authors divide ASEAN member countries into two groups by the level of economic development. The findings indicate that the coefficient of financial integration is positive and significant at 1 % level of significance on foreign direct investment capital inflows. The empirical results also support the hypothesis that foreign direct investment in ASEAN is positively correlated to market size, infrastructure facilities, and negatively correlated to labor cost as well as trade openness in ASEAN3.Internal Grant Agency of FaME TBU [IGA/FaME/2018/019