| Summary/Abstract |
State-owned enterprise (SOE) reform was introduced into Vietnam as a component of the Doi Moi economic reforms that began in 1986 and aimed to replace central planning with a more market-oriented economy. SOEs had performed poorly and were a drain on government resources. In this article we use a political economy framework to trace SOE reform through the various stages of policymaking and implementation. While the number of SOEs has been reduced, privatization (“equitization” in Vietnam) of large enterprises has proved more difficult as it has threatened the interests of powerful stakeholders. We use two case studies of large Vietnamese SOEs to demonstrate and explain both success and failure in SOE reform.
|