Vietnam is an emerging market country in South East Asia. Like many countries in the region Vietnam hasadopted a strategy of export lead growth. Recently Vietnam became a lower middle income country but its goal eventually is to reach high income status. Vietnam is a large food producer and exporter. To reach a higher income level Vietnam needs to increase the value added of its products and export more to high income countries. Is it feasible for producers of advanced food processing solutions, including from Europe, to market their products in Vietnam? This article analyses and assesses the seafood and livestock markets. The conclusions show that there are real opportunities for advanced processing solution providers to sell their products in both fisheries and livestock sectors. Growth potential for these providers in the short run seem to be in fisheries sector, while the medium or long term potential, seems to be in the livestock sector.
Japanese family firms are distinguished by various interesting yet different characteristics from their counterparts in other countries. Among these characteristics are the governing structure of the ‘ie’ system, the influencing role of ‘codes of merchants’, the adoption of non-blood sons to succeed to the business, and the long-lived phenomenon of century-old family firms. Despite numerous important studies explaining these characteristics, our essential knowledge about the rational logic behind them remains limited. Thus, to further aid our understanding of these characteristics and the logical essence, this article reviews a range of literature on institutional embeddedness, including socio-political history, cultural values, and religious influence on Japanese family firms. The article also proposes a research direction to comprehend better the institutional logics behind Japanese family firms and their behaviour.
Export Credit Agencies (ECAs) have played an important role in cushioning the downturn in cross border trade during the current economic and financial crisis. This article discusses the role of ECAs in facilitating cross border trade to emerging markets as well as the economic rationale for the existence of such agencies. It also demonstrates how selected risk mitigation instruments of ECAs, namely: (i) buyer credit guarantee, (ii) supplier credit guarantees and (iii) export loans have been applied in practice. Finally cases are presented that highlight how companies have used the service of ECAs, for example, to obtain better terms, including longer term loans and/or lower interest rates.