Vietnam Today A Guide to a Nation at a Crossroads More early praise for Mark Ashwill and Vietnam Today “Vietnam Today provides constructive advice to those who wish to build lasting relationships with their Vietnamese counterparts. Most importantly, Vietnam Today helps the reader understand enduring aspects of traditional culture in the context of a country undergoing profound and rapid change.” —Patti McGill Peterson, Executive Director, International Exchange of Scholars “Mark Ashwill has provided us with a primer that will help Americans and the world community understand the people, the culture, the history and the spirit of the Vietnamese. This is an important step in helping us understand an emerging country in the world community.” —Stephen T. Banko III, Vietnam War Veteran “At last, an introduction to Vietnam that is about a country rather than a war. Ashwill and Diep have built a cultural bridge you will want to cross.” —Dr. Allan E. Goodman, President and CEO, Institute of International Education “Vietnam Today is a very balanced primer of history, culture and psychol- ogy. A must-read for anyone planning a business trip to Vietnam.” —P. Joseph Koessler, Former Strategic Marketing Manager, Coca-Cola Southeast and West Asia Division “With great interest, I read your book from cover to cover. I cried, I laughed, I smiled, my eyes full of silent tears as I read what you wrote. For the first time, I don’t get annoyed with a ‘foreigner’ talking about my country and my people.” —Nguyen Phuong Mai, reporter, Sinh Vien Viet Nam (Vietnam Student News) Mark A. Ashwill with THAI NGOC DIEP Vietnam Today A Guide to a Nation at a Crossroads First published by Intercultural Press, a Nicholas Brealey Publishing Company, in 2005 Intercultural Press, Inc. Nicholas Brealey Publishing A Nicholas Brealey Publishing Company 3-5 Spafield Street, Clerkenwell PO Box 700 London, EC1R 4QB, UK Yarmouth, Maine 04096 USA Tel: 207-846-5168 Tel: +44-(0)-207-239-0360 Fax: 207-846-5181 Fax: +44-(0)-207-239-0370 www.interculturalpress.com www.nbrealey-books.com © Copyright 2005 by Mark A. Ashwill All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission from the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews. Printed in the United States of America 0908070605 12345 ISBN: 1-931930-09-0 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Ashwill, Mark A. Vietnam today : a guide to a nation at a crossroads / Mark A. Ashwill with Thai Ngoc Diep.— 1st. ed. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references. ISBN 1-931930-09-0 (alk. paper) 1. Vietnam. 2. Business etiquette—Vietnam. I. Thai, Ngoc Diep, 1975– II. Title. DS556.3.A74 2004 959.704'4—dc22 2004023585 Dedicated to those Vietnamese and foreigners who serve as bridges between their respective cultures and who work together in the name of peace, prosperity, and friendship A thousand years of Chinese rule, A hundred years of French subjugation, And ten years of American domination, But we survived, unified. —Vietnamese saying The CIA World Factbook 2004 Contents Acknowledgments xi To the Reader xv Introduction xix CHAPTER 1 Nation at a Crossroads 1 CHAPTER 2 Country Overview 9 Geography 9 People 11 Politics and Administration 15 Economy 18 Business Environment 19 Overseas Vietnamese 22 Tourism 22 Business Centers 23 CHAPTER 3 A Brief History 27 History and Vietnam’s “National Personality” 28 Chinese Rule 29 French Subjugation 33 Vietnam in the Post–World War II Era 36 American Domination 38 They Called It Peace 40 Forgiven and Forgotten? 42 After 1975 45 CHAPTER 4 Vietnam at Peace 51 Economic Reforms 55 Corruption and Bureaucracy 58 Education and Training 61 Regional Differences 71 Male–Female Relationships 73 Looking Ahead 77 CHAPTER 5 Core Cultural Dimensions 79 Community and Collectivism 79 Indirect Communication 82 Nonverbal Communication 88 Other Cultural Dimensions Related to Harmony 91 Vietnamese Cultural Categories 94 CHAPTER 6 Working with the Vietnamese 99 Prerequisites for a Successful Working Relationship 99 Your Mindset 102 Relationship Building 103 The Initial Business Appointment 107 Negotiating 117 Socializing and Gift Giving 119 Contracts 121 Ten Principles for Working in Vietnam 123 CHAPTER 7 How the Vietnamese See Westerners 129 Initial Impressions and Experiences 130 Likes and Dislikes 132 Common Problems 137 Success Stories 140 Cultural Misunderstandings 144 CHAPTER 8 Epilogue 153 Market Economy with a Socialist Orientation 153 Access to Information 154 The Future 155 viii Contents Implications for Westerners 157 Some Final Words of Advice 160 Appendixes 163 A. Vietnam: A Statistical Profile 163 B. Historical Highlights 167 C. Recommended Websites 171 References and Recommended Readings 179 Index 183 Contents ix . Vietnam Today A Guide to a Nation at a Crossroads More early praise for Mark Ashwill and Vietnam Today Vietnam Today provides constructive advice to. of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Ashwill, Mark A. Vietnam today : a guide to a nation at a crossroads / Mark A. Ashwill with Thai Ngoc Diep.—