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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 However, the Vietnamese port system is burdened with outdated work practices, low efficiency and poor competitiveness compared to other ports in the region.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.

The power vacuum in Europe after World War II induced the United States and the Soviet Union to seek European allies against one another (an action that neorealists would describe as “external balancing”). The disparate geopolitical circumstances facing the two super powers were bound to have some effect on the types of alliances they sought. In the United States, many officials and legislators initially were reluctant to maintain a permanent military presence in Europe. They planned instead to help the West European states themselves acquire the wherewithal to sustain a viable balance against the Soviet Union. Not until after the outbreak of the Korean War in June 1950 did U.S. perceptions of the Soviet threat change enough to generate wide spread support for a huge increase in the U.S. military commitment to Western Europe. By that point, U.S. officials already sensed, from the Berlin crisis of 1948‐49, that the United States would need an extensive network of military bases in Western Europe if it wished to deter or rebuff Soviet probes on the continent. The increased deployment of U.S. troops and weapons in Europe from late 1950 on was geared toward that end, and was also intended to reassure the West Europeans of the strength of the U.S. commitment to their defense. That commitment had been nominally codified in April 1949 ‐ primarily at the West Europeans’ initiative ‐ with the establishment of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), but it was not until the early 1950s, after the shock of Korea, that the United States began putting up the resources needed to fulfill its military obligations to NATO.

The differences in incidences of absenteeism and discipline between Vietnamese and non‐Vietnamese employees in a food processing plant were examined Subjects were 80 non‐Vietnamese and 35 Vietnamese refugees living in a medium‐sized midwestern city. Three forms of motivational absenteeism (single‐day absences, part‐day absences, and no‐calls) and one form of ability to attend absenteeism (multiple‐day absences) were examined Two forms of discipline, warnings and suspensions, were also examined Based on a presumed impact of Confucianism upon Vietnamese work values, it was predicted that Vietnamese employees, compared to non‐Vietnamese employees, would experience less motivational absenteeism, less absence‐related discipline, and no difference in ability to attend absenteeism. All hypothesis were supported Potential impact of the research on cultural stereotypes and on the employment recruiting and selection process are discussed.

The purpose of the visit was four‐fold: • to discuss at first hand, with those directly involved, the major movements and problems in American higher education, especially those matters arising from relationships between two year and four year colleges; • to examine certain aspects of management education and training and, in particular, to ascertain the scope and nature of activities of the Small Business Administration of the US Government and to determine the involvement of business schools in management education and development for smaller businesses; • to ascertain the major thrusts and practices in education and training for allied health services, in particular, in nursing and social work; • to see something of the social services in operation, as provided by city, State and voluntary (including Church) agencies and to discuss major problems in relation to existing and developing social need.

The purpose of this paper is to shed critical light on micro‐finance.

This scheme is managed from an economic perspective.

Micro‐finance comes to us as a left wing attack on the free enterprise system; as such, it ought to be opposed by all freedom lovers, at least in its present format. Other baggage weighing it down is, if not absolute fraud, then, what might well be considered at least serious chicanery. A further criticism is the cult‐like behavior now surrounding it. However, is micro‐finance per se necessarily fraudulent? Can it only be favored by critics of laissez faire capitalism? What of micro‐finance shorn of all such encumbrances? Should it then be supported? No. Even the Platonic Ideal of micro‐finance has serious difficulties. This claim is a matter of prudential judgment, not praxeology. But, even a pure‐as‐the‐driven‐snow variety of this scheme still violates the economic concepts of specialization and division of labor, an appreciation of the infant industry fallacy, and several other basic building blocks of the dismal science. There are other better ways to “cure poverty” than this misbegotten scheme. This one, paradoxically, exacerbates impoverishment by placing investment resources in hands less capable of making it grow than would otherwise be the case.

It would be unwise to invest in or support this scheme.

Society should instead rely upon free enterprise banking, the occupy movement to the contrary notwithstanding.

It takes a minority position on this very popular institution.

Promoted for its inclusivity, agricultural value chain (AVC) financing leverages social capital and mechanisms such as off-take agreements and forward contracts to reduce borrowing and lending costs and risks for both farmers and lending institutions. AVC financing has been defined as the flow of financial products and services to and among the various actors within the AVC to address constraints of production and distribution and fulfill the needs of those involved in the chain by reducing risk and improving efficiency. This paper investigates how farmers' involvement in AVC affects their access to credit.

The authors collected primary data from 400 crop farmers in northern Ghana through a semi-structured questionnaire and analyzed the data, using the multinomial endogenous switching regression model.

Joint participation in AVC increased the amount of formal and informal credit received by 64 and 78%, respectively, compared to nonparticipation. Similarly, participation in AVC horizontal linkage and AVC vertical linkage increased the amount of formal and informal credit received by 40 and 47% and 46 and 74%, respectively, compared to nonparticipation. Irrigation farming, extension visits, knowledge of AVC in the community, access to a storage facility and trust in contract farming significantly influenced farmers' participation in AVC.

The authors’ work offers valuable insights into how different dimensions of value chain participation can impact smallholder farmers' access to credit. This work also underscores the importance of considering both formal and informal credit sources when analyzing the outcomes of value chain participation. The findings could enable formal financial providers to identify, liaise and/or resource informal financial players such as value chain actors to supply both formal and informal credit to farmers in AVCs.

This study seeks to capture the lived experiences of five refugees making the transition from Viet Nam to Sweden. It seeks to focus on the problems of integration in Swedish society.

The research took a narrative approach by asking questions about the ways in which refugees make sense of the multiple and sometimes dramatic changes that exile involves. The interpretation procedure was performed in three recurring phases: naïve reading, thematic structural analysis and comprehensive understanding.

In the structural analyses, three sub‐themes were abstracted: in the hands of authorities/forced to leave home; regarded as uneducated and untrained; and lack of balance. These sub‐themes show a situation that could be interpreted by the concept of sense of coherence (SOC). The comprehensive understanding shows that the prerequisites for a stable SOC are unsatisfactory.

The study reported here implies that there is a need for changes in integration policy. In an integrated society, individuals should be met with a policy that aims to empower and takes into consideration the lived experiences and different components that work together to create an SOC.

The contribution from this research is the combination of qualitative data, the theory about SOC, and the description of the edifice of SOC. This combination helps to understand and explain the essence of the respondents' lived experiences.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

This research investigates the market for Western clothing in Vietnam, one of the most under‐developed countries of South East Asia. The intention is to look at factors which will assist economic development in Vietnam because economic growth generally leads to greater GDP per capita and this in turn leads to greater spending per capita on clothing. The country is making use of direct foreign investment (DFI) from the ‘Asian Tigers’ to modernise its industry. The lighter manufacturing industries, which include apparel, are expected to benefit. The population of Vietnam welcome this investment and the employment it is creating, and as the labour force changes from agrarian to urban the GDP is expected to rise. This rudimentary clothing industry is being established in Vietnam mainly to supply the markets in Asia but there are indications that there is a growth of local demand for western clothing. In this research the access to retail western clothing in Vietnam is explored from both secondary and primary data sources, and, conclusions drawn incorporating the economic prospects for the future size of the market. The results of the research show that although the country is experiencing strong growth now and there is demand for western clothing the future market will be small.