Expert comment on the equitisation of Vietnam’s state-owned enterprises

Tiếng Việt

Expert comment on the equitisation of Vietnam’s state-owned enterprises

Three senior researchers from RMIT Vietnam’s School of Business & Management are available to comment on the equitisation of Vietnam’s state-owned enterprises, based on the research report Moving Ahead: How to Accelerate SOE Equitisation in Vietnam.

Dr Victor Kane, Head of Department, RMIT Asia Graduate Centre, says equitisation is a priority for Vietnam, but the process faces many challenges such as the reluctance of leaders working in the SOEs.

“Some of the managers of the SOEs themselves are quite reluctant to equitise. I think because of what happens when you privatise is that you give up some power, you open up your transparency to the public, and you have to be much more transparent with your financials.”

Dr Burkhard Schrage, Lecturer, believes lack of good corporate governance is a major concern.

“This means there are companies where the CEO of a state-owned firm is also the chairman of the board, so basically he hires himself and sets his own salary,” he says.

Dr Nguyen Quang Trung, Senior Lecturer and Discipline Lead, International Business, School of Business & Management, offers several recommendations for the equitisation of SOEs, and believes a more efficient, streamlined process is key to Vietnam’s continued economic growth.

“The public sector dominates the private sector and it cannot grow,” he explained.

“It gets crowded out, and this problem is arguably contributed to by SOEs.”

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Email: thuy.le@rmit.edu.vn