ABSTRACT
This chapter provides an overview of the relevant literature on the challenges faced by many Asia Pacific nations with respect to graduate 'work-readiness' in their labour markets, and their impacts on future economic growth and social development strategies. It presents several explanations and models of work-readiness, together with a discussion of stakeholder theory as an analytical framework for an examination of the key players associated with its antecedents and consequences. The extent of the graduate work-readiness challenge in Vietnam has been highlighted by recent research by Montague who noted that Vietnam has an over-supply of available labour but an under-supply of quality skilled employees. Stakeholder theory suggests that all labour market policies and strategies involve multiple stakeholders, with similar and diverse interests, and that the key role in their management is to continually balance these interests in order to achieve the greater good, whether the primary objective is profitability or merely survival and growth.
