ABSTRACT
Companies hired people who had been educated in polytechnic institutes and who thus brought ideas to the firms on how to run production facilities. In addition, the firms recruited many Vietnamese graduates of Soviet or Eastern European universities whose degrees were predominantly in technical subjects such as textiles, mechanical engineering, energy and electrical systems. The companies also received some assistance from the MOI for training their workers as technicians. Very few firms were able to learn marketing capability by any mechanism. The most frequently used mechanism was simple by-doing associated with some recent initial marketing activities. Some companies sent their people to attend courses on business administration or marketing offered by universities and colleges. Firms mainly acquired their linkages thanks to the relations of their staff with university colleagues. Prior accumulation also came through the assignment of managers from outside the firms. Off-the-job training and information collection were almost non-existent in this period.
