ABSTRACT
The core conclusion of this book is that, in spite of its large young consumer market and competitive cost of labour, Hanoi has shown only some ability to extract development know-how from the foreign transnational corporations, resulting in partial cases of obligated embeddedness for the motorcycle and banking industries. In the motorcycle industry, dirigisme is relatively weak, but it has created a relatively vibrant industrial ecosystem. In the banking industry, dirigisme is relatively strong, but it has not created efficient outcomes. The highly asymmetrical development of these two industries underlines a need to conceptualize the state versus market dynamic in a more circumscribed manner. In addition, Vietnam’s insistence on running a socialist-oriented market economy means that its cohort of state-owned enterprises will likely continue their stranglehold over the economy. This philosophy resembles Malaysia’s experience as well as China’s, more than that of Thailand and Korea, as far as critical industries are concerned. These findings not only provide highly dynamic and insightful accounts of upgrading in a developing country context but also make key theoretical contributions to the research on state versus market as well as on East Asian development structures. The chapter also enriches the policy repertoire of fellow developing economies, in addition to putting forward new areas for research.
