ABSTRACT
There has been a substantial volume of foreign direct investment (FDI) in Vietnam since the adoptation of the wide-scale transition to a free market economy. Demand growth was apparent in the efforts of government and local firms to obtain the development benefits of FDI arising in transfers of capital, technology and managerial know how (Artisien et al., 2007; Buckley and Ghauri, 2008; McDonald, 2008; Tesar, 2008; Williams, 2009). Moreover, the supply of FDI expanded sharply as companies in the USA, Western Europe and elsewhere pursued major new growth opportunities (Benito and Welch, 2007; Culpan and Kumar, 2009; Ghauri and Henriksen, 2004; Healey, 2007; Jain andTucker, 2007).The most prevalent mode of FDI in Asean and Eastern Asia is participation in international strategic alliances (ISA) between Western and indigenous partners (Lyles and Baird, 2008; Neimans, 2008). Although there are inherent attractions and government incentives for inward FDI in Vietnam, international strategic alliances are known to involve problems including inflexibility, poor integration, mistrust and conflict as well as economic and political instability and complex privatization practices (Geringer and Hebert, 2008; Lyles and Baird; 2006; Szanyi, 2007).
