Viet An Tran, Que Nhi Tran, Ha My Doan, Gia Long La, Tien Duc Vu and Thi Huyen Pham
This article aims to assess the impact of factors affecting the senses (via Sensory Marketing theory) on customer perceived quality and satisfaction when using health services in…
Abstract
Purpose
This article aims to assess the impact of factors affecting the senses (via Sensory Marketing theory) on customer perceived quality and satisfaction when using health services in public hospitals. Based on the results, the research proposes solutions for public hospitals to improve the service experience to increase customer satisfaction in Vietnam generally and in developing countries particularly.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors used 619 respondents’ non-convenient probability sampling method, focusing on objects experienced with public hospital services in Vietnam. A preliminary quantitative study (n = 113) and qualitative research (n = 20) have been conducted to finalise the designed questionnaire before conducting a formal quantitative survey. Cronbach Alpha, CFA and SEM have been used to explore the meanings of the data collected.
Findings
The result showed that through Sensory Marketing, sensorial stimulus (tactile, sight, smell and taste) significantly impacts customer satisfaction with medical services at the public hospital. Research findings are the premise to conclude that the application of the Sensory Marketing model creates a great sensory experience, and minimises negative psychological feelings in the medical, especially in a prioritised personalisation society.
Practical implications
The authors open up a new health service quality and satisfaction assessment tool based on the original human senses that were previously applied in researching other services, it has been proven to be successfully applied to specific service areas such as healthcare. This research is believed to provide valuable implications for medical service stakeholders and policymakers to improve service quality and enhance the customer experience and satisfaction level through sensorial approaches, strategies and tactics.
Originality/value
While most studies on customer satisfaction in the medical field use SERVQUAL, SERVPERF or KQCAH model, this study breaks the research gap by not only affirming and strengthening the research perspective on Sensory Marketing but also contributing to creating a solid theoretical framework on perceived service quality and satisfaction.
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Huu Cuong Nguyen, Colin Evers and Stephen Marshall
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the development of Viet Nam’s approach to higher education quality assurance during the past dozen years since its establishment…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the development of Viet Nam’s approach to higher education quality assurance during the past dozen years since its establishment, focusing on the achievements and challenges.
Design/methodology/approach
This is a desktop analysis study. The paper analyses the policies and practices related to the development of Viet Nam’s higher education accreditation system by reviewing associated literature.
Findings
The research has found out that there are several achievements, including: the development of the accreditation framework; establishment of accrediting agencies; completion of almost universities’ self-assessment reports; implementation of external assessment exercise at some institutions, a few of which were awarded accreditation certificates. However, there remain a number of challenges related to the independence of the accrediting agencies, human resources, accreditation standards and criteria, institutions’ awareness about accreditation and the pace of accreditation implementation.
Research limitations/implications
The primary limitation of this study is the research methodology which merely relies on document analysis. It would be more credible if the findings could be triangulated with data taken from other sources such as interviews with key stakeholders.
Originality/value
On the basis of the analysis of achievements and challenges at both macro and micro levels, discussion and recommendations are made for future policy-making and management in the field of higher education accreditation.
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The purpose of this paper is to trace the way in which a popular ritual became one of Vietnam’s most important festivals, elevated as a celebration of national heroism and charts…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to trace the way in which a popular ritual became one of Vietnam’s most important festivals, elevated as a celebration of national heroism and charts its gradual transformation in modern society.
Design/methodology/approach
This research focuses on the combination of a fertility rite and narratives of St Gióng based on nationalism or heroism created a special festival reflecting many traditional cultural characteristics of Vietnam and the Việt people and the transformation of St Gióng from a mythological to a national symbol of heroism in anti-invader history was recorded in texts.
Findings
The paper casts light on the mythologization and historicization of St Gióng in Vietnam’s particular historical context by decoding the Gióng symbol as a core element of the folktales and myths about St Gióng to understand the formation and development of St Gióng in the cultural history of Vietnam.
Research limitations/implications
The paper is not exploring the Gióng symbol within a larger cultural context of nationalism and ethnosymbolic approach in a comparison of national symbolism and heroism.
Practical implications
The paper includes implications for advised scholars to conduct further exploration of the symbol and myth of not only St Gióng in Vietnam but also Kubera in India and Vaisravana in China to connect Kubera, Vaisravana and St Gióng under the connection of literal myth and heroic symbol.
Social implications
The paper shows how processes of historicizing myth and mythologizing history are important features of Vietnamese socio-historical research.
Originality/value
The paper shows how a fertility rite became a historical festival and the figure of St Gióng became a symbol of patriotic heroism.
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Vinh Van Thai and Devinder Grewal
Ports, as one of the important links between different modes of transport within the logistics chain, have special essence since their efficiency and competitiveness will…
Abstract
Ports, as one of the important links between different modes of transport within the logistics chain, have special essence since their efficiency and competitiveness will certainly have an impact on the chain, and hence the national and regional economy. Vietnam, as a developing country gradually integrating into the regional and global economy, is rationalizing its economic sectors, including transportation. In this environment, ports play a vital role for the purpose of achieving comparative advantages in the international market. However, the Vietnamese port system is burdened with outdated work practices, low efficiency and poor competitiveness compared to other ports in the region. This paper identifies some of the problems in the Vietnamese port system and proposes strategies to address them.
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Van Thac Dang, Ninh Nguyen, Hoang Viet Nguyen, Hoang Nguyen, Le Van Huy, Viet Thao Tran and Tran Hung Nguyen
Facial recognition payment (FRP) has been recently introduced as a new cashless payment method in retail store context. Anchored on information systems and consumer theories, this…
Abstract
Purpose
Facial recognition payment (FRP) has been recently introduced as a new cashless payment method in retail store context. Anchored on information systems and consumer theories, this research aims to investigate the key antecedents and outcomes of consumer attitudes toward this innovative payment method.
Design/methodology/approach
This research used a survey method to obtain data from 795 consumers at retail stores in China. The data were then analyzed by different statistical methods, including descriptive statistics, reliability analysis and structural equation modeling.
Findings
Results show that perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use and perceived innovativeness positively affect consumer attitudes toward FRP, while perceived risk negatively impacts such attitudes. In addition, consumer attitudes enhance store satisfaction, and hedonic shopping value plays a mediating role in this relationship.
Practical implications
This study encourages retailers to adopt FRP that can enhance consumer hedonic shopping value and satisfaction.
Originality/value
This study contributes to the literature by explaining both the antecedents and the outcomes of consumer attitudes toward FRP in retail context. The study also provides fresh insights into how such attitudes can improve consumers' shopping values and satisfaction in an emerging market.
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This chapter provides information on the development of Vietnamese education under the influence of global forces based on the analysis of relevant education research and policies…
Abstract
This chapter provides information on the development of Vietnamese education under the influence of global forces based on the analysis of relevant education research and policies using Wolhuter’s frameworks. In the process of coming up with ways to develop education in the face of different influences of globalization, besides having reactions with patterns commonly found in countries around the world, Vietnam also has responses that reflect its own political, sociocultural and economic characteristics. The state still plays a controlling role in education at all levels and many culture-related features that have existed throughout the country’s history have hardly changed, namely aspects related to teachers, learners and teaching and learning methods. To sustain its education in the globalized era, Vietnam must make more efforts in various aspects such as the link between education and employment, the logic of education objectives, the feasibility and appropriateness of curricula, quality of education, especially of higher education and equality in education for underprivileged groups.
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Patricia Ahmed and Rebecca Jean Emigh
Two perspectives provide alternative insights into household composition in contemporary Eastern Europe. The first stresses that individuals have relatively fixed preferences…
Abstract
Two perspectives provide alternative insights into household composition in contemporary Eastern Europe. The first stresses that individuals have relatively fixed preferences about living arrangements and diverge from them only when they cannot attain their ideal. The second major approach, the adaptive strategies perspective, predicts that individuals have few preferences. Instead, they use household composition to cope with economic hardship, deploy labor, or care for children or the elderly. This article evaluates these approaches in five post‐socialist East‐European countries, Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, Romania, and Russia, using descriptive statistics and logistic regression. The results suggest that household extension is common in these countries and provide the most evidence for the adaptive strategies perspective. In particular, the results show that variables operationalizing the adaptive strategies perspective, including measures of single motherhood, retirement status, agricultural cultivation, and poverty, increase the odds of household extension.
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Thien-Vu Tran, Thao Phuong Pham, Mai-Huong Nguyen, Long-Thanh Do and Hiep-Hung Pham
This paper aims to examine the economic efficiency of Vietnamese 172 higher education (HE) institutions within the 2012–2016 inclusive period through the Data Envelopment Analysis…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to examine the economic efficiency of Vietnamese 172 higher education (HE) institutions within the 2012–2016 inclusive period through the Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) approach. The authors also compare public and private, multidisciplinary and mono-disciplinary, non-autonomy and autonomy, non-international and international HE Institutions’ efficiency.
Design/methodology/approach
This study derived from an unique dataset from the Ministry of Education and Training (MOET) of Vietnam. The data set comprises financial and academic annual reports of higher education institutions (HEIs). The authors achieved totally 204 Vietnamese HEIs, and the sample for analysis is 172 after the elimination of missing units, accounting for 84.3% entire of Vietnamese HEIs. The authors estimate the efficiency scores relying on these selected inputs and outputs by using the DEA method.
Findings
Overall, HEIs in Vietnam decreased their operational efficiency during the 2012–2016. It also seems that public universities operate in the absence of market mechanism so that they tend to be less efficient than their counterparts in private sector. Based on our analysis, the authors observe that the HEIs including the international programmes have higher efficiency scores rather than these without international programmes.
Originality/value
This study contributes to the theoretical aspects as follows. First, it enriches the existent efficiency literature on HE using the DEA approach. This stands out among similar studies in Vietnam in terms of duration (from 2012–2016) and data size (172 entities). Second, the research is the first to examine HEIs in terms of disciplinary (mono or multi-disciplinary) and autonomy (autonomous and non-autonomous), internalization (international programmes). These aspects have been silent in previous studies of HEIs in Vietnam.
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Sang Kim Tran and Le Ngoc Hoang Yen
Decision-making seems simple, but, in reality, it is not an easy task to decide the cause for its profound result or consequence, leading to inevitable failures. Therefore, a…
Abstract
Subject area
Decision-making seems simple, but, in reality, it is not an easy task to decide the cause for its profound result or consequence, leading to inevitable failures. Therefore, a leader must recognize whether there is something incorrect so as to avoid bad results. A good leader is a person who carefully reviews and analyzes aspects of a problem, knows the strengths and weaknesses of his organization and evaluates what the advantages or risks are. It cannot be denied that the appropriate options will reap many benefits to the business. For such important things, this paper will discuss the dilemma of Viettire, a tire distributor company in Vietnam. Accordingly, its CEO was worried about what strategic option he should adopt to approach the Myanmar market while ensuring a strategic fit to its company’s resources and capabilities and also to the overall market demands of the tire industry environment in both countries. However, with different ideas, the expansion strategies in this new market become controversial. The General Director and Founder of Viettire were wondering how Viettire could expand its existing business into Myanmar. To expand the company to new emerging market in Myanmar, Hoang Nguyen – CEO of Viettire – had conducted a strategic analysis of external environment factors to define the opportunities and threats when doing business in Myanmar by using Porter’s five forces model, S.W.O.T and competitive advantages analysis. The results indicated that Myanmar’s business environment is highly risky for foreign investors because of uncertain political, economic, social reforms in the process. Among three options, namely, exporting, licensing and wholly owned, however, Option 2 is illustrated as the best strategy for its dilemma.
Study level/applicability
Postgraduate/Graduate Business level.
Case overview
As for a market mechanism, what produces, how and for whom, is not the business’s demand but the consumer’s demand. The business sells only what the market needs, not what it has. In the period of increasingly competitive conditions, stabilizing and expanding markets are a prerequisite for survival. If stability is seen as a “defensive” way, expansion is a “defensive attack” like trying to hold on the “pie” that the market gives to itself. This strategic action is to strengthen regular, close relationships with existing customers and establish new customers. As a result, the potential market is transformed into a target market. Hence, decision-making of which market, which method is the issue that a leader has to think the choice to avoid risks. Mr Hung, Viettire’s co-owner, suggests that Myanmar should be taken into account as a company’s new entry, thus exploring this potential market to increase the company’s growth and profitability. In the progress, Viettire’s marketing team had been doing a thorough tire market investigation in Myanmar. It was concluded that this emerging country, especially Yangon City, was the most suitable for those who were willing to embark on an overseas investment expansion. They believe this was a good opportunity to gain market share compared with other entrants and competitive rivals; if Viettire hesitated to invest, others definitely had jumped in with a first-mover advantage. However, the CEO, Mr Hoang, was worried about what strategic option he should adopt to approach this new market while ensuring a strategic fit to its company’s resources and capabilities and also to the overall market demands of the tire industry environment in both countries.
Expected learning outcomes
Understand the basic decisions that firms contemplating foreign expansion must make: which markets to enter, when to enter those markets and at what scale. Recognize the current strategic decisions an organization is facing: positioning, portfolio and market expansion approach. Learn how to develop an effective strategic plan. Be familiar with different strategies for competing globally and their pros and cons. Evaluate various strategic options and decisions in accordance with a company’s resources and capabilities.
Supplementary materials
Teaching notes are available for educators only. Please contact your library to gain login details or email support@emeraldinsight.com to request teaching notes.
Subject Code
CSS 11: Strategy.
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Huu Minh Nguyen, Thi Hong Tran and Thi Thanh Loan Tran
“The world needs science, science needs women” is the message given by UNESCO in the program for the development of women in science” (UNESCO, 2017). In Vietnam, women’s…
Abstract
“The world needs science, science needs women” is the message given by UNESCO in the program for the development of women in science” (UNESCO, 2017). In Vietnam, women’s participation and achievements in scientific research is considered a great and important resource for industrialization and modernization. Even so, are there gender differences in scientific achievement in the social science research institutes in Vietnam? What factors influence the scientific achievement of female social researchers? The answers will be based on data from a 2017 survey with a sample of 756 researchers, of which 77.6% were female. The survey was conducted by the Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences, a leading, ministry-level national center for the social sciences in Vietnam. This chapter analyzed the scientific achievements of researchers through their position as principal investigators of research projects and their publications, and factors that may impact this. Bivariate and multivariate analyses of factors that may affect the scientific achievement of researchers found that gender differences in academic achievement in the social sciences in Vietnam was still prevalent. Female researchers’ scientific achievements were lower than those of their male counterparts. The contribution to science of Vietnamese female researchers was limited by many different factors; the most important were the academic rank of the researchers and gender stereotype that considered housework the responsibility of women.