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This study aims to investigate the concept of port service quality (PSQ) and examine its influence on customer satisfaction in the container port sector in Vietnam. Despite the importance of the maritime industry in which port is a critical sector in the national economy, there has been no research so far which examines what PSQ entails and how it affects customer satisfaction in the context of Vietnam.

Following a literature review, a conceptual model of PSQ and its influence on customer satisfaction was proposed. A survey questionnaire was then developed and piloted with senior executives who are working in various container shipping lines and logistics companies in Vietnam. The questionnaire was first designed in English and then refined through the process of translation and back-translation to ensure language non-discrepancies. The survey was administered to 200 members of Vietnam Shipowners’ Association, Vietnam Logistics Associations and Vietnam Shippers’ Council. By the cut-off date, 108 questionnaires were received, in which 99 valid replies were used for further analysis.

Results from this study reveal that PSQ is a construct of 4 factors and 16 items, and that enhanced PSQ will positively influence customer satisfaction, in which the outcomes of port service performance and its image would have the greatest impact. Interestingly, most items relating to social and environmental responsibility were dropped, and this result is expected in the context of a developing country like Vietnam.

Findings from this research may enhance port managers’ understanding on areas of PSQ to improve so as to meet and exceed their customers’ satisfaction.

The paper aims to investigate the difference in total factor productivity (TFP) among those firms with and without outsourcing in a developing country like Vietnam. Also, it explores the effect of outsourcing activities on total factor productivity with a specified concentration on the Vietnamese small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

The panel data set of SMEs used in this study was originated from biannual surveys conducted under the collaboration between educational organizations and government agencies: Stockholm School of Economics (SSE), Department of Economics – the University of Copenhagen, the Institution of Labor Studies and Social Affairs (ILSSA) in the Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs (MOLISA). In this study, the model is developed based on the production function in accordance with the model of Girma and Görg (2004). The firms’ TFP is the difference between the actual and the predicted output as with the approach by Levinsohn and Petrin (2003).

This study finds out that firms with outsourcing have higher total factor productivity than those without outsourcing activities. In addition, the more firms spend on outsourcing, the higher total factor productivity they can gain. Outsourcing to SMEs in a developing country can significantly increase its TFP by means of either maintaining core competencies or searching external resources in conducting some internal activities.

Although outsourcing has been widely applied by large firms, the research studying its impact on productivity at firm level is limited. Especially, this study can shed light on the impact for the case of SMEs in a developing economy.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the effects of share repurchase announcements on the stock price of rival firms in the same industry in Vietnam during 2010–2017.

Both event study and t-test are employed to test the effects of share repurchase announcements on rival firms. In addition, cross-sectional analysis by ordinary least square regression is also applied for investigating the heterogeneous effects due to information transfer.

The finding shows that stock repurchase announcements result in a positive and significant valuation effect for both announcing firms and rival firms in Vietnam. Furthermore, the degree of signal to the industry is conditional on the degree of signal about the announcing firms as a contagious effect. Intra-industry effects are more favorable when profit performance of rival firms is good and when leverage of rival firms is low.

Rival firms can seize opportunities surrounding share repurchase announcements in the same industry in Vietnam. However, due to firm characteristics, intra-industry effects of stock repurchases differ among industries.

By examining different methods, the paper attributes valuable results to investigate the stock price behavior of rival firms in the same industry when firms announce stock repurchase in Vietnam.

This study aims to investigate aspects related to the changing trends of the rainfall extremes in the entire Mekong Delta in the period of 32 years (1984-2015) applying rainfall extreme indices. First, the homogeneity tests were applied to assess the quality of observed rainfall data series. The authors, then, investigated three rainfall indices including the number of very heavy rainfall days 20 mm (R20), number of days above 50 mm (R50) and number of days above 100 mm (R100) applying the Mann-Kendall test and Sen’s slope estimate.

First, the homogeneity tests were applied to assess the quality of observed rainfall data series. The authors, then, investigated three rainfall indices including the number of very heavy rainfall days 20 mm (R20), number of days above 50 mm (R50) and number of days above 100 mm (R100) applying the Mann-Kendall test and Sen’s slope estimate.

The results of R20 pointed out that an insignificant upward tendency was found in the coastal provinces, whereas an insignificant downward tendency was also recorded in the inland provinces. Regarding the number of R50, a similar trend to R20 was recorded with five stations slightly increased and five stations slightly decreased. For the number of R100, the results recorded an absence of significant trends over the entire study area. Approximately 58.5% of stations show a slightly decreasing trend, while 41.5% of the remaining stations recorded a slightly increasing trend.

For the number of R100, the results recorded an absence of the significant trends over the entire study area. Approximately 58.5% of stations show a slightly decreasing trend, while 41.5% of the remaining stations recorded a slightly increasing trend. Of note is the fact that the number of R100 occurred more frequently in the northern provinces, which means the northern region is facing a high risk of flooding.

With the advancement of technology, microlearning has emerged as a promising method to improve the efficacy of teaching and learning. This study aims to investigate the document types, volume, growth trajectory, geographic contribution, coauthor relationships, prominent authors, research groups, influential documents and publication outlets in the microlearning literature.

We adapt the PRISMA guidelines to assess the eligibility of 297 Scopus-indexed documents from 2002 to 2021. Each was manually labeled by educational level. Descriptive statistics and science mapping were conducted to highlight relevant objects and their patterns in the knowledge base.

This study confirms the increasing trend of microlearning publications over the last two decades, with conference papers dominating the microlearning literature (178 documents, 59.86%). Despite global contributions, a concentrated effort from scholars in 15 countries (22.39%) yielded 68.8% of all documents, while the remaining papers were dispersed across 52 other nations (77.61%). Another significant finding is that most documents pertain to three educational level categories: lifelong learning, higher education and all educational levels. In addition, this research highlights six key themes in the microlearning domain, encompassing (1) Design and evaluation of mobile learning, (2) Microlearning adaptation in MOOCs, (3) Language teaching and learning, (4) Workflow of a microlearning system, (5) Microlearning content design, (6) Health competence and health behaviors. Other aspects analyzed in this study include the most prominent authors, research groups, documents and references.

The finding represents all topics at various educational levels to offer a comprehensive view of the knowledge base.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the effect of innovation on the performance of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Vietnam.

The paper uses data from the surveys on SMEs in Vietnam conducted by the Development Economics Research Group at the University of Copenhagen, the United Nations University’s World Institute for Development Economics Research, Central Institute for Economic Management and Institute of Labor Science and Social Affairs, and applies least squared regressions and 2SLS regressions to examine the effect of innovation on the performance of SMEs.

The authors find that SMEs with innovation tend to perform better than SMEs without innovation. The authors further show that the positive effect of innovation on firm performance mainly comes from the effect of improvement of existing products, an important type of innovation in SMEs. This result is persistent when the authors use propensity matching score and 2SLS regression with instrumental variable approaches. Overall, the results show the important role of innovation in enhancing the firm performance of SMEs, which sheds light on the literature on the controversial relation between innovation and SMEs performance in the world.

The major limitation of the paper is the lack of data. Although the database used in the paper is widely used to analyze SMEs in Vietnam, it covers about 2,500 firms in only nine provinces/cities in Vietnam.

Policymakers should enact relevant policies to support SMEs with innovation activities, thereby increasing firm performance and their competitiveness. For instance, encouragement policies or financial incentives (tax reduction or subsidies) for innovative firms should be implemented and/or fostered.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first paper to examine the effect of different types of innovation on the performance of SMEs in Vietnam.

The health and environmental hazards associated with synthetic dyes have led to a revival of natural dyes that are non-toxic, environmentally benign and coupled with various functions. The study aims to investigate and develop the potentiality of a popular herb called Chromolaena odorata (C. odorata) as a sustainable and stable dyestuff in textiles.

Natural colorant extracted from C. odorata leaves is used to dye the worsted fabric, which is one of the premier end-use of wool in fashion, via the padding method associated with pre-, simultaneous and post-mordanting with chitosan, tannic acid and copper sulfate pentahydrate. The effects of extraction, dyeing and mordanting processes on fabric’s color strength K/S and color difference ΔE_CMC are investigated via International Commission on Illumination’s L*a*b* color space, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, scanning electron microscope, color fastness to washing, rubbing, perspiration and light.

The results obtained indicate extraction with ethanol 90% with a solid/liquid ratio of 1:5 within 1 h, and coloration with a liquor ratio of 1:5 (pH 5) within 2 h under padding pressure of 0.3 MPa are the most effective for coloring worsted fabric.

The C. odorata’s application as a highly effective dyestuff possessing good colorimetric effectiveness has expanded this herb's economic potential, contributing partly to economic growth and adding value to wool in global supply chain.

C. odorata dyestuff has prevailed over other natural colorants because of its impressive color fastness against washing, rubbing, perspiration and especially color stability for pH change.

This study aims to empirically investigate how difference in social trust explains the heterogeneity of intellectual property right (IPR) protection (proxied by software piracy rate) across countries. Specifically, the authors also examine whether this effect is complementary or substitute to legal and economic factors.

The authors use both ordinary least square and two-stage least square regressions to investigate this effect.

The authors find that there is also a complementary effect between trust and rule of law in reducing the violation of IPRs.

Although the literature by now has documented the solid relationship between trust and the quality of formal institutions, only few studies have explored more specific measures of institutional consequences. Thus, this study is the first study investigating the role of trust, a valuable social capital dimension, on IPR protection.