Competitive advantages of vietnamese agencies in foreign language education with foreign direct investment

Nội dung text: Competitive advantages of vietnamese agencies in foreign language education with foreign direct investment

1. COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGES OF VIETNAMESE AGENCIES IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE EDUCATION WITH FOREIGN DIRECT INVESTMENT Vu Tuan Duong, Ngo The Son, Mai Lan Huong1 Abstract: The role of competitive advantage in the sustainable development of enterprises is widely recognized. The study aims to build a model to explain and test the role of several factors in the competitive advantage of FDI enterprises in the field of foreign language education in Vietnam. Through the primary data collected from 132 managers from 11 FDI enterprises, the authors were able to identify the influence of human resource management, reputation, and teacher quality on competitive advantage via regression analysis method. However, the influence of program on competitive advantage was not clear. Based on this research findings and implications, managers of FDI enterprises in foreign language education sector can find suggestions to improve their competitive advantage. Key words: FDI Enterprises; Competitive Advantage; Foreign Language Education Services; Human Resource Management; Reputation; Academic Quality. 1. INTRODUCTION As of December 31st 2019, Vietnam had 525 valid foreign investment cooperation projects in education segment with a total investment capital of nearly 4.4 billion USD, an increase of 321 FDI projects compared to the previous five years ago. The amount of registered investment capital also increased by over 3.5 billion USD (Dang Nguyen, 2020). Despite of many barriers in existence (e.g. income tax policy, human resource requirements ), the education sector is still considered brimming with potential and attractive to foreign investors. Besides investment projects in the education and higher education systems, FDI-funded language education and training projects have also demonstrated their effectiveness through the success of several enterprises such as British Council, VUS, Yola, Language Link, Apollo, ILA With nearly 100 million people assimilated to the golden population structure, Vietnam is an attractive market for education segment. The economic growth rate has been maintained stable at approximately 7% per year coupled with increasing openness, the demand for learning foreign languages, especially English, is growing. In Vietnam, foreign language skills are gradually showing the importance of work and career development opportunities (Hong Phuoc, 2021). Due to the limited capacity of English teachers at domestic educational institutions, FDI English centers gradually take hold of the essential role in improving Vietnamese students’ foreign language skill. Many FDI enterprises operating in English are in an excellent competitive position in the Vietnamese market. Profits of FDI enterprises in foreign language education service were also reported at a high level compared to those who operate in other industries. 1 Thuongmai University; Email: vutuanduong@tmu.edu.vn 910
2. INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE PROCEEDINGS: GLOBAL FDI AND RESPONSES OF FDI ENTERPRISES IN VIETNAM IN THE NEW CONTEXT 911 Competitive advantage forms the basis of strategy description and evaluation and is built on excellence in performance, quality, customer responsiveness and innovation (Porter, 2011). The critical role of competitive advantage in business performance is widely recognized (Newbert, 1998; Majeed, 2001). Besides, studies on competitive advantage have also received the attention of researchers (Christensen, 2001). However, the factors affecting competitive advantage varies throughout different settings: Tallman et al. (2004) explored the role of knowledge in competitive advantage, Greening et al. (2010) considered corporate social performance a vital factor influencing competitive advantage, El-Garaihy et al. (2014) demonstrated the influence of reputation on competitive advantage In the Vietnamese market, FDI enterprises operating in foreign language education service have gained significant competitive advantages through improving service quality, managing human resource efficiently and building a solid reputation in the customer’s mind. In the context of the increasingly competitive market, understanding the factors affecting competitive advantage will help FDI enterprises develop their business activities. 2. THEORY AND HYPOTHESIS 2.1. Competitive Advantage According to Porter (1985), competitive advantage is understood as the comparative advantage position of one entity over its competitors. The few familiar methods that can lead to said position enlist low cost, differentiation, and centralization. Companies pursuing a differentiation strategy introduce products that instigate customers to perceive them as unique, which is frequently positioned of a superior status. On the other hand, some companies adopt cost leading strategy via reducing various expenses along the line of product development, e.g. buy products in bulk for a higher return (Porter, 1980). Smith (2013) indicated that competitive advantage is how enterprises can compete with competitors from within and outside their region. Newbert (2008) defined competitive advantage as the degree to which a company discovers its opportunities, neutralizes threats, and reduces costs. The influence of competitive advantage on enterprise performance has been verified in many studies from different business sectors (Kamukama & Ntayi, 2011; Yang & Anwar, 2018). To evaluate competitive advantage, most of the studies use meaningful scales to compare criteria related to business activities of enterprises to competitors such as managerial capabilities, R&D, product/service, profitability, image (Barney, 1991; Porter & Van der Linde, 1995). 2.2. Reputation According to the resource-based view (RBV) theory proposed by Penrose (1959), Wernerfelt (1984), reputation is assessed to be an essential factor of the business. Fombrun (1990) defined corporate reputation as «a visual representation of an enterprise›s past actions and prospects that describe an enterprise›s overall attractiveness to all key components when compared to other leading competitors.” Corporate reputation consists of four key characteristics: credibility, reliability, responsibility, and trustworthiness. Meanwhile, Bromley (2001, pp.317) stated that “Reputation can be defined as a distribution of opinions (the overt expression of a collective image) about a person or other entity, in a stakeholder or interest group.” According to Gupta (2002), reputation is a crucial component of competitive
3. 912 KỶ YẾU HỘI THẢO KHOA HỌC QUỐC TẾ FDI TOÀN CẦU VÀ ỨNG BIẾN CỦA DOANH NGHIỆP FDI TẠI VIỆT NAM TRONG BỐI CẢNH MỚI advantage, which was also confirmed in later research by Awang & Jusoff (2009). Gupta (2002) also provides empirical evidence to support the positive effect of corporate reputation on competitive advantage by successfully distinguishing it from competitors. Reputation plays an essential role in business performance in the education sector (Nguyen & LeBlanc, 2001). And this was proven in the Vietnamese market since foreign language training FDI enterprises have been exhibiting their outstanding experience and reputation compared to domestic enterprises. From the above analysis and arguments, the research hypothesis H1 is proposed: H1: Reputation has a positive impact on the competitive advantage of FDI enterprises providing English training in Vietnam. 2.3. Human Resources Management practices According to Torrington & Hall (1995), human resource management (HRM) mainly focuses on governing the needs of the workforce, including but not limited to the employees, with inclination toward planning, monitoring and controlling, rather than problem-solving and mediating. HRM is concerned with management decisions regarding policies and practices that jointly form an employment relationship; the activity is also geared toward achieve particular objectives (Boselie, 2014). The RBV theory introduces human resource management as an essential element of strategy (Snell et al., 2001b) because firm’s competitive advantage is derived from setting up system of people with suitable skills, motivations, and attitudes. RBV also involves in setting up macro perspectives in HRM research (Snell et al., 2001a, 2001b). The well-established macro perspective in HRM research is considered the primary influence of RBV (Snell et al., 2001a, 2001b), which has played an essential role in validating the suitability of human resources. Noe et al. (2017) stated that HRM helps businesses gain competitive advantage. Similarly, the impact of human resource management on competitive advantage was examined in studies by Chan et al. (2004); Khatri (2000). In this study, HRM practices are approached through the capabilities of the business leaders through training, cooperation, motivation, and result-oriented activities (Deeter-Schmelz et al., 2002; Leslie et al., 2002). From the above analysis, research hypothesis H2: H2: Human resource management practices positively impacts the competitive advantage of FDI enterprises providing foreign language training in Vietnam. 2.4. Academic Quality Academic quality is perceived as the core of educational services (Gamage et al., 2008). According to Firdaus (2006), academic quality includes teachers’ assessments through professional qualifications, working attitudes and teaching methods. Academic quality is widely recognized as a vital factor for service quality in the education sector (Chen et al., 2007; Peng & Samah, 2006). The relationship between service quality and customer satisfaction and competitive advantage has been verified in many studies (Campos-Soria et al., 2005; Alves & Raposo, 2006). In Vietnam, FDI enterprises in foreign language education service often possess a team of native speakers with high proficiency in linguistic skills and teaching methods. The quality of the foreign teacher team is often relied on to boost a FDI enterprises status in
4. INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE PROCEEDINGS: GLOBAL FDI AND RESPONSES OF FDI ENTERPRISES IN VIETNAM IN THE NEW CONTEXT 913 advertising campaign, promoting communication and improving the service quality. Taking into account the actual activities of FDI enterprises in foreign language education service in Vietnam, the research focuses on two critical components of academic quality: program issues and teacher quality (Gamage et al., 2008). From the above analysis, two research hypotheses H3 and H4: H3: Quality of teacher positively impacts the competitive advantage of FDI enterprises providing foreign language training in Vietnam. H4: Program issues positively impacts the competitive advantage of FDI enterprises providing foreign language training in Vietnam. 2.5. FDI and FDI Enterprise Foreign direct investment (or FDI) is a phenomenon with long history of existence, and thus, perception and debate revolve this concept have undergone through considerable changes. The most basic criteria to identify FDI is simply an investment was made to a targeted foreign firm with the expectation of the interests generated for the investors. An interesting remark by Qiang et al. (2018) that stated the transition from the assimilation of FDI to the capital flow from the linear direction from “North” to “South” (implying the developed regions to the less developed ones) to further boundary of technology and knowledge with even more diverse directions: “South” – “South” and even “South” – “North”. The emerging and success of new business format along this line (franchising, outsourcing, management contract .) is the verification to the significant evolving in philosophy and paradigm to adapt with the globalization over the recent decades. Contrast to the popular belief, the competition to attract FDI is not only an issue among developing countries but also a significant rivalry between developed and developing ones (UNCTAD, 2017). Despite the tendency of declining in performance index, the developed countries still account significant portion of the top 20 economies to attract FDI. On the other hand, FDI should not be considerable a miracle to answer for every problem. Arguments were made to compare between the effectiveness between FDI and domestic enterprises, but a clear consensus hasn’t yet to be reached (Fruman & Forneris, 2016). In specific, the project made by FDI can be either a successful plan that return benefits for its stakeholders or may as well proven to be a burden with negative impact to the economic (Moran, 2006) just like any other domestic firms. 2.6. Status of FDI enterprises provide foreign language training service in Vietnam Foreign language has been taught in Vietnam for a long time, however, both the range and format of teaching were still rather limited with the most mentioned worthy to be either French (school taught) or Russian (students/worker abroad), with the former tended to hold a slight edge. The situation was remained until no sooner than the success of integration policies and renovations in the early 90s that boost the role of English and continued to stabilizing its position as a dominant “secondary foreign language” within Vietnamese context. A few years later and the radical transition in curriculum were observed as the former foreign language training class in high school level to teach English, in parallel with the emergence of “local” English learning center. Upon realizing the potential of such promising market,
5. 914 KỶ YẾU HỘI THẢO KHOA HỌC QUỐC TẾ FDI TOÀN CẦU VÀ ỨNG BIẾN CỦA DOANH NGHIỆP FDI TẠI VIỆT NAM TRONG BỐI CẢNH MỚI foreign invested center has started to emerged not long after that provide consumer with a wider selection as well as welcoming variations of teaching methods and program designs for multiple purpose that stand out from the local curriculums format. The pioneers of the field were Apollo and Language Link, both of which has proved by their history of existence with quality assurance since 1996. Early 2000s, the attractive of the language teaching segment in Vietnam has yet to diminished despite the growing in number of participants (mostly FDI enterprises), e.g. ILA, Oxford, ACET, AIC, AAC with both comparable quality and slightly cheaper tuition fee. The growth of these foreign language teaching centers was proved with the ever increasing in more branches being launched under each brand umbrella, especially in the vicinity of major cities where the concern of educating children was made a focus of every well off families. In statistics term, the number of English language centers recorded for Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City were nearly 900 and 600 respectively for the year 2019, both presented a significantly development compare to the immediate previous year (Department of Education and Training, 2019). The design of these teaching center has been expanded further from the initial boundary of complement for the official standard program, which has been realized to consists of class that cover the following purposes: (1) General English (GE), English for specific purpose (ESP), Oral course, training for IELTS, TOEIC, TOELF certificates and graduation training; (2) Mathematics and Scientific in English; (3) Leadership course; (4) Training local English teachers courses; (5) Interactive course and (6) supplement skills course (Ministry of Education and Training, 2018). More recently, within the first 9 months of 2020, the Foreign Investment Agency, an agency of Ministry of planning and investment, has issued a report that registered the amount of FDI for education fields to have reached $78.89 million with 65% of this amount was either capital contribution or shares capital (Quang Dang, 2020) The interesting point for these language center is that although they are generally known to be education center, their function were also deployed follow the exact principles of a business model with adequate elements: brand management (logo and slogan attentive design), marketing tools (incentives, advertisings and promotion campaigns) which resonates strongly to Vietnamese psychology of “cost equal quality” and “foreign good are always good”, in addition to the introduction of Western culture values along the wave of globalization and cultural exchange. 3. RESEARCH METHOD 3.1. Research Model This study’s conceptual framework was established on the basis of identifying reputation, human resource management practices and academic quality on competitive advantage, together with their speculated relationships. The framework is described in detail in Figure 1.
6. INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE PROCEEDINGS: GLOBAL FDI AND RESPONSES OF FDI ENTERPRISES IN VIETNAM IN THE NEW CONTEXT 915 Figure 1. Research Model Source: Authors 3.2. Data Analysis Method To evaluate the influence of independent variables on the competitive advantage of FDI enterprises providing foreign language training, the authors apply the regression analysis method. In this study, IBM SPSS 20 software was used for EFA exploratory factor analysis, Cronbach Alpha coefficient testing, descriptive analysis, correlation and regression analysis. 3.3. Measures The scale of the study is referenced from many studies such as Nguyen & LeBlanc (2001), Deeter-Schmelz et al. (2002), Leslie et al. (2002), Gamage et al. (2008), Barney (1991) and Porter & van der Linde (1995). However, to ensure that the scale is suitable for the research context in Vietnam, the authors conducted in-depth interview with involvement of experts, including a doctor in business administration, and two managers of FDI enterprises in the research area. Since the scale statements are derived from foreign studies, two linguists were invited to translate the statements into Vietnamese and cross-check to avoid errors in expression, which could potentially confuse respondents. Because some of the respondents are foreigners, the survey includes two versions in Vietnamese and English. The statements in the scale are measured by the 5-point Likert scale structure, ranging from 1 – strongly disagree to 5 – strongly agree. After summarizing in-depth interviews with experts, a formal scale, including 20 observed variables, was established. Details of the research scale are described in Table 1. Table 1. Measurement Scale and Sources Variable Items Reputation (Nguyen & LeBlanc, 2001) REPU1 In general, I believe that my enterprise always fulfills the promises it makes to customer REPU2 My enterprise has a good reputation REPU3 I believe that the reputation of my enterprise is better than other enterprises Human resource management practices (Deeter-Schmelz et al., 2002; Leslie et al., 2002) HRMP1 Enterprise managers have the ability to motivate employees
7. 916 KỶ YẾU HỘI THẢO KHOA HỌC QUỐC TẾ FDI TOÀN CẦU VÀ ỨNG BIẾN CỦA DOANH NGHIỆP FDI TẠI VIỆT NAM TRONG BỐI CẢNH MỚI HRMP2 Enterprise managers cooperate well with colleagues and subordinates HRMP3 Enterprise managers have good team training and development HRMP4 Enterprise managers are proactive and independent in their work HRMP5 Enterprise managers have the ability to plan and set goals for employees Teacher quality (Gamage et al., 2008) TEAQ1 My enterprise’s teachers have good teaching methods TEAQ2 My enterprise’s teachers have good knowledge TEAQ3 My enterprise’s teachers always have a positive working attitude TEAQ4 My enterprise’s teachers always support learners when they have difficulties Program issues (Gamage et al., 2008) PROG1 My enterprise’s academic program is updated regularly PROG2 My enterprise’s program provides special skills to help learners use foreign languages fluently PROG3 My enterprise’s academic program brings career opportunities to learners Competitive advantage (Barney, 1991; Porter & Van Der Linde, 1995) COMAD1 Services of my enterprise are better than its competitors COMAD2 Managerial capabilities of my enterprise are better than its competitors COMAD3 Profitability of my enterprise is better than its competitors COMAD4 Image of my enterprise is better than its competitors COMAD5 Competitive advantage of my enterprise is better than its competitors Source: Authors 3.4. Sample and Data Collection The targeted sample for this research was determined to include middle managers of FDI enterprises providing foreign language training. The study focuses on surveying English training center - a popular form of foreign language teaching in Vietnam. The data collection period lasted from February 2021 to April 2021. The researchers prepared to make directly interviews with determined sample target; any inquiries concerning the survey content were answered during the interview process. After surveying 11 training facilities, the number of surveys collected was 132 votes, none of which was void of information. According to the standard in choosing minimum sample size of Hair et al. (2010), the number of respondents needed would be five times the scale’s number. Thus, the requirement of minimum sample size by Hair et al. for this study (20x5=100) was satisfied. Depictions of the study sample characteristics are described in Table 2. Table 2. Demographic of Respondents Demographic Characteristic Frequency % Gender Male 54 40.91 Female 78 59.09 Age < 30 11 8.33 30 – 45 72 54.55 45 – 60 49 37.12
8. INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE PROCEEDINGS: GLOBAL FDI AND RESPONSES OF FDI ENTERPRISES IN VIETNAM IN THE NEW CONTEXT 917 Years of management experience 10 years 32 24.24 4. FINDINGS 4.1. Descriptive Analysis, Exploratory Factor Analysis and Cronbach Alpha Test In order to conduct descriptive statistics, exploratory factor analysis and Cronbach Alpha test was used. The authors applied a selection of principal component extraction, varimax rotation, and Bartlett’s test for the EFA test. The results of the EFA showed that the KMO coefficient was 0.853 (between 0.5 and 1), the Sig of Bartlett’s test was 0.000 (less than 0.05) and the Eigenvalue of all factors were greater than 1. Total variance extract had a value of 70.065% (greater than 50%) and cross-loadings were all greater than 0.5, thus ensuring the level of convergence. The initial 20 observed variables converged into five groups, which is identified as human resources management practices, reputation, teaching quality, program issue and competitive advantage. In the Cronbach Alpha coefficient test, the alpha value ranged from 0.683 to 0.915 and the correlation coefficient was more significant than 0.3. The values of Cronbach Alpha if deleted any items value were found to be all smaller than the Cronbach Alpha value of the variable. Thus, the values ​​of the analysis results all ensured the proposed thresholds by Hair et al. (2010) and the reliability of this study scale measurement were guaranteed. Table 3. Descriptive, Exploratory Factor Analysis and Cronbach Alpha test result Rotated Component Matrix Component Mean SD α Eigenvalue 1 2 3 4 5 HRMP1 0.836 3.8333 0.98977 HRMP2 0.810 3.6515 0.88227 HRMP3 0.815 3.5076 0.97680 0.915 7.182 HRMP4 0.817 3.5909 0.89062 HRMP5 0.733 3.6667 0.93013 TEAQ1 0.821 3.5682 0.86663 TEAQ2 0.832 3.6591 0.87221 0.853 1.892 TEAQ3 0.772 3.6439 0.84828 TEAQ4 0.731 3.6364 0.86733 REPU1 0.582 3.4848 0.91205 REPU2 0.732 3.3939 0.89747 0.775 1.640 REPU3 0.732 3.6439 0.98176 PROG1 0.754 3.3485 0.70964 PROG2 0.717 3.3182 0.75481 0.683 1.122 PROG3 0.863 3.2803 0.71317
9. 918 KỶ YẾU HỘI THẢO KHOA HỌC QUỐC TẾ FDI TOÀN CẦU VÀ ỨNG BIẾN CỦA DOANH NGHIỆP FDI TẠI VIỆT NAM TRONG BỐI CẢNH MỚI COMAD1 0.725 3.2576 0.78751 COMAD2 0.768 3.4242 0.78265 COMAD3 0.780 3.3636 0.82214 0.859 2.177 COMAD4 0.796 3.2879 0.83374 COMAD5 0.731 3.3636 0.84954 KMO = 0.853, Sig = 0.000 Total Explained Variance = 70.065% Source: Authors 4.2. Commom Bias Method and Correlation Combining items from different studies to establish a scale can possibility lead to the phenomenon of Common Method Variance (CMV). The negative effects that CMV may impose on the measurement performance of the scale have been verified in many studies. In this study, in order to limit the occurrence of CMV, the authors applied some recommendations from the research results of Podsakoff et al. (2012): (1) Secure personal information of respondents. (2) Change the order of questions in the survey to limit the ability to recognize the structure of the research model. After data collection process, Harman’s single factor test was applied to test the common method variance. The analysis results show that single factor explains 35.908% (less than 50%) of the total variance. Comparing this calculation to the thresholds suggested by Malhotra et al. (2006), CMV problems did not appear in this study. In order to analyze the correlation of the observed variables, Pearson correlation analysis method was applied. The analysis results showed that except for some relationships between the program issue and the remaining observed variables that are insignificant (less than 0.05), the remaining correlations all have statistical values ​​at the p-value level less than 0.01. To evaluate the possibility of multicollinearity, the study conducted a retrospective analysis and evaluation through the VIF coefficient. The results of Pearson correlation analysis are described in Table 4. Table 4. Correlation Analysis Results HRMP TEAQ REPU PROG COMAD Pearson Correlation 1 0.452 0.616 -0.011 0.442 HRMP Sig. (2-tailed) 0.000 0.000 0.897 0.000 Pearson Correlation 0.452 1 0.468 0.068 0.382 TEAQ Sig. (2-tailed) .000 0.000 0.440 0.000 Pearson Correlation 0.616 0.468 1 0.050 0.461 REPU Sig. (2-tailed) 0.000 0.000 .0573 0.000 Pearson Correlation -0.011 0.068 0.050 1 -0.080 PROG Sig. (2-tailed) 0.897 0.440 0.573 0.363 Pearson Correlation 0.442 0.382 0.461 -0.080 1 COMAD Sig. (2-tailed) 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.363 . Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed). Source: Authors
10. INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE PROCEEDINGS: GLOBAL FDI AND RESPONSES OF FDI ENTERPRISES IN VIETNAM IN THE NEW CONTEXT 919 4.3. Regression Analysis The regression analysis method was applied to test the research hypotheses and evaluate the impact of the independent variables on the dependent variable. According to Hair et al. (2010), thresholds that need attention include: (1) Sig of F test < 0.05 (2) P-value < 0.05 (3) Durbin Watson coefficient should be in the range of 1.5-25. (4) R2 adjusted value Table 5. Regression Analysis Results Model Unstandardized Coefficients Standardized t Sig. Collinearity Statistics B Coefficients Tolerance Std. Error Beta VIF (Constant) 1.789 0.397 4.509 0.000 HRMP 0.162 0.079 0.201 2.043 0.043 0.583 1.715 1 TEAQ 0.160 0.079 0.176 2.011 0.046 0.735 1.361 REPU 0.219 0.084 0.260 2.621 0.010 0.574 1.743 PROG -0.117 0.087 -0.102 -1.356 0.177 0.991 1.010 R2 adjusted = 0.261; Durbin – Watson = 1.928 Source: Authors Detailed results of regression analysis are described in Table 5, Sig test F value = 0.000 (less than 0.05), Durbin Watson value = 1.928 (range 1.5-2.5). The value of R2 adjusted = 0.261 shows that the independent variables explain 26.1% of the variation in competitive advantage. VIF values ​​range from 1.010 to 1.743 (less than 2), so it can be concluded that multicollinearity does not occur in this study. Among the four proposed research hypotheses, the hypothesis about the relationship of “program issue” and “competitive advantage” is rejected because their corresponding p-value were greater than 0.05. Meanwhile, reputation is suggested to be factor with the greatest impact on competitive advantage (standardized beta of 0.260). Subsequent order of the other factors is organized respectively as human resources management practices (standardized beta of 0.201) and teacher quality has (normalized beta of 0.176). The standardized regression equation is set up as follows: COMAD = 0.260*REPU + 0.201*HRMP + 0.176*TEAQ 5. DISCUSSION, IMPLICATIONS AND LIMITATIONS 5.1. Discussion and Implications The study has achieved its initial objective of building an explanatory model for competitive advantage in the targeted FDI enterprises providing foreign language training. The study revealed three factors groups “reputation”, “human resource practices”, and “teacher quality” to be positively correlated with competitive advantage while the “program issue” showed no effect on the dependent variable. The research results support the RBV theory in term of the role of reputation, human resource management in competitive advantage
11. 920 KỶ YẾU HỘI THẢO KHOA HỌC QUỐC TẾ FDI TOÀN CẦU VÀ ỨNG BIẾN CỦA DOANH NGHIỆP FDI TẠI VIỆT NAM TRONG BỐI CẢNH MỚI (Wenerfelt, 1984; Gupta, 2002; Chan et al., 2004). The surprising outcome is that teachers’ role and training programs were absent from the competitive advantage components of FDI enterprises providing foreign language training. This finding was predicted to be originated from the duplicity and lacking in diversity of enterprises’ academic programs. The basis for this speculation is due to fact that most businesses in Vietnam adopt well-known curriculum of either Cambridge or Oxford for their courses. However, the selection of programs is not practical because of the lack of resources to implement said programs’ contents, for example: Due to the shortage of foreign lecturers, many classes are held with many students and insufficient of actual teaching allocated for each lesson are the recurrent issues, so the it is common for contents of each session have not been fully implemented as being planned. Though there was interest in literature regarding foreign language teaching centers, the interests were also found to rest on macro- and micro-environment. An example that exhibits these features and probably the closest topic of interest aligns to this research was found by the insight-explored findings by Pham et al. (2020). The papers entailed an exploration of factors encouraging growth in market for English language training with specific indicators listing the overall growth of the economic and private resources of finance as area of interests. Therefore, the implication is that there is no basis of comparable scale and similar designs prior to findings made by authors for the niche segment in this research From the above research results, several implications are proposed to enhance the competitive advantage of FDI enterprises. Firstly, it is necessary to utilize the strengths of reputation to create a competitive advantage. Many FDI enterprises such as Language Link, British Council, Apollo were already experienced education service provider in many countries before joining Vietnam market. A strong reputation on a global scale is a significant leverage to create competitive advantages for these brands. Besides, educational services play an essential role in the development of learners’ skills; therefore, the reputation of training institutions significantly impacts the choice of customers. In order to promote the advantages of reputation, FDI enterprises providing foreign language training should focus on promoting the efficiency of the communication messages and activities associated with social responsibility to increase their image awareness. Secondly, it is necessary to pay more attention to human resource management activities. FDI enterprise providing foreign language training often has talented foreign leaders and good working environment for individuals to develop their capabilities, thus human resource practices play an essential role to improve business efficiency. In the field of education, the importance of human resources is even more apparent. Therefore, businesses need to focus on training activities, stimulating innovation initiatives and building corporate culture to attract and retain capable employees. Finally, although it does not substantially impact competitive advantage, FDI enterprises providing foreign language training need to promote academic quality, which is the core input to generate the education service. For teacher quality, it is necessary to stimulate recruitment and training activities in teaching methods and professional knowledge to improve the quality of lessons. In the Vietnamese context, the training programs applied do not seem to show any difference because management activities are still inefficient. Enterprises can
12. INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE PROCEEDINGS: GLOBAL FDI AND RESPONSES OF FDI ENTERPRISES IN VIETNAM IN THE NEW CONTEXT 921 easily apply the frameworks without facing copyright infringement. Therefore, although FDI enterprises enjoy the advantages of better comparative training programs, they have to cope with the program plagiarism from other enterprises. Therefore, FDI enterprises need to build the training program to closely align with their own unique selling points based on internal resources and capabilities for sustainable competitive advantages while maintaining preventing strategy against competitors’ replication attempts. 5.2. Limitation Despite of the authors attempted at achieving the research objectives in assessing the impact of factors toward competitive advantage in FDI enterprises providing foreign language training, there are still limitations remained due to resource limitations and the influence of the Covid-19 pandemic: 1. The data collection subjects only focused on businesses providing English training services. This has partly contributed to the limitation in the choice of sample size 2. The finding of this study accounted for only 26.1% of the competitive advantage, meaning it is necessary to consider and add new factors to the theoretical model. 3. Due to the limited sample size, multi-group difference tests were not performed and the overall significance of the study findings are also partially implicated. REFERENCE 1. Alves, H., & Raposo, M. (2007). Conceptual model of student satisfaction in higher education. Total Quality Management, 18(5), 571-588. 2. Barney, J. (1991). Firm resources and sustained competitive advantage. Journal of management, 17(1), 99-120. 3. Boselie, P. (2014). Strategic Human Resource Management: A Balanced Approach. 2nd ed. New York: McGraw Hill 4. Campos-Soria, J. A., García, L. G., & García, M. A. R. (2005). Service quality and competitiveness in the hospitality sector. Tourism Economics, 11(1), 85-102. 5. Chan, L. L., Shaffer, M. A., & Snape, E. (2004). In search of sustained competitive advantage: the impact of organizational culture, competitive strategy and human resource management practices on firm performance. The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 15(1), 17-35. 6. Chen, C.Y., Sok, P. and Sok, K., 2007. Benchmarking potential factors leading to education quality: A study of Cambodian higher education. Quality Assurance in Education, 15(2), pp.128-48 7. Christensen, C. M. (2001) Competitive advantage. mit sloan management review, 42(2), 105-109. 8. Dang Nguyen (2020) 4,4 tỉ USD đầu tư nước ngoài vào giáo dục Việt Nam. Báo Thanh niên. Available online: html (Accessed: 9th June 2021) 9. Deeter-Schmelz, D. R., Kennedy, K. N., & Goebel, D. J. (2002), “Understanding sales manager effectiveness: Linking attributes to sales force values”, Industrial Marketing Management, 31(7), 617-626. 10. Department of Education and Training (2019) List of Licensed Foreign Language and Informatics Centers [Online]. Available at: tam-ngoai-ngu-tinhoc-duoc-cap-phep-cap-nhat-den-ngay-12032-cmobile41743-61861.aspx (Accessed: 9th June 2021)
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