Summary of phd thesis research on the impact ò competitive advantage on the business performance of vietnam securities companies

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION FOREIGN TRADE SUMMARY RESEARCH ADVANTAGE AND TRAINING UNIVERSITY OF PHD THESIS ON THE IMPACT OF COMPETITIVE ON THE BUSINESS PERFORMANCE VIETNAM SECURITIES COMPANIES Major: Business Administration Code: 9340101 KIM MANH TUAN HANOI - 2023 OF This thesis is completed at: Foreign Trade University Science instructors: Assoc Prof.Dr Kim Huong Trang and Dr Nguyen Hong Quan Reviewer 1: The thesis shall be defended in front of the Thesis committee at University Level at Foreign Trade University At hour .date month year 2023 This thesis can be consulted at the National Library and the Library of Foreign Trade University LIST OF PUBLICATIONS No Papers Publishers Time |Authors| Code Using a PLS-SEM model to | The 9th international explore the sources of| conferenceon competitive advantage emerging First | ISBN: 9781 | through customer | challenges: business |10/2021] "ps, (504-316-422 satisfaction: a case study of | transformation FPT Sccurities Joint Stock | — andcircular company economy Hue University fe ees ot canhio advantages Exploring the sources of competitive JowmalofSelenee: Economic and | o22| Devel evelopment Issue Pưạt || 2615-9716 ISSN Author advantage + | through customer | Vietnam Trade and | 7599 | First | ISSN satisfaction and customer | Industry Review Author | 0866-7756 loyalty: a study of Vietnam securities companies Research on competitive First ISSN | advantages of Vietnamese | Review of Finance | 8/2022] 4\ "hy | o618-g073 securities companies Determining — competitive advantages of Vietnamese | r „mmvạng | securities companies and] porecact Review proposing — measurement methodology Implementation of blended learning in _ professional development programmes for school principals factors | Leaming: Research © | affecting the satisfaction of | principals from disadvantaged areas in aNd PracticeQ2) (SCOPUS First | ISSN 8/2022) author | 1859-2805 First |, Online | 6/2022) so, | ISSN:50902373- Vietnam Using the PLS-SEM model to evaluate the satisfaction | level of ethnic minority | Journal of Education | gy; | Second | _ ISSN: group school leaders on e-| Management Author | 1859-2910 professional development program, INTRODUCTION Rationale of the research In recent years, there has been a significant shift in thinking, conception, and approach to strategic planning for an organization, industry, or even a country Many scientists consider competitive advantage to be one of the most important concepts in strategic management Competitive advantage has been the subject of numerous studies up until now Sigalas and Economou (2013) assert that the term "competitive advantage" has given rise to numerous different concepts in science There are many ways to measure competitive advantage due to the diversity and abundance of the competitive advantage concept Empirical research to evaluate the impact of competitive advantage on organizational outcomes has become more popular over the past 20 years However, there are still very few empirical studies evaluating the effect of competitive advantage on the business performance in the context of Vietnam Additionally, as a result of the trend of globalization and international economic integration, Vietnamese businesses today must deal with growing competitive pressure In order to create, maintain, and develop their competitive advantages and more effectively serve customer needs, businesses must innovate the process of planning and implementing strategies (Vlados et al., 2022) Creating a competitive advantage is one of the top priorities for businesses in the face of such intense competition Aside from that, as the Vietnamese economy continues to open up and fully integrate into the global economy, Vietnamese businesses must contend with fierce competition from both domestic and foreign competitors Vietnamese companies must therefore be able to adapt to change and deal with the possibility of losing market share and sizable profits Finding a position in a highly competitive environment is essential for a company's long-term survival, a goal that can only be attained through developing and maintaining a competitive advantage A country's competitive advantage and the competitive advantage of its businesses are closely related Businesses must create, maintain, and grow their sustainable competitive advantage in order to develop a country's competitive advantage (Aslam et al., 2022) A crucial factor in a nation's ability to sustainably develop its economy is the stock market (Salameh & Ahmad, 2022) More than 20 years have passed since the establishment and growth of the stock market in Vietnam For securities companies, the expanding Vietnamese stock market presents both many opportunities and difficulties Securities companies are a component of the stock market, and one of their key responsibilities is to boost the market's efficiency and excitement As a result, performance for securities companies has also improved However, there are numerous active securities companies on the Vietnamese stock market, and the rivalry among these firms is growing more intense Additionally, the Vietnam stock market is currently exposed to a number of significant risks and difficulties Vietnamese securities companies must exert significant effort to create, sustain, and develop a sustainable competitive advantage, thereby enhancing their business performance A study on competitive advantage and its effects on the business outcomes of Vietnamese securities companies should be conducted, taking into account context, practice, and theory The subject of “Research on the impact of competitive advantage on the business performance of Vietnam securities companies” is therefore both theoretically and practically extremely significant Research objectives and tasks The primary research goal of the thesis is advantage affects the business performance companies in order to provide solutions to business results These solutions are based on Vietnamese securities companies The articles research tasks as follows in order to accomplish to assess how competitive of Vietnamese securities enhance those companies! competitive advantages of address several particular this main research goal: First, develop a systematized understanding of the fundamentals and theories relating to competitive advantages and how competitive advantages affect the business performance of securities companies Second, identify the research process, develop a research model along with research hypotheses and select appropriate research methods to accomplish the research objectives of this thesis Third, assess and measure the competitive advantages of Vietnamese securities companies Fourth, evaluate and analyze the impact of competitive advantages on business performance of Vietnamese securities companies Fifth, propose several solutions to improve the competitive advantages of Vietnamese securities companies in order to improve their business performance, while also making some suggestions for the growth of the Vietnamese stock market Object and scope of research The purpose of this thesis is to investigate the impact of competitive advantage on the business results of Vietnamese securities companies 3.2 Object of research The objects of this reseach are 31 Vietnamese securities companies and a number of related parties, including customers and employees of Vietnamese securities companies These businesses were selected for the following reasons: - Ensure representativeness of scale: Among the total 31 securities companies studied, there are 10 small-sized companies, corresponding to the rate of 32.26%, 16 medium-sized companies corresponding to the rate of 51.61% and large-scale companies correspond to the rate of 16.13% This ratio is consistent with the characteristics of the size of Vietnamese securities companies - Ensuring listing diversity: of the 31 securities companies studied, 13 are listed on HOSE, 11 on HNX, and 07 on UpCoM This ratio is consistent with the listing characteristics of Vietnamese securities companies 3.3 Scope of research - Scope of research in terms of content: The thesis focuses on assessing the impact of competitive advantage on the business performance of securities companies in Vietnam, based on the theory of competitive advantage and the impact of competitive advantage on the business performance of securities companies - Scope of research in terms of space: Securities companies operating in Vietnam are listed on the Vietnamese stock market - Scope of research in terms of time: The study uses data from 31 Vietnamese securities companies from 2004 to 2020, including financial and business profile information Research question - What is competitive advantage? What factors constitute the competitive advantage of Vietnamese securities companies? - How does competitive advantage affect the business performance of Vietnamese securities companies? - How can Vietnamese securities companies enhance performances by enhancing their competitive advantage? their business Research Methods - Qualitative research methods The author conducts interviews with members of the boards of directors of Vietnamese securities companies The findings of this interview data analysis are one of the foundations for identifying factors that can be competitive advantages for Vietnamese securities companies The author employs Nvivo software in the data analysis process The findings of qualitative research are an important foundation for developing research models and developing research hypotheses - Quantitative research methods For competitive advantages that are financial factors, the author has used secondary data including financial information and profile information of Vietnamese securities companies, in which the research data is processed by STATA software For competitive advantages that are non-financial factors, the author has used data from a questionnaire survey of customers and employees of Vietnamese securities companies, in which the research data is processed by SMART-PLS software New contributions of the thesis 6.1 Academic contributions First, the thesis synthesized and identified research trends in the field of strategic management science concerning competitive advantage It also demonstrates how scientists measure competitive advantage The thesis then highlights the limitations of previous studies and suggests ways to overcome those limitations Second, a research process and research model have been developed in the thesis to measure the competitive advantages of Vietnamese securities companies A focus of the thesis was on the empirical research findings that were used to evaluate the impact of competitive advantage on the business performance of Vietnamese securities companies Third, the thesis has developed a model to assess the competitive advantages of Vietnamese securities companies in a more comprehensive way, specifically: (1) The thesis assesses the impact of competitive advantage on financial factors such as: firm size, bank ownership, foreign ownership, leverage level of on business performance of Vietnamese securities companies In particular, the business performances of Vietnamese securities companies are considered on three financial indicators, including: return on total assets (ROA), return on equity (ROE) and market share (MS) (2) The thesis assesses the impact of competitive advantage on nonfinancial factors such as leadership and management, brand image, technology quality, service quality, information quality, pricing policy, tangible attributes/assets, organizational culture, training and development on business performance of Vietnamese securities companies In particular, the business results of Vietnamese securities companies are reflected in four non-financial factors, including: (1) customer satisfaction, (2) customer loyalty, (3) employees’ job satisfaction, and (4) employees’ loyalty Fourth, the thesis considers competitive advantage comprehensively including internal factors and external factors of businesses, using both financial factors and non-financial factors As a result, the thesis has helped to provide a big picture of the impact of competitive advantage on the business performance of Vietnamese securities companies 6.2 Practical contributions First, the thesis has identified factors that are competitive advantages of Vietnamese securities companies, including: firm size, bank ownership, foreign ownership, leverage level, leadership and management, brand image, technology quality, service quality, information quality, pricing policy, tangible attributes/assets, organizational culture, training and development and evaluated the impact of competitive advantage on the business performance of Vietnamese securities companies Second, the thesis examines the influence of competitive advantage on the business performance of Vietnamese securities companies This rating is made for each type of business performance factor, including both financial and non-financial factors Third, based on research findings on the impact of competitive advantage on the business performance of Vietnamese securities companies, the author proposes solutions to improve the business performance of Vietnamese securities companies by improving their competitive advantages The proposed solutions are divided into two groups: solutions for financial factors and solutions for non-financial factors Structure of Thesis In addition to Table of Contents, List of Tables and Figures, List of Abbreviations, Preface, Conclusions, References, and Appendixes, the thesis includes chapters: Chapter 1; Overview of research situation Chapter 2: Theoretical foundations for the impact of competitive advantage on the business performance of securities companies Chapter 3: Research models, hypotheses and methods Chapter 4: Empirical research on the impact of competitive advantages on the business performance of Vietnamese securities companies Chapter 5: Solutions proposed to develop competitive advantages to enhance business performance of Vietnamese securities companies CHAPTER 1: OVERVIEW OF RESEARCH SITUATION 1.1 Researches on Competitive Advantage 1.1.1 Resource-based View of the Firm The first research trend on competitive advantage widely recognized by scientists is "Resource-based View of the Firm" (RBV) This viewpoint holds that companies are fundamentally idiosyncratic, and that the accumulation of unique combinations of resources over time allows the firm to derive superior returns on ownership of the resources special forces (Barney, 1986; Barney, 1991) The basic principle underlying this theory is that when a company has resources that are more unique or rare than others, it has a competitive advantage Especially when those resources can help the company outperform competitors in terms of long-term business results Owning special resources creates barriers for competitors to imitate the company's important resources The resource-based competitive advantage theory is very similar to the firm-specific theory of advantage Firm-specific advantages are defined as specific resources developed and accumulated within the enterprise Businesses with scarce, intangible, and irreplaceable resources will have a competitive advantage over their competitors Christensen (2001) emphasized specific advantages of firms through two concepts: "economies of scope" and "economies of scale" Meanwhile, Fahy (2002) advised businesses to develop two types of resources: tangible resources and intangible resources 1.1.2 Competence-based View of the Firm Looking at the business in terms of resources will almost certainly leave out other crucial aspects such as leadership, management, and how to use resources to achieve the organization's goals To address the shortcomings of studies that claim that a business's competitive advantage is derived from its resources, another research trend related to business capacity, also known as the business perspective on business capacity, has emerged (Competencebased View) In the field of strategic management science, there are many diverse studies related to "Competence-based View" (CBV) Prahalad and Hamel (1993) introduced the concept of core competencies of enterprises Meanwhile, Teece et al (1997) introduced the concept of dynamic capabilities Research related to the capacity of enterprises is a research trend with many diverse research subjects, such as: Total Quality Management (Reed et al., 2000; Addae-Korankye, 2013) ); Supply chain management (Trent, 2007; Lin & Chen, 2008; Vargas et al., 2018); Cost management (Shank et al., 1993; Beheshti, 2004); The ability to use financial leverage (Ibhagui & Olokoyo, 2018; Bui, 2020); Information system management, 10 1.3 Researches on the impact of competitive advantage on business performance To the best of the author's knowledge, the number of empirical studies on competitive advantage is still quite small Based on an overview study of the impact of competitive advantage on business results, the author summarizes and makes the following comments: Firstly, empirical research on the impact of competitive advantage on business performance has become popular in the last 20 years Secondly, there are three important contents to consider when researching the impact of competitive advantages on enterprise business results: (1) identifying and measuring competitive advantages; (2) determining which business performances are measured/evaluated using which indicators or factors; and (3) evaluating the impact of competitive advantages on business performances Thirdly, competitive advantage includes both financial factors and non-financial factors, therefore, in order to assess the impact of competitive advantages on businesses' performances, the business results must be measured by both financial and non-financial factors Fourthly, competitive advantages are very diverse, different industries have different competitive advantages, so it is necessary to ensure in the research process to find out factors that are unique competitive advantages of that industry, before assessing the impact of competitive advantage on business performances 1.4 Researches on Impact of competitive performances of securities companies advantage on business According to the author's knowledge, up to the present time, there have not been many scientific studies on the impact of competitive advantage on the business results of securities companies in the Vietnamese context However, some relevant scientific works can be found Among them are the studies of Tran Dang Kham (2002), Nguyen Thi Anh Van (2002), Tran Quoc Tuan (2004) and Le Thi Mai Huong (2008) Wang et al (2003) studied Taiwan's securities companies based on data for the period from 1991 to 1993 Meanwhile, Liao (2018) studied Taiwanese securities companies with data of 97 securities companies from 1998 to 2006 Research results showed that pursuing market share may not be an appropriate strategy for securities companies The results of this study also showed that state-owned securities TI companies have more impressive business results than their competitors, so state ownership can be a source of important competitive advantage However, state ownership of securities companies may not always have a positive impact on the business results of securities companies Chen et al (2005) studied 221 Chinese securities companies and found that government ownership had a negative impact on the performance of Chinese securities companies between 1994 and 2004 Demirbag et al (2016) investigated the effectiveness of professional services firms in a globalizing economy Demirbag et al (2016) used panel data from 123 emerging market securities firms from 2005 to 2011, which included 600 observed variables The study's findings indicate that company size, foreign ownership, bank ownership, and strategic alliances all have an impact on the business performance of securities firms As a result, studies on the impact of competitive advantage on firm results conducted with securities firms are still quite modest Each study discovered different securities firms' competitive advantages in different contexts 1.5 Research gaps in evaluating the impact of competitive advantage on the business performances of Vietnamese securities companies As a result of systematizing studies on competitive advantage, business results, and the impact of competitive advantage on business results of securities companies, the author concludes that it is necessary to develop or select a competitive advantage concept to serve empirical research in measuring competitive advantage and assessing the impact of competitive advantage on business results of Vietnamese securities companies According to the author's knowledge, the number of studies on the competitive advantage of securities companies and the number of studies evaluating the impact of competitive advantage on company business results through both financial and non-financial factors in the context of Vietnam is still very modest In other words, a study that presents a comprehensive picture of the competitive advantages of Vietnamese securities firms is necessary Furthermore, because securities are professional service firms, it is necessary to highlight the specific competitive advantages of securities companies Meanwhile, after more than two decades of development, the Vietnamese stock market in general, and Vietnamese securities companies 12 in particular, require long-term business strategy The competitive advantage is closely related to the development strategy; in order to implement their strategy, Vietnamese securities companies should indeed build a sustainable competitive advantage The author identified the following research gaps based on the research review: First, there is a lack of research on the competitive advantages securities companies in the context of Vietnam of Second, there is a lack of research to assess the impact of competitive advantage on the business performances of securities companies in the context of Vietnam through both types of factors: (1) financial factors and (2) non-financial factors Third, there is a lack of empirical research on the long-term impact of competitive advantage on the performance of Vietnamese securities companies The findings of this empirical study are required to contribute to the overall picture of Vietnamese securities companies’ long-term competitive advantage Based on the results of this empirical research, Vietnamese securities companies can devise strategies to improve their business performances Based on the preceding discussions, it is possible to conclude that the topic "Research on the impact of competitive advantage on the business performance of Vietnam securities companies" is both necessary and meaningful This research topic is completely different from other published studies in the world and in Vietnam in terms of theory and practice CHAPTER 2: THEORETICAL FOUNDATIONS FOR THE IMPACT OF COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE ON THE BUSINESS PERFORMANCES OF SECURITIES COMPANIES 2.1 Theoretical foundations of competitive advantage 2.1.1 The concept of competitive advantage In the study of Michael Porter in 1985, the concept of "competitive advantage" was studied systematically for the first time However, Porter (1985) focused on the study of competitive strategy rather than providing a common and agreed-upon definition of competitive advantage Many 13 different concepts of competitive advantage have been proposed by researchers, but there is no common and unified concept of competitive advantage in both theory and practice To conduct empirical research, it is necessary to select a concept that is appropriate for the research objective The author summarizes and makes some observations as follows: The concept of competitive advantage is diverse and inconsistent Competitive advantage is shown through two angles: factors; Non-financial factors Therefore, Financial in order to comprehensively assess competitive advantage, it is necessary to look at it from both angles A suitable concept of competitive advantage is needed to conduct al research in the next steps The concept that Wiggins and Ruefli introduced in 2002 is very suitable for the purpose of research to assess the impact of competitive advantage on business results of the firm, specifically Wiggins and Ruefli define: "competitive advantage" as a characteristic (or set of characteristics), resource (or set of resources), capability (or set of capabilities) that gives a business an advantage over its competitors and maintains maintain positive long-term business results” (Wiggins & Ruefli, 2002, p 5) This concept is relevant and suitable because: First, it clearly shows what kind of factors are the competitive advantage of businesses Specifically, competitive advantage can be the characteristics, resources or capabilities of the enterprise Second, the concept suggests a way to define a firm's competitive advantage The characteristics, resources or capabilities that positively affect the business results of the businesses in the long term are the competitive advantages of the business Third, the concept implies that it is necessary to compare with competitors when studying competitive advantage Creating a sustainable competitive advantage is an important goal for businesses Businesses can maintain positive long-term business results by gaining a sustainable competitive advantage 2.1.2 Levels of competitive advantage 2.1.2.1 Competitive advantage at country level 2.1.2.2 Competitive advantage at industry level 2.1.2.3 Competitive advantage at business level 14 2.1.3 Measuring competitive advantage Over the last 20 years, studies have shown that there are numerous bases for measuring competitive advantage, as well as empirical research on the relationship between competitive advantage and business performance (Durand, 2002; Arend, 2003) According to Sigalas and Economou (2013), there are three major trends in measuring competitive advantage: The first trend measures competitive advantage through the business results; the second trend measures competitive advantage by identifying the source or determinant of competitive advantage; and the third trend is a hybrid of the first and second trends, in which, competitive advantages must be determined by the business performances as well as the factors that form the competitive advantages The following summary and comments are based on research on measuring a company's competitive advantage: First of all, there are numerous ways to measure competitive advantage because the concept of competitive advantage is so broad As a result, before beginning empirical research, researchers must create or identify a concept of competitive advantage that is appropriate for one ‘s research goals Second, the distinction between competitive advantage and business performance serves as a crucial foundation for measuring competitive advantage and researching its effects on business outcomes Third, two categories of factors—financial and non-financial—are used to represent competitive advantage Use of measurement techniques appropriate for each of these types of factors is thus required when measuring competitive advantage 2.2 Theoretical foundations of securities company 2.2.1 Concept, characteristics, roles and main activities of securities company 2.2.1.1 Concepts 2.2.1.2 Characteristics 2.2.1.3 The role of securities company 2.2.1.4 Main activities of securities companies 2.2.2 Measuring business performances of securities companies 15 Many researchers believe that business results can be expressed through two important types of results, including financial results and strategic results As a professional service firms, the securities company's business performances are also reflected in important non-financial indicators, especially those related to customers (Hitt & Tyler, 1991) In particular, the business performances of securities companies are not only reflected through traditional financial indicators like return on total assets, return on equity, return on total capital investment, or market share; they are also reflected through significant non-financial indicators like employee satisfaction and customer satisfaction with services provided by securities companies (Nakhaei & Hamid, 2013) Employee satisfaction and loyalty are crucial determinants of the financial performance of securities companies, according to research by Xu et al (2007) and Xu and Heijden (2005) Furthermore, non-financial performance and market value of securities firms were shown to be positively correlated by Fornell (2006) 2.3 Theoretical foundations of the impact of competitive advantage on business performances of securities companies The first theoretical basis for realizing the research goal of this thesis is based on the aforementioned theories, and at the same time, the author has chosen a competitive advantage concept appropriate to the research objectives, which is the concept of Wiggins and Ruefli (2002) As can be seen from this concept, competitive advantage can manifest itself in one of three ways: First, competitive advantage is a characteristic; second, competitive advantage is a resource or set of resources; and third, competitive advantage is a capability or set of capabilities However, a sufficient condition for all three of the preceding cases to be a competitive advantage is that those characteristics, resources, or capabilities must create an advantage over competitors as evidenced by positive long-term business performance The second theoretical basis is the studies on business performance including both financial and non-financial factors, of which the case studies can be mentioned by Selvam et al (2016) and Sigo (2016) 2020) The third theoretical basis is that previous research results have shown a positive relationship between competitive advantage and business performances of securities companies In particular, it is possible to mention 16 studies such as: Ma (2000), Rose (2010) and Majeed (2011) Based on the assumption that there is a positive relationship between competitive advantage and firm performance, it is necessary to construct an overall model that includes component models, and these component models are studied in two cases: (1) competitive advantage is financial factors, and (2) competitive advantage is non-financial factors Following the evaluation of the component models, the research findings must be aggregated in order to obtain a complete picture of the impact of competitive advantage on the business results of Vietnamese securities companies CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH MODELS, HYPOTHESES AND METHODS 3.1 Research process Step1: Define or select one definition of competitive advantage for empirical research purposes ‘Step2: Identify factors that can be competitive advantages of Vietnamese securities companies ‘Step 3: Develop a model to evaluate the impact of competitive advantage on the business performance of Vietnamese securities companies ‘Step 4: Determining whether the factors are really competitive advantages and the extent to which those factors influence the business performance of Vietnamese securities companies Figure 3.1 The process of studying the impact of competitive advantages on business performance of Vietnamese securities companies Source: Author's recommendation based on research by Sigalas et al (2013) The content of the steps in this research process is as follows: Step 1: The author uses qualitative methods to find out the concept of competitive advantage in accordance with the experimental research objectives Step 2: To be able to identify factors that can be competitive advantages of Vietnamese securities companies, it should be based on two results: first, the results of the overview research and the theoretical basis; second, results from the practice of Vietnam's stock market and data collected from interviewing the members from director’s board of securities firms Then proceed to measure the factors that could be this competitive advantage Step 3: The author develops a research model and a research hypothesis to evaluate the effect of competitive advantage on the business performance of Vietnamese securities companies Step 4: The author conducts empirical research using the developed research model and research hypothesis 3.2 Research model and research hypothesis Business results of Vietnamese securities companies are shown through: 1) Financial indicators/factors including: Return on total assets (ROA), Return on total capital (ROE), Market Share (MS); and 2) Non-financial indicators/factors include: Employee job satisfaction (JS), Employee loyalty (EL), Customer satisfaction (CS), Loyalty of the customer to the company (CL) ROA and ROE Market Share ‘Competitive Adv $1 Non-financial indicators Customer Satisfaction and ‘Customer Loyalty Job Satisfaction and Employee Loyalty Business performance Figure 3.2 Research model of impact of competitive advantage on business results of Vietnamese securities companies Source: Author's recommendation based on research by Wiggins & Ruefli (2002) and Selvam et al (2016)