The impact of electronic customs on business performance of SMEs in Vietnam

Nguyen, Thanh Hang

Abstract

A number of projects regarding e-government and the public administration digital transformation has implemented over the past two decades. Unfortunately, most of them have been unsuccessful at the initial stage. E-customs has been evaluated as the first and the most significantly successful project towards digitalising and modernizing the administrative system in Vietnam. This study is implemented with the aim of dealing with the question “How can Vietnam as an emerging economy achieve the greater success in further implementation of egovernment in relation to the National Single Window (NSW) and ASEAN Single Window (ASW)?”
E-customs emerged from concepts and practices unfamiliar to businesses and officials. With three stages of development, including a trial basis national expansion and evolution by the General Department of Vietnam Customs (GDVC) from 2005 to the present, Vietnam Customs demonstrated that e-customs could be implemented feasibly in an emerging country with a low-technology environment such as Vietnam. Furthermore, a number of benefits that e-customs provide for individuals, businesses, customs officials and other stakeholders were confirmed in the process of customs modernization, for example, time savings, cost reduction, reducing the requirements of data re-entry, fewer data errors, the burden of administrative documents reduction, convenience through a 24/7 system, enhancing risk management and advance clearance.
Combination between elements of the Diffusion of Innovation (DOI) theory, Institutional theory and prior scholars has established a conceptual framework in this study. Particularly, three additional factors, including culture, legislation, finances and human resource, that influence e-customs implementation in Vietnam are also suggested and supplemented in this research based on institutional theory and prior scholars. Information and data collected from various and inconsistent sources are interpreted, reconciled, summarised and synthesised with review and synthesis analysis as the research method of this study. Furthermore, the primary data are obtained via questionnaire survey related to stakeholders’ perceptions. Then, these data are analysed with factor analysis and statistical techniques using structural equation model (SEM). An empirical study with both sides of business and customs officials was carried out in order to achieve comprehensive viewpoints of stakeholders regarding the e-customs implementation in Vietnam and its impact on business performance. The outcomes of this research identify the enablers and inhibitors influencing e-customs implementation in Vietnam. In particular, an explorative element examined culture and other factors of DOI theory, and the following relative advantages and observability were claimed as the drivers, while incompatibility, complexity and the new exploring factors of legislation deficiencies, difficulties in finances and human resources were discovered as the barriers. Moreover, the five cultural dimensions of Hofstede (2011) were applied in e-customs as the specific area in Vietnam appeared to have some differences with prior literature. Meanwhile, uncertain acceptance, low power distance and individualism were pointed out as encouragement elements for e-government and innovation by previous scholars; uncertainty avoidance and collectivism, as cultural attributes of Vietnam, stimulated e-customs deployment. In terms of international
integration, the dimension of high-power distance and short-term orientation of Vietnam was changed into long-term orientation and low-power distance between customs administrators/officials and businesses. In addition, the impact of e-customs implementation on firm performance was proved to be significant. The results of this study also agree with the business performance examination from comprehensive approaches with financial and strategic efficiency.

Citation

Nguyen, T. H. (2021). The impact of electronic customs on business performance of SMEs in Vietnam. (Thesis). University of Hull. https://hull-repository.worktribe.com/output/4960797

• Thesis Type: Thesis
• Deposit Date: Dec 6, 2024
• Publicly Available Date: Dec 6, 2024
• Keywords: Business
• Public URL: https://hull-repository.worktribe.com/output/4960797
• Additional Information: Business School; University of Hull
• Award Date: Oct 1, 2021