Innovation in Business Education in Emerging Markets Also edited by Ilan Alon and John R McIntyre BUSINESS AND MANAGEMENT EDUCATION IN CHINA Transition, Pedagogy, Training and Alliances BUSINESS AND MANAGEMENT EDUCATION IN TRANSITIONING AND DEVELOPING COUNTRIES A Handbook BUSINESS EDUCATION AND EMERGING MARKET ECONOMIES Perspectives and Best Practices THE GLOBALIZATION OF CHINESE ENTERPRISES Other books by the editors BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY OF NEW CHINESE ENTREPRENEURS AND BUSINESS LEADERS (edited by Wenxian Zhang and Ilan Alon) CHINA RULES Globalization and Political Transformation (edited by Ilan Alon, Julian Chang, Marc Fetscherin, Christoph Lattemann and John R McIntyre) CHINESE INTERNATIONAL INVESTMENTS (edited by Ilan Alon, Marc Fetscherin and Philippe Gugler) DOING BUSINESS IN SOUTH AMERICA A Handbook (Victoria Jones) ENTREPRENEURIAL AND BUSINESS ELITES OF CHINA The Chinese Returnees Who Have Shaped Modern China (edited by Wenxian Zhang, Huiyao Wang and Ilan Alon) A GUIDE TO TOP 100 COMPANIES IN CHINA (edited by Wenxian Zhang and Ilan Alon) INTERNATIONAL SPACE POLICY Legal, Economic, and Strategic Options for the Twentieth Century and Beyond (edited by Daniel S Papp and John R McIntyre) JAPAN’S TECHNICAL STANDARDS Implications for Global Trade and Competitiveness ( John R McIntyre) MULTINATIONAL ENTERPRISES AND THE CHALLENGE OF SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT (edited by John R McIntyre, Silvester Ivanaj and Vera Ivanaj) NATIONAL SECURITY AND TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER The Strategic Dimensions of East-West Trade (edited by Gary K Bertsch and John R McI) THE POLITICAL ECONOMY OF INTERNATIONAL TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER ( John R McIntyre and Daniel S Papp) UNCERTAINTY IN BUSINESS-GOVERNMENT RELATIONS The Dynamics of International Trade Policy (John R McIntyre) Innovation in Business Education in Emerging Markets Edited by Ilan Alon Rollins College, USA Victoria Jones Seattle University, USA and John R McIntyre Georgia Institute of Technology, USA Selection and editorial content © Ilan Alon, Victoria Jones and John R McIntyre 2013 Individual chapters © Contributors 2013 Foreword © Charles Wankel 2013 Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2013 978-1-137-29295-7 All rights reserved No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without written permission No portion of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, or under the terms of any licence permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, Saffron House, 6–10 Kirby Street, London EC1N 8TS Any person who does any unauthorized act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages The authors have asserted their rights to be identified as the authors of this work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 First published 2013 by PALGRAVE MACMILLAN Palgrave Macmillan in the UK is an imprint of Macmillan Publishers Limited, registered in England, company number 785998, of Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS Palgrave Macmillan in the US is a division of St Martin’s Press LLC, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010 Palgrave Macmillan is the global academic imprint of the above companies and has companies and representatives throughout the world Palgrave® and Macmillan® are registered trademarks in the United States, the United Kingdom, Europe and other countries ISBN 978-1-349-45102-9 ISBN 978-1-137-29296-4 (eBook) DOI 10.1057/9781137292964 This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and made from fully managed and sustained forest sources Logging, pulping and manufacturing processes are expected to conform to the environmental regulations of the country of origin A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library A catalog record for this book is available from the Library of Congress Typeset by MPS Limited, Chennai, India Contents List of Figures and Tables ix Notes on Contributors xi Foreword by Charles Wankel xviii Introduction John McIntyre and Ilan Alon Part I Regional Trajectories Management Education in Africa: Prospects and Challenges John Kuada Advancing People Skills for Twenty-First Century Business Education in Chile María-Teresa Lepeley and Carlos A Albornoz 27 Emerging Trends in Higher Education in the GCC: A Critical Assessment Mourad Dakhli and Dina El Zohairy 43 An Overview of the Indian Education System: From Its Religious Roots to Its Present Incarnation Jitender Gill 64 The Development of Business Education in a Young, Entrepreneurial Country: The Case of Israel Diana Bank and Tamar Almor 76 Business Education in the Emerging Economy of Vietnam: Twenty Years of Expectations, Illusions and Lessons Quan Hoang Vuong, Tri Dung Tran, Nancy K Napier and Thuy Ha Dau 96 Part II Content Adaptations Economic and Management Education in China: The Pros and Cons of Emulating the US Model Penelope B Prime vii 113 viii Contents International Accreditation of Business Schools in Emerging Markets: A Study of FGV-EAESP and Insper in Brazil Eric Ford Travis Business Education and Ethics: The Case of Mexico as an Emerging Market Francisco Iracheta and Diana Bank 10 Stakeholder Dialogues in Transition Economies: Educating and Training Leaders to Build Relations between Investors and Local Communities Roland Bardy and Maurizio Massaro 125 148 162 Part III New Directions 11 A Review of the Current Status of Mobile Apps in Education: Implications for Emerging Countries’ Business Education Strategies Christoph Lattemann and Ferial Khaddage 12 India Today: From Brain Drain to Brain Gain P J Lavakare 13 Reaping the Benefits of Brain Circulation: The Impact of the Overseas Study and the Returnees on the Development of the Management Education in China Wenxian Zhang 14 Outsourcing Global Skills Development to Australian Vocational Colleges: A Case Study on Reverse Transnationalization Valeri Chukhlomin and Irina Chukhlomina 181 193 208 222 15 New Ways to Think about Business Education for Emerging Markets Victoria Jones 239 Index 255 List of Figures and Tables Figures 5.1 Israel exports by industry 2009–2010, USD million (without diamonds) 78 Number of undergraduate and graduate students in Israel between the years 1990/1991 and 2010/2011 enrolled in colleges and universities, excluding Open University 84 5.3 Number of undergraduate students in Israel between the years 1990/1991 and 2010/2011 enrolled in colleges 85 5.4 Total number of undergraduate and graduate business administration students in Israel between the years 1990/1991 and 2010/2011 enrolled in colleges and universities, excluding Open University 89 Number of undergraduate and graduate business administration students in Israel between the years 1990/1991 and 2010/2011 enrolled in colleges and universities, excluding Open University 89 5.2 5.5 12.1 12.2 12.3 13.1 Regional percentage distribution of destination of approximately 20 million Indian migrants (diaspora) 195 The GDP growth rate (percentage change in gross domestic product) of India since the economic reforms of the early 1990s 196 Growth of higher education system in India from 1950 to 2010 199 Annual number of Chinese overseas students and returnees, 1982–2011 (in ten thousands) 211 Tables 2.1 Results of CEOs interviews 34 5.1 Schools of business and economics in Israel 82 ix x List of Figures and Tables 6.1 10.1 Vietnam data Empirical evidence for principles-based stakeholder dialogues 98 172 11.1 Usage of mobile phones in emerging markets and developed countries 182 11.2 Mobile device functionalities 183 11.3 Factors and issues related to mobile devices in higher education 184 Synchronous and asynchronous mobile apps for teaching and learning 187 Reasons for returning to India, as stated by returnees of different periods abroad 203 The disaggregated components of education 240 11.4 12.1 15.1 Business Education in the Emerging Economy of Vietnam: Twenty Years of Expectations, Illusions and Lessons Quan Hoang Vuong, Tri Dung Tran, Nancy K Napier and Thuy Ha Dau Introduction Like many emerging economies, especially in Asia, Vietnam’s economy has undergone major economic shifts for at least a quarter of a century On the one hand, this period is very short compared to the history of capitalism and the market economy in Western, mostly developed, countries On the other hand, 25 years is long enough for many important changes of all types to have taken place in Vietnam’s once war-stricken economy The present day is a crucial turning point for Vietnam Policy-makers and economists, both international and national, see mounting pressures on Vietnam’s economy and tend to agree that the economy demands a renewed tide of reform to survive the stormy years ahead, especially after recent years of high inflation, lower economic efficiency and the risk of losing steam Since business activities have contributed and will continue to contribute to most economic achievements in Vietnam over the reform period, it makes sense to review the roles, impacts and lessons from actual happenings in Vietnam’s business education sector, which we believe have had profound effects not only on the corporate sector, but also on political circles, various communities and ordinary Vietnamese households In addition, these trends will continue to influence the type of management education that Vietnam offers (or does not offer) We divided the paper into three major parts First, we recap some of the key points in the last quarter century of Vietnam’s transition 96 Quan Hoang Vuong et al 97 Next, we discuss the need for management education, and finally, we examine implications for management education Given the “organized chaos” in countries like Vietnam, much of the grounding and framing for this discussion comes from examples of events and actions that have occurred and how they relate to education—either a lack of or, in some cases, an outright ignoring of business principles and ideas Vietnam’s transition economy in the last 25 years Vietnam’s economic renovation—usually referred to as Doi Moi—started during the VIth National Congress of the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) in 1986 Entrepreneurial political leaders encouraged, and were perhaps directly and indirectly involved in, business operations to transform their perceptions into reforming economic policies.1 “Economic thinking” has become one of the most important concepts to trigger learning in Vietnamese society The idea of “renovation of economic thinking” applies not only to the importance of people learning the principles of the market economy from developed and fastgrowing transitional economies, but also to finding ways to adapt them into Vietnam’s social context and economic settings Since Doi Moi, the economy of Vietnam has been emerging vibrantly From a US$10 billion economy in 1986, with a huge accumulated external debt (later recalculated by the Russians and Vietnamese to be about US$20 billion), Vietnam expanded its total annual output to an estimate of US$110 billion by the end of 2011 The economy has been pursuing an export-led growth model, which is predicted to yield total export revenues of US$95 billion in 2011, while the total value of imports could reach US$105 billion Given a population of about 90 million by the end of 2011, the Vietnamese economy has become increasingly important in the ASEAN region Vietnam’s long boundary with China led to an influx of Chinese goods into the Vietnamese domestic economy and a large trade deficit, especially in recent years This economic setting has affected the evolution of the business sector, its importance in the country’s economic transition, and how business people have gained understanding, skills and opportunities in Vietnam’s nascent market economy, which we cover in the next section The growth of the business sector As part of the Doi Moi process, Vietnam has institutionalized cornerstones to support its future path of development Domestic trade was 98 Business Education in the Emerging Economy of Vietnam Table 6.1 Vietnam data GDP 2011 Population Export Import Fixed Area ($ bln) (million) ($ bln) ($ bln) investment (sq km) (% of GDP) Brunei Cambodia Indonesia Laos Malaysia Myanmar Philippines Singapore Thailand Vietnam 13.0 12.2 749.1 6.8 254.5 45.2 200.9 245.0 341.2 109.8 0.4 14.8 246.8 6.5 28.8 54.2 102.7 4.8 66.8 91.0 10.7 5.5 158.2 2.6 262.5 11.9 68.5 448.1 241.9 95.0 2.6 6.0 127.1 2.3 203.6 5.7 80.5 388.0 209.7 105.0 N/A 20.4 32.2 N/A 20.1 15.1 15.7 25.0 24.7 33.9 5,765 181,035 1,904,569 236,800 329,847 676,578 300,000 697 513,120 331,210 Source: CIA World Factbook (accessed October 6th, 2011); self-estimate of DHVP Research; Vietnamica.net gradually liberalized in the late 1980s and the state-run import–export companies’ monopoly on international trade was removed in the mid1990s The price system has been gradually reformed since 1987 and price reform was essentially finished in early 2007 when Vietnam officially joined the World Trade Organization as the 150th member These steps have proved to be a painstaking process of transition, embedded with periods of high inflation (e.g 1987–1992; 2007–2008; and 2011), a large-scale restructuring of the state-owned enterprise (SOE) sector (which downsized from 12,000 SOEs in 1995 to 2000 in 2011), and massive layoffs within the state sector However, right from the beginning of Doi Moi, a new corporate sector, both state-owned and private, emerged and has been thriving From only 1000 private enterprises in the early 1990s, when the Law on Private Enterprises was enacted, the sector had gradually grown to approximately 500,000 private enterprises in 2011 These private players created pressures of competition in the marketplace, forcing previously complacent and self-congratulating SOEs out of their comfort zones to enter an unprecedented battle: fighting for profits Business enterprises significantly contributed to the Vietnamese economy’s growth and development through several mechanisms, including: • Growing trade activities and international economic cooperation • Financial contribution to the state budget, which is estimated to reach about 25% of GDP during 2008–2011 Quan Hoang Vuong et al 99 • Private-sector and foreign-invested enterprises that continue to create jobs for the labor market and employees In the first months of 2011, although economic expansion slowed to a 5.76% growth rate (year to date—YTD), the private-sector enterprises (PSE) and foreign-invested enterprises (FIE) created over 1.17 million new jobs, representing job growth in these sub-sectors of 5.8% and 11.8%, respectively.2 • Significant improvements in living conditions in the country through taking advantage of market mechanisms, freedom in pricing activities, lowered transaction costs, and market competition that leads to lower costs • Better functioning of nascent money/capital markets and facilitating flows of funds to where it is needed at lower costs, via building new components, installing new institutions and shaping the way the new economy works In reality, about two thirds of state budget revenues come from major taxes on business activities: VAT (23%); corporate income taxes (30%); and import–export tariffs (13%).3 This fact is important and relevant to business education because politicians have gradually come to appreciate the power of market forces and to rely on them to obtain financing for their political mandates This is not obvious unless we note that Vietnam had been long dependent on foreign aid, especially from the former Soviet bloc and China In terms of international economic cooperation, foreign direct investments (FDI) and foreign portfolio investments (FPI) have propelled an important flow of funds into the Vietnamese economy In 2011, Vietnam expects to attract US$10–11 billion pledged FDI capital and to get about $11.5 billion disbursed into the real economy The number represents more than 10% of Vietnam’s GDP in the year Vietnam’s economic ties with the world economy in general and the regional markets and developed economies in particular have been established over time and are increasingly important for trade Vietnam’s growing trade with the USA can be seen as a typical example Vietnam enjoyed a significant trade surplus with the world’s biggest economy, which was also its biggest importer The Vietnam Trade Commission in the USA estimated two-way trade at $20 billion in 2011, a year-on-year increase of 10% Finally, Vietnam’s stock markets grew from a pilot trading center based in HCMC with only four listed firms in August 2000 to now include two officially established stock markets: the HCMC Stock 100 Business Education in the Emerging Economy of Vietnam Exchange (HOSE) and the Hanoi Stock Exchange (HNX) In early 2008, the total value of publicly trade shares reached 40% of GDP, which is very large given the total of about 300 listed companies on HOSE and HNX Over three-fourths of the firms by Vietnamese standards are small and medium-sized enterprises, also known as SMEs or nano-cap firms (in Western stock markets).4 The need for management education As emerging economies struggle with their market economy pursuits, they increasingly recognize a need and an opportunity for management education In many cases, Western professors and experts have been ‘drafted’ to educate not only managers but also professors and lecturers (i.e “train the trainer”) in such countries The sponsors of such programs are frequently motivated by anticipation of economic gains (for instance, preferred future trading partners, accessibility of new markets and resources suppliers), political benefits (e.g future allies), and humanitarian advances To this end, if a host country is considered strategically, politically or commercially important, funding and support are frequently available The decision to seek external assistance for developing management education, on the other hand, depends on (i) the host country’s desire and ability to approach sponsors/donors, (ii) the availability of sufficient funding from sponsors/donors and (iii) the appropriateness of sponsors/donors While Vietnam was eager to receive educational assistance from the Nordic countries (e.g the Swedish government) and Australia, it has been more cautious when it comes to accepting support from American sources In Vietnam, many graduates try to enroll in a master’s program right after receiving a bachelor’s degree In addition to financial expectations, they consider higher degrees to be a ticket to social respect Thus the pressures on business education programs are mounting, since people are paying more attention to benefits and the career progress of alumni Yet in reality, the programs themselves cannot determine the success of their students According to Anchor et al.,5 people will decide to invest money in higher education if they consider it to be potentially profitable In their survey, a majority of graduate students expect higher returns with 10 years of work experience than they would receive as fresh graduates without work experience In other words, returns on higher education are expected to grow faster with experience Graduates therefore expect to benefit from their higher education studies more in the medium term than immediately after graduation Quan Hoang Vuong et al 101 Many disappointed recruiters in Vietnam might agree with Handel that the mismatch between workers’ skills and education on the one hand and employers’ expectations on the other is a social problem.6 Vietnamese society keeps spending more resources on business education, but it is getting harder to find a graduate, or even postgraduate, who is able to persuade the employer that he or she can fulfill a job description properly Low-quality business education programs (in comparison to the fees of such programs) could easily be accused of creating such problems, but the candidates contribute to the problem too By paying large amounts of money for the educational services, they assume that an expensive education will produce business talent Abuza notes that the 1986 economic reform triggered education exchanges between Vietnam and the West.7 The movement of sending Vietnamese students to Western countries, especially the USA, and receiving Western scholars, experts and lecturers represents not only the need for a skilled workforce in economic boom times but also a fundamental change of the political mind of the country’s leaders It is noteworthy that students who are sent abroad have been considered the country’s best talent Private schools were rare in the late 1990s, since the transition process had just started Glewwe and Patrinos8 found that households that were better off following the economic reform were less likely to send their children to semi-public schools but more likely to send them to private schools They also argue that the existence of private schools provides families with more choices The recent mushroom growth of private companies offering nondegree education supports their arguments Professionals are now able to improve numerous managerial skills by enrolling in short training courses The courses meet managers’ urgent needs and help them save time and money Although the quality of the training is a lingering question, we have to acknowledge that such companies’ founders have clearly defined their own educational philosophies and core values While Vietnamese welcome foreign business education programs and experts, Napier suggested that foreigners can gain a reverse flow of unanticipated knowledge from the local learners, who are often business managers.9 Cross-cultural adaptation, especially for foreigners, becomes more crucial For reverse knowledge flow to happen, on the one hand, Vietnamese have to trust in the value of their own local knowledge and be willing and able to convey it to the foreigner On the other hand, foreigners have to recognize the need for such unexpected knowledge and be ready to adapt to the new culture It is noteworthy that Ralston 102 Business Education in the Emerging Economy of Vietnam et al also reveal that Vietnam is largely unique regarding both upward relationships (between an effective manager and superiors) and downward relationships (between the manager and subordinates).10 Business education in Vietnam At the beginning of the 2011–2012 academic year, Vietnam’s education system counted 2.47 million college and university students, out of 22 million students of all ages.11 It is difficult to determine the accurate number of colleges and universities in Vietnam, due largely to a chaotic process of granting new college and university status to educational institutions in Vietnam, starting in 2007 The website giaoducvietnam.net counted 447 higher education institutions officially registered and recognized by law in Vietnam, including member colleges of large national systems such as the Vietnam National University (VNU), Hanoi and Vietnam National University, HCMC, and military and police specialized schools Clearly this number is smaller than the actual number because there exist a number of colleges and universities under the education system of the Communist Party of Vietnam, the National Administrative Academy, and higher education programs under various kinds of collaboration Seeing is believing—illusions, expectations and realities Economic reform policies have resulted in an improving income for the Vietnamese people By the end of 2010, the country’s GDP per capita exceeded US$1000, making some economists worried about the midincome trap While enjoying the growing economy, people started to learn about education as a source of future prosperity and a driver of sustainable economic growth Society, the government, families and individuals have spent a considerable portion of savings and other resources, such as time, land and buildings, on education development As a result, the educational market has grown quickly Illusions On one hand, the market forces both educators and education service providers and learners to join a level playing field of competition As a result, the quality of education services and products has been improved The education operation has been more efficient On the other hand, the illusion of the superpower of education is getting bigger People expect that good education is everything needed to be wealthy, successful and well known Conservatively, we could say good education is necessary, but not sufficient, for a happy life Quan Hoang Vuong et al 103 It is also important to discuss the cultural dimension of education in Vietnam In the Confucian society of Vietnam, the longstanding social ranking of “Gentry Scholar/Intellectual Official– Farmer–Craftsman– Trade/Businessman” not only classifies strata of the society but also their corresponding status and dignity.12 In modern Vietnam, this social order implies that a well-educated person should find a job in the government administration or at least work for a state-owned enterprise While the country is pursuing a market economy orientation, the state is perceived as the largest and most competitive enterprise Vuong, Tran, and Nguyen unveil that even successful corporate leaders desire a cabinet position.13 Truong Gia Binh, a co-founder of the Vietnamese IT industry symbolic FPT and Hanoi Business School, wanted to be Minister of Science and Technology His successor Truong Dinh Anh, appointed FPT Group CEO in February 2011, wanted to be Prime Minister This naturally leads some to suspect that business professionalism has a different meaning in the particular cultural ethos of Vietnam The wish for a recognized business degree and having the reputation of being an excellent business person is a dream for many, but it is not quite correct to conclude that a good business study program would automatically produce good managers Needless to say, the number of business schools keeps increasing as the growing economy demands a higher labor supply To this end, expatriates find many opportunities in Vietnam, from elementary English teacher to executive manager Expectations Management education has unrealistically raised the expectations of graduates Many students of Hanoi Foreign Trade University (HFTU) believe they deserve a monthly salary of US$1000 as soon as they leave the university HFTU has been famous for high-quality entrants and good English students But that is not everything Business owners complain that Foreign Trade graduates exaggerate their executive management capabilities when they interview for a sales position Over-confident job seekers not only lose their opportunity for career development but also potentially waste the educational investment of their families and the society There has been a common thought that obtaining higher education and more degrees is an option that lower-class people could take to improve their social status Considering educational certificates as an entry ticket, many rush to enroll in distance and online bachelors, masters and even PhD programs They have no concern that most of these programs are diploma mills Given the certainty of receiving a 104 Business Education in the Emerging Economy of Vietnam degree at the end of the educational process, their concerns narrow to only two questions: how much does the degree cost and how long does the process take? Some are willing to pay more to shorten the waiting time To this end, they seek shortcuts to buying the label of being well-educated Realities Fake degrees have thus become rampant and prevalent In November 2004, Madam Nguyen Thi Binh, former Vice President of Vietnam and also former Minister of Education, suggested the government fight educational cheating and in 2005 began the “Year of Education Revival.” Why did Madam Binh have such concerns about the education system at that time? It was due in part to a statement by the former Minister of Education Nguyen Minh Hien a year earlier during the National Assembly’s plenary session that declared Vietnam’s education quality had been improving but was still bad Nobody could figure out what his conclusion really meant, and thus no solutions were forthcoming since the minister himself did not really know where the system stood It then became evident that violations and fake degrees were much more complex and better orchestrated than expected After Mr Hien’s testimony in front of the National Assembly, in mid-August 2004 Gia Lai Province inspectors identified 59 cases of illegally using fake degrees; of the violators, 13 were primary school teachers, 34 were college students and 11 were government employees These were identified because they had to submit their degrees while processing necessary procedures in relation to their further studies The problem continues In May 2010, police in Hai Phong City uncovered a ring of fake degrees in manufacturing and trading firms, from baccalaureate to graduate degree Only three months later, the Can Tho Province education authority identified over 200 government employees using fake degrees, suggesting rampant usage in the southern provinces of the Mekong River Delta Many of these violators had risen to higher administrative positions in the local government apparatus, including leaders in the education system itself! Other government employees were district and commune leaders who had been “on the beach” while their counterparts were sitting for exams In January 2011, a leader of the district taxation department in Phu Yen Province (central region) was identified as holding a fake degree Thanks to a fake high school degree, he was able to continue higher study at Vietnam National University, HCMC and later Ho Chi Minh National Academy of National Politics, Da Nang Quan Hoang Vuong et al 105 Even doctoral degrees are not immune The most recent cases include the Chairman of the National Financial Surveillance Commission and a Deputy Minister of Health Vu Viet Ngoan admitted that he was enrolled in a low-quality university PhD program in the USA and did not deny the accusation that “he used a fake degree.” In fact, in his conversation with Tuoi Tre’s reporter, Mr Ngoan tried to seek the public’s sympathy for his ignorance by citing the lack of education opportunities in late 1990s According to BBC Vietnamese, Ngoan’s biography said his graduate study was a “PhD from LaSalle University,” which caused many to mistake the Philadelphia-based La Salle, a public and long recognized university, for LaSalle Mandeville (Louisiana) The recognized La Salle has a 200-year history, whereas the LaSalle that Ngoan “attended” was a degree mill LaSalle Mandeville’s director was investigated by the FBI and arrested for financial fraud The “school” was shut down in 2002 Finally, the Ministry of Public Security’s Internal Political Security Department disclosed on September 16th, 2011, that the Deputy Minister of Health, Cao Minh Quang, does not hold a PhD in pharmaceutical science from Uppsala University as claimed on his résumé but instead only attended a preparation course for a PhD program at the Swedish university The persistent problem has deep cultural roots Being a political appointee means having money, benefits and all sorts of privilege, including protection from being identified as “untalented.” The Master Confucius clearly never envisaged this outcome when first setting up his unprecedented Confucian scholar training school But since education has become benefit-driven, it is the cost that concerns buyers the most, not the value Since they are also players in the market-oriented economy, a number of business lecturers are trying to show off their educational capacity; that is, the capacity of creating new understanding and knowledge in order to gain more economic benefits Some spend much time presenting at conferences, seminars and on TV shows, leaving little time for reading scientific research results, pursuing research or teaching As a result, false academic publications have emerged among the recent economic turbulence of Vietnam Plagiarism in economics and business books has also become more common, especially texts that are simply translated from one or two English textbooks into one Vietnamese book In May 2010, Professor Dr Tran Ngoc Tho of HCMC Economics University sued another professor for plagiarizing his book on International Finance Then it emerged that Tho was himself guilty He had translated a book called International Financial Management written by Jeff Madura without proper citation 106 Business Education in the Emerging Economy of Vietnam and used it as his own Although chapters and sections are restructured, the content of the two books was very similar In addition, Tho had no research on international finance before publishing his book And yet no one sued Tho for his wrongdoing, raising concern about business ethics in the management education curriculum What next? Student-centered teaching techniques were introduced to Vietnam early in the 1990s as an alternative to lecturer-based teaching, where lecturers “mumbled” and used the “chalk and talk” approach to education While some adoption of new methods has occurred, its sustainability is questionable In the case of Vietnam’s first international standard business school project, funded by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA) and hosted by the National Economic University (NEU) in Hanoi, the introduction of new teaching methods started with bi-cultural (Vietnamese and foreign) teaching teams, who pushed the adoption of these methods to high levels within the next five years Unfortunately, as the international lecturers left the university, the level of adoption fell—not completely back to a pure lecture approach, but not fully interactive either.14 Perhaps the weak research capacity affects the slow adoption of new teaching methods Student-centered techniques require lecturers to work hard on creating new understandings of, and insights into, old topics, connecting economic principles and business concepts to realworld business, improving communication skills, and innovating ways of explaining textbook contents to practice-oriented students Some international donors have tried to build the capacity of doing research in Vietnam and in turn help improve teaching methods Many have succeeded in raising the number of masters and PhD faculty through scholarship programs, but a research culture needs more effort than just funding When doing research and publishing are requirements for higher education degrees (e.g MBA and PhD), people need motivation to pursue the often tedious process of carrying out research This also includes publishing in international journals Traditionally in Vietnam, a ministry provides universities with a budget and a concrete research topic and question Several research teams may bid for the assignment The Ministry then selects the best one based on the name of the lead researcher—not the proposed research approach, methodology or design Research results are presented in the Vietnamese Quan Hoang Vuong et al 107 language (usually in the university’s journal), meaning that the research never reaches a broader (beyond Vietnam) audience Stronger inputs of quality education operations, from the UK, USA, France, Germany, Canada, Belgium and Australia, for example, would likely become a critical factor Increasing competition drives up the progress of higher education performance in economics and management not because it pushes the existing system to function better, but because it makes the existing system increasing irrelevant, while increasing new business education components and advancing new modus operandi The need for improving business education is apparent But how? Nguyen suggests that Vietnamese educators seek international cooperation through joint-venture education programs, which is likely a good suggestion.15 But oddly, the quality of the programs is diminishing as the role of local partners is rising A totally imported Western-style business education program will not work in Vietnam, in part because of culture clashes The most important reason, however, is that there is a lack of an education philosophy If the founders of a business school are profit-driven then they will pay more attention to the image of the school and how to raise school fees while minimizing expenses than on how to improve the core competence of generating new knowledge Spending money on business research is viewed as an expense, rather than an investment The owners of the school may be willing to pay more to recruit better lecturers and then send them to the classroom But those “excellent” lecturers will be amortized shortly if they are not recharged through research Many agree that the Vietnamese economic setting is “well-organized chaos,” implying that there are a lot of interesting phenomena and serendipitous events This doing-business-in-a-jungle environment should provide researchers with a mountain of research questions However, there is little business research on Vietnam As long as the business education system misses this critical component of improving research capability, we expect that there will be no excellent business school in the coming decades Clark claims business education can be an agent for social change.16 We think he is right During the Doi Moi period, the entrepreneurial leaders of Vietnam learned about what an economy is, what a market is, and, the most important, how to re-create markets Business education produces not only managers but also policymakers Foreign investors who complain about Vietnamese bureaucracy and cumbersome administrative procedures should imagine what would happen if an MBA 108 Business Education in the Emerging Economy of Vietnam or a Doctor of Business Administration would be placed in a minister position Business education is not merely an educational activity or a business industry It is in fact a cultural dimension of transitional and emerging economies The increasing number of business schools, in all types of institutions whether a state-owned university, joint-venture program, 100%-foreign-run program, or private school, tells us how society perceives the importance of business education The allocation of resources represents not only political willingness but also people’s choice The motivation and expectations of learners help to measure their entrepreneurial spirit The growing number of privately funded Vietnamese students in business courses abroad implies that people are beginning to pursue their economic independence from the state Acknowledgments The authors would like to thank Boise State University’s Centre for Creativity and Innovation for partly funding our participation in the symposium “Business and Management Education Innovation in Emerging and Developing Countries” at Georgia Institute of Tech, Atlanta, February 10–11, 2012 Notes Vuong, Q H., Dam, V N., Van Houtte, D and Tran, T D (2011) “The Entrepreneurial Facets as Precursor to Vietnam’s Economic Renovation in 1986,” The IUP Journal of Entrepreneurship Development, 8(4): 1–42 DHVP Research (2011) “Who Created Jobs in Vietnam: Data 9-M 2011,” Vietnamica http://www.vietnamica.net/who-created-jobs-in-vietnam-data-9m-2011/, accessed on March 29, 2012 Thao, N (2011) “Lo thu ngan sach qua tron,” VnEconomy http://vneconomy vn/2011100409252867P0C9920/lo-thu-ngan-sach-qua-tron.htm, accessed on March 29, 2012 Vuong, Q H (2010) Financial Markets in Vietnam’s Transition Economy: Facts, Insights, and Implications, Saarbrüken, Germany: VDM Verlag Anchor, J R., Fiserova, J., Marsikov, K and Urbanek, V (2011) “Student Expectations of the Financial Returns to Higher Education in the Czech Republic 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