Đánh giá tác động của đặc điểm nhân khẩu học của Giám đốc điều hành, ưu đãi thuế và phi thuế đến kết quả hoạt động của doanh nghiệp trong ngành NCKH&PTCN tại Việt Nam ttta

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING
FOREIGN TRADE UNIVERSITY
-------o0o-------

DOCTORAL DISSERTATION ABSTRACT

ASSESSING IMPACTS OF CEO’S DEMOGRAPHIC
CHARACTERISTICS, TAX AND NON-TAX INCENTIVES
ON PERFORMANCE OF FIRMS IN SCIENTIFIC
RESEARCH AND TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPMENT
INDUSTRY IN VIETNAM

Major: Business Administration
Major Code: 93.40.101

DUONG THI THANH THUY

Hanoi - 2022


The dissertation is conducted at the Foreign Trade University

Academic Supervisors: Dr. Ho Hong Hai
Dr. Nguyen Thuc Anh

Reviewer 1: ………………………………………………………….
.…………………………………………………………
Reviewer 2: ………………………………………………………….
..………………………………………………………...
Reviewer 3: ………………………………………………………….
..………………………………………………………...

The study shall be defended at the defending council meeting held at
…………………………………………………………………………………


1

1. Dissertation rationale
Recently, the huge global economic development on the basis of scientific
research and technology development (SRTD) together with the technology
revolution era 4.0 initiating from Germany spreading all over the world has proved
the overwhelming privileges and great success of any country, industry, corporation
that possesses advanced science and technology (S&T) products. Some worldleading technology conglomerates, say, Apple, Google, Tesla of the USA., Samsung
of Korea etc., are truly giant players in the global technology playing ground with
annual turnover of hundreds of billions of US dollars. The world economy has been
moving towards its allocation of more and more diversified resources including both
financial and human resources to serve SRTD performance, to commercialize S&T
products, and to turn them into the main source of revenue for firms.
Though Vietnam is a developing country, the target of S&T development was
put into the country’s development strategy over the past two decades. The Central
Party (2002) determined to raise the society’s total investment on S&T up to 1% of
GDP in 2005 and 1.5% of GDP in 2010, to ensure the spending speed for S&T from
the national budget every year higher than the rise in that of the budget itself. The
country shall step-by-step transform public S&T organizations specialising on
applied research and technology development into those covering their own
expenses, operating under corporation regime to create pathways for speedily
growing technology firms the performance of which is accompanied by technology
research activities. Following the above target and strategy, the Central Party (2012)
under their decision on S&T development serving the industrialization and
modernisation process under the market economy regime with socialist orientation

and international integration emphasized on giving privileges to develop high and
advanced technologies, and inter-industry technologies.
Under the above strategy of the Central Party, S&T development are to be
initiated from firms and firms in SRTD industry have been expected to undertake
their primary role. These firms shall contribute to the country’s economic growth on
the basis of their SRTD activities to innovate S&T results, to commercialize S&T
products in order to generate revenue and profit for the firms themselves.


2

The Chief Executive Officers (CEO) of firms in SRTD industry have played
a crucial role. They are leading firms to create new technologies to survive and then
further develop. Study on impact of CEO demographic characteristics on firm
performance shall provide scientific evidence assisting firms in SRTD industry in
their strategies on top human resource employment, training, and management.
Besides, due to the typical characteristics of firms in SRTD industry with a lot of
investment on research and development (R&D) activities of high risks and costs
while the resources from the firms themselves are limited, the incentives and support
from the government with nation-scaled resources are desperately desiring. The
assessment of impacts of CEO’s demographic characteristics including age, gender
and education, tax and non-tax incentives on performance of firms in SRTD industry
in Vietnam has not been conducted in Vietnam while the social and economic
development of the society on the basis of enhancing advanced technology
development and innovation has been attentively cared of and desired to support by
the Central Party and the government. The study on impacts of tax and non-tax
incentives on firm performance thus provides both empirical and scientific evidence
to support policy planners and makers to post-assess the effectiveness of their current
incentives and to learn from them upon building new national incentive programs for
firms in SRTD industry in Vietnam. The findings from this very first study shall be

the basis for proposing some recommendations and solutions to support firms timely
while creating favourable conditions for them to make use of their strengths, to grow
rapidly and to contribute most to S&T, social and economic growth of the country as
a whole.
The dissertation topic of ‘Assessing impacts of CEO’s demographic
characteristics, tax and non-tax incentives on performance of firms in SRTD
industry in Vietnam” is, therefore, chosen by the author.
2. Research objective and research questions
2.1. Research objective
The main aim of the dissertation is to assess the impacts of CEO’s
demographic characteristics, tax and non-tax incentives on performance of firms in


3

SRTD industry in Vietnam.
2.2. Research questions
 Research question 1: How do CEO’s demographic characteristics including
age, gender, education influence performance of firms in SRTD industry in
Vietnam?
 Research question 2: How do corporate income tax incentives for the revenue
from S&T results influence performance of the certified scientific research and
technological development (CSRTD) firms?
 Research question 3: How do CSRTD firms assess the tax incentives and nontax incentives for them?
 Research question 4: What are the suggested solutions and policy
recommendations relating to CEO’s demographic characteristics, tax and nontax incentives for firms in SRTD industry in Vietnam?
3. Research object and scope
3.1. Research object
The research object of dissertation is impacts of CEO’s demographic
characteristics, those of tax incentives and non-tax incentives on the performance of

firms in SRTD industry in Vietnam.
3.2. Research scope
 Content scope: impacts of CEO’s demographic characteristics, those of tax
incentives and non-tax incentives on performance of firms in SRTD industry
in Vietnam.
 Time scope: within the period of 2008-2019.
 Spatial scope: firms in SRTD industry in Vietnam for the quantitative research
and 15 CSRTD firms in Hanoi for the qualitative research.
4. New contributions of the dissertation
4.1. Theoretical contributions
• Firstly, the dissertation has systemized the theoretical background about firm
performance, clarify the research framework on CEO’ demographic
characteristics, tax and non-tax incentives and their impacts on firm
performance and proposed research hypotheses to explain the impacts of those


4

factors.
• Secondly, the dissertation has tested research models with research object of
firms in SRTD industry in Vietnam, focusing on analysing the impacts of
CEO’s demographic characteristics including age, gender, education, those of
tax and non-tax incentives from receiving firms’ perspective.
• Thirdly, the dissertation has applied qualitative analysis through in-depth
interviews with CEOs of CSRTD firms together with quantitative analysis to
have insights both on the influencing structure and the impacts of CEO’s
demographic characteristics, those of tax and non-tax incentives on firm
performance.
4.2. Practical contributions
• Firstly, the dissertation assessed the impacts of CEO’s demographic

characteristics including age, gender, education on performance of firms in
SRTD industry in Vietnam to help firms realize the roles of these
characteristics so that they can have proper adjustments on their recruitment,
training, and top human resource management strategies in line with firms’
development targets.
•

Secondly, the research results have provided some insights into the current
situation of government incentives for CSRTDs including tax and non-tax
incentives together with scientific evidence for the S&T authority to postassess the impacts of existing incentives.

• Thirdly, the dissertation has suggested some solutions to accomplish tax
incentives and to realize the non-tax incentives to support firms in SRTD
industry.
5. Dissertation structure
The dissertation is structured with five main chapters excluding the
Introduction, Conclusion, and Bibliography.
Chapter 1: Literature review.
Chapter 2: Research framework on the impacts of CEO’s demographic
characteristics, tax and non-tax incentives on performance of firms in SRTD
industry in Vietnam.


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Chapter 3: Research methodology.
Chapter 4: Analysing the situation of impacts of CEO’s demographic
characteristics, tax and non-tax incentives on performance of firms in SRTD
industry in Vietnam within the period of 2008 - 2019.
Chapter 5: Recommendations and solutions to enhance performance of firms

in SRTD industry in Vietnam.


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CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW
1.1.

Review on prior research

1.1.1. Research on the relationship between CEO’s demographic characteristics
and firm performance
❖ Studies in foreign countries
❖ Studies in Vietnam
1.1.2. Research on the relationship between tax and non-tax incentives and firm
performance
❖ Tax and non-tax incentives and R&D performance of firms
▪ Studies in foreign countries
▪ In Vietnam, to the understanding of the author, there has not been any
study on impact of tax and non-tax incentives on firm’s R&D
performance.
❖ Tax and non-tax incentives and performance of receiving firms
▪ Studies in foreign countries
▪ Studies in Vietnam
1.1.3. Studies on firms in SRTD industry in Vietnam
1.2.

Research gaps
Firstly, due to the inconsistent embody of the Upper Echelon Theory (UET)

in business practices when the study context changes, the study on impacts of CEO
characteristics on firm performance in one particular industry should be separately
conducted in order to have a thorough look and insights. Such a study in the context
of one industry in Vietnam shall, therefore, investigate and extend the UET theory
and provide further evidence for the literature showing a detailed and precise
standpoint.
Secondly, incentives of all types should be post- evaluated to see if they have
achieved the initial purposes intended by policy makers or not because the efficient
support of the government, on the one hand, helps firms overcome institutional
barriers and other barriers in an uneven playing field; however, a wrong support may
have bad effects distorting the efficient performance of market forces including
retaining inefficient players in business (Hansen et al., 2019). There has been scant


7

literature on assessing government incentives in Vietnam so far.
Thirdly, evaluating incentives from the standpoint of the government
authorities using secondary data should be done together with the incentive
assessment from the viewpoint of receiving firms in order to have diversified insights
on the issue. In-depth interviews with qualitative analysis are still new in Vietnam.
Qualitative research shall provide critical thinking for policy planners to adjust,
supplement regulations to support firms in accessing incentives and to grow as being
expected in the aim of the incentive programs established by the government.
Fourthly, the dissertation chose the research object as SRTD industry in
Vietnam because this industry is so typical with emphasis on R&D activities and
technology development and usage (Cooper & Bruno, 1977), so they are completely
different from others in the economy. Specifically, the majority of firm resources
both internal and external being raised by firms themselves must be allocated to R&D
activities to generate S&T results, turning them into commercialized products to sell

them in the marketplace generating revenue for firms to provide further resources for
re-investing in R&D. Currently, the resources mobilized by firms are so limited while
their demand and needs for continuous investment are huge, so they are in dying
support from the government through incentive policy tools. From the perspective of
policy planning of the Vietnam government, firms in this industry are under the
country privilege for further growth during the past decade but without establishing
a large and strong CSRTD community. So, the assessment of impacts of tax and nontax incentives on performance of firms in SRTD industry is essential as relevant
studies do not exist in Vietnam.


8

CHAPTER 2: THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK OF ASSESSING IMPACTS
OF CEO’S DEMOGRAPHIC CHARACTERISTICS, TAX AND NON-TAX
INCENTIVES ON PERFORMANCE OF FIRMS IN SCIENTIFIC
RESEARCH AND TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPMENT INDUSTRY
2.1. Firms in SRTD industry
2.1.1. Concept of certified scientific and technology firm
2.1.2. Classification of firms in SRTD industry

2.2.

•

Firm72 group

•

CSRTD group

Theoretical framework of performance of firms in SRTD industry

2.2.1. Firm performance concepts
2.2.2. Some management theories on factors influencing firm performance
❖ The Resource-based Theory (RBT)
❖ The Resource Dependence Theory (RDT)
❖ The Institutional Theory (IT)
❖ The Upper Echelon Theory (UET)
2.2.3. Firm performance models
❖ The Balanced Scorecard model
❖ The Performance Prism model
❖ The Malcolm Baldrige model
❖ The Performance Pyramid model
2.2.4. Firm performance ratio types
❖ Profitability growth, survival, and efficiency
❖ Market-based performance and perceived performance
2.2.5. Instrumental concept of dissertation - Firm performance and concept
connotation


9

Table 2.1: Firm performance concept within dissertation scope and research methodology
(Source: From author’s synthesis, building and proposal)

2.3. Groups of factors influencing performance of firms in SRTD industry in
Vietnam
2.3.1. CEO’s demographic characteristics
2.3.2. Tax incentives
❖ Tax incentives concept

❖ Tax incentives influencing regime on firm performance
2.3.3. Non-tax incentives
❖ Non-tax incentives concept
❖ Non-tax incentives influencing regime on firm performance


10

CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
3.1. Research design

Figure 3.1: Research Design
(Source: From author’s synthesis, building and proposal)


11

3.2. Sample description
3.2.1. Sample in quantitative research
❖ Sample for evaluating impacts of CEO’s demographic characteristics on
performance of firms in SRTD industry
Sample size includes 564 firms in SRTD industry in Vietnam in 2017. These
firms are classified into two main groups with 327 Firm72 and 237 CSRTD firms.
The cross-sectional data were collected from the General Statistics Office of Vietnam
(GSO)’s database thanks to their corporation survey conducted every year.
❖ Sample for evaluating the impacts of tax incentives on performance of CSRTD
firms in Vietnam
The sample for the quantitative research assessing the impacts of tax
incentives on performance of CSRTDs was established by the stratified random
sampling and the simple random sampling.

The final sample was ultimately concluded with 95 CSRTD firms over the
period of 2008-2019 with firm location spreading all over the country including five
central cities which are Hanoi, Haiphong, Danang, Hochiminh City and Cantho.
3.2.2. Sample in the qualitative research
The study applies purposive sampling. The sample includes 15 CSRTD firms
in Hanoi to conduct in-depth interviews in person. The sample was chosen from three
origins of CSRTDs including innovation firms, established firms qualified to be
CSRTD firms, the transforming public S&T organizations. This choice is designed
to provide a thorough understanding in incentives evaluation of CSRTDs from
different origins.
3.3. The research method being used
3.3.1. Quantitative method
❖ Research model and methodology on assessing impacts of CEO’s
demographic characteristics on performance of firms in SRTD industry
 Hypotheses on impacts of CEO’s demographic characteristics including
age, gender, education on firm performance including hypotheses on
interaction terms
 Hypotheses with variables relating to firm characteristics (Models 1 & 2)


12
Appendix 11: Variables in quantitative models and hypotheses
Expected
Variables
Variable code
Hypothesis
sign
Dependent variables
Return on assets
ROA

----Return on equity
ROE
----Earnings before tax
Earnings
----Net profit margin
NPM
----Independent variables
CEO Age
Age
H1
(-)
CEO Gender
Gender
H2
Female (+)
CEO Education
Edu
H3
(+)
Firm age
FirmAge
H4
(-)
Leverage
Leverage
H5
(+)
Total assets
Assets
H6

(+)
Total assets growth
TAGrowth
H7
(+)
Total sales growth
TSGrowth
H8
(+)
(+) (1) (-)
Corptax
CorpTax
H9
(2)
Labour
Labour
H10
(+)
Import export
IMEX
H11
(+)
Special zone
SpecialZone
H12
(+)
Central city
CenCity
H13
(+)

Fixed assests
Tangible
H14
(+)
Tax incentives
Incentives
H15
(+)
Interaction terms
CEO Age & Edu
Age*Edu
H1A
(+)
CEO Gender & Edu
Gender*Edu
H1B
(+)
CEO Age & Gender
Age*Gender
H1C
(+)

Models
(1) + (2)
(1) + (2)
(1) + (2)
(1) + (2)
(1)
(1)
(1)

(1) + (2)
(1) + (2)
(1) + (2)
(2)
(2)
(1) + (2)
(1) + (2)
(1)
(1)
(1)
(2)
(2)
(1)
(1)
(1)

 Suggested research model_Model (1)
On the basis of prior studies, Model (1) uses ordinary least squares - OLS
regression, robust regression – RR, RR with interaction terms and consists of the four
following regression equations:
PERi = 0 + 1 (CEO’s demographic characteristics) + 2 (Firm
characteristics) + i, (I)
in which i denotes for one particular firm.
PERi = 0 + 1 Age + 2 Gender + 3 Edu + 4 Age*Edu + 5 (Firm
characteristics) + i (II)
PERi = 0 + + 1 Age + 2 Gender + 3 Edu + 4 Gender*Edu + 5 (Firm
Characteristics) + i. (III)


13

PERi = 0 + + 1 Age+ 2 Gender + 3 Edu + 4 Age*Gender + 5 (Firm
Characteristics) + i. (IV)
in which equation (I) shows the multi-variable regression model for three
regression types which are OLS, RR, RR with interaction terms; equations (II), (III),
(IV) show the robust regression with interaction terms relating to CEO’s
demographic characteristics to evaluate the combined impact of these
characteristics. Firm performance is proxied by ROA, ROE, Earnings, and NPM.
Tests conducted include VIF, White test, Jarque-Bera test, Wilcoxon rank sum
test, and Kruskall-Wallis rank test.
❖ Research model and methodology for evaluating impacts of tax incentives
on performance of CSRTD firms
 Hypothesis on tax incentives
 Suggested research model_Model 2
On the basis of prior studies, the model used to evaluate the impact of tax
incentives on performance of CSRTD firms is proposed as follows:
PERit = 0 + 1 CorpTax(ln)it Incentivesit + 2 FirmAge(ln) it + 3 Labour(ln)it +
4 Assets(ln)it + 5 Tangible(ln)it + 6 Leverageit +7 TAGrowth(ln)it + 8
TSGrowth(ln)it + it,

(2)

in which i denotes a particular firm at time t; year dummies are included only for
SGMM estimation; Firm performance is proxied by ROA, ROE, Earnings, and NPM.
Applied regressions include OLS, fixed effects model (FE), random effects
model (RE), feasible least squares (FGLS), two-step system GMM (SGMM).
Tests conducted include those for choosing regression model (OLS or FE,
OLS or RE, FE or RE), collinearity, heteroskedasticity, autocorrelation, SGMM
statistics. Besides, the study also evaluates the long-term impacts of significant
variables found in SGMM estimation.

3.3.2. Qualitative research
The study is exploratory so the qualitative analysis is chosen with semistructured in-depth interview tool. A guided questionnaire with questions established
on a given topic was prepared. The mean time for interview was 45 minutes. The
interviews were recorded under the consciousness of the interviewed. The interview


14

contents were converted into text and analysed by the qualitative software named
Atlas.ti 9. The data segments were coded into codes and combined into code groups
from which main themes were concluded. All code groups and main themes
mentioned by firms were illustrated into figures and content were accumulated into
the research results. The semantic relationships among codes within code groups used
to conclude the main themes were referred to from the universal semantic relationship
list of Spradley (1979) (Table 3.5)
Table 3.5: The universal semantic relationships
Title
1. Strict inclusion
2. Spatial
3. Cause-effect
4. Rationale
5. Location for action
6. Function
7. Means-end
8. Sequence
9. Attribution

Type of relationships
X is a kind of Y
X is a place in Y; X is a part of Y

X is a result of Y; X is a cause of Y
X is a reason for doing Y
X is a place for doing Y
X is used for Y
X is a way to do Y
X is a step/stage in Y
X is an attribute of Y

Source: Spradley (1979)


15

CHAPTER 4: ASSESSING THE SITUATION OF IMPACTS OF CEO’S
DEMOGRAPHIC CHARACTERISTICS, TAX AND NON-TAX
INCENTIVES ON PERFORMANCE OF FIRMS IN SCIENTIFIC
RESEARCH AND TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPMENT INDUSTRY IN
VIETNAM IN THE PERIOD OF 2008-2019
4.1. Activities of firms in SRTD industry in Vietnam
4.1.1. The existing institutional legal framework for firms in SRTD industry
❖ Relevant legal regulations
❖ Updated points in regulations
4.1.2. Business performance of firms in SRTD industry in Vietnam
4.1.3. Statistics on legal types of firms in SRTD industry in Vietnam
4.2. Analysis of impacts of CEO’s demographic characteristics, tax and non-tax
incentives on performance of firms in SRTD industry
4.2.1. Impacts of CEO’s demographic characteristics on performance of firms in
SRTD industry
▪ Descriptive statistics of variables in Model (1)
▪ Pearson correlation coefficient matrix among independent variables in

Model (1)
▪ OLS regression results and some adjustments_ Model (1)
▪ Robust regression results_Model (1)
▪ Robust regression results with interaction term of Age*Edu_Model (1)
▪ Robust regression results with interaction term of Gender*Edu_Model (1)
▪ Robust regression results with interaction term of Age*Gender_Model (1)
▪ Non-parametric tests
Table 4.11: Non-parametric tests (Performance of SRTD industry over CEO characteristics)
ROA

ROE

0.5148

0.7345

Prob (Chi2)

0.0679

Prob (chi2 with ties)

0.0678

Earnings

NPM

Tests

0.6593

0.3445

Wilcoxon rank-sum

0.0338

0.0472

0.1773

0.0337

0.0471

0.1772

Among CEO gender
Ho: PER(Female) = PER(Male)
Prob > |z|
Among CEO Edu (6 levels)
Kruskall-Wallis
rank
Kruskall-Wallis
rank


16
Table 4.12: Statistics on Earnings and NPM of CEO Edu (SRTD industry) from

Kruskall-Wallis rank
Earnings
Mean
Median
0.0024
0.0020
-0.0547
0.0032
-0.0428
0.0011
0.0386
0.0125
-0.0284
0.0023
-0.0176
0
-0.013
0.0002

CEOEdu
College
Doctor
Intermediate
Master
OtherEdu
UniDegree
Total

ROE
Mean

Median
0.0006
0.0015
-0.0587
0.0032
-0.0646
0
0.0300
0.0125
-0.0310
0.0023
-0.0218
0
-0.0183
0.0001

Source (Table 4.11 & 4.12): According to calculations of the author with research data

▪ Conclusion from the quantitative analysis on impacts of CEO’s
demographic characteristics on performance of firms in SRTD industry
Table 4.13: Comparing results and hypotheses_Model (1)
Ag
e

Hypothe
sis

-

Results

-

Genderi

Edu

FirmA
ge

Asses
ts

Labo
ur

Levera
ge

Corpt
ax

IME
X

SpecialZo
ne

CenCi
ty

H1
A

H1
B

H1
C

F (+)
F (+)
Firm72

+

-

+

+

+

+

+

+

+

+

+

+

+

+

+

-

N/A

+

+

-

---

+

+

---

Source: According to calculations of the author with research data

Notes: N/A: no consistent results; --- not statistically significant. F: female.

4.2.2. Impacts of tax incentives on performance of CSRTD firms
▪ Descriptive statistics of variables in Model (2)
▪ Pearson correlation coefficient matrix among independent variables and
each dependent variable in Model (2)
▪ Regression results about tax incentives in Model (2)
▪ Statistical tests
Table 4.19: Tests for choosing regression models
P value (FE regression)
Breusch & Pagan Lagrangian test

Prob > F
Prob > chibar2

ROA
ROE Earnings
NPM
0.0000 0.0000
0.0000 0.0000
0.0000 0.0000
0.0000 0.0000

Hausman test

Prob > chi2

0.0002 0.0047

Source: According to calculations of the author with research data

0.0001 0.0000


17
Table 4.20: Tests on Multicollinearity, heteroskedasticity and autocorrelation
ROA

ROE

Earnings

NPM

3.42

3.42

3.42

3.42

Multicollinearity – White test
Heteroskedasticity - Breusch-Pagan/CookWeisberg

Mean VIF

Prob > chi2

0.0000

0.0000

0.0000

0.0000

Autocorrelation – Wooldridge test

Prob > F

0.0334

0.0739

0.1657

0.1376

Table 4.21: Statistic results from SGMM estimator
ROA
Yes
340
0.000
83/32
0.494
0.476

Year dummies
Number of observations
Prob>F
Groups/Instruments
AR(2)
Hansen test

ROE
Yes
338
0.000
83/32
0.153
0.164

Earnings
Yes
339
0.000
83/32
0.266
0.331

NPM
Yes
340
0.000
83/32
0.355

0.486

Source (Tables 4.20 & 4.21): According to calculations of the author with research data

Table 4.22: Long-term coefficients of significant coefficients found in SGMM
ROA

Coefficients

CorpTax(ln)
Leverage
TSGrowth(ln)
ROE

-0.0443
-0.0638
0.0087

0.0082
0.0239
0.0035

Coefficients

Standard error

-0.1038
0.0496
0.1133
0.0265

0.0199
0.0204
0.0554
0.0109

CorpTax(ln)
FirmAge(ln)
Leverage
TSGrowth(ln)
Earnings

Standard error

Coefficients

CorpTax(ln)
FirmAge(ln)
Leverage
TSGrowth(ln)
NPM

Standard error

-0.1107
0.0595
0.1643
0.0339

0.0265

0.0253
0.0627
0.0129

Coefficients

Standard error

-0.0288
0.0167
-0.0831

0.0053
0.0043
0.0189

CorpTax(ln)
Assets(ln)
Leverage

z

P > |z|

-5.39
-2.66
2.44

0.000
0.008

0.014

z

P > |z|

-5.20
2.43
2.04
2.43

0.000
0.015
0.041
0.015

z

P > |z|

-4.17
2.35
2.62
2.62

0.000
0.019
0.009
0.009

z

P > |z|

-5.40
3.82
-4.38

0.000
0.000
0.000

[Confidence interval 95%]

-0.0605
-0.1108
0.0017

-0.0282
-0.0168
0.0157

[Confidence interval 95%]

-0.1430
0.0095
0.0046
0.0051

-0.0647

0.0896
0.2220
0.0480

[Confidence interval 95%]

-0.1627
0.0098
0.0414
0.0085

-0.0586
0.1093
0.2872
0.0593

[Confidence interval 95%]

-0.0393
0.0081
-0.1203

-0.0183
0.0253
-0.0459

Source: According to calculations of the author with research data

▪ Conclusion on tax incentives impact on performance of CSRTDs
Table 4.23: Comparing results and hypotheses_Model (2)

CorpTa
x

Incentive
s

FirmAge

Labour

Assets

Tangibl
e

Leverage

TAGrowt
h

TSGrowth

Hypothesi
s

-

+

-

+

+

+

+

+

+

Results

-

+

(+) ROE,
Earnings

(+) ROA, ROE,
Earnings

(+)
NPM

N/A

----

(+) ROA, ROE,
Earnings

(-) NPM

(-) ROA
NPM
(+) ROE,
Earnings


18
Source: According to calculations of the author with research data

Notes: N/A: no consistent results; --- not statistically significant.

4.2.3. Assessing tax and non-tax incentives from firm perspective
▪ Statistics on research sample
▪ Qualitative results and discussion
i.

Word Cloud

ii.

Theme frequency
Theme Frequency

Other proposals
Inter-industry value chain
Technology decoding
S&T activities
S&T results
Income tax incentive
Land and surface incentive
Property registration fee
Import tax
National Labs
IPR
S&T product commercialization
Transforming public S&T orgs.
S&T fund allocation
Credit incentive
Capital issue
Export tax
Type_II product

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

Figure 4.5: Theme frequency – Source: Illustration from code data on Atlas.ti 9 –
Horizontal axis: Frequency (%)

iii.

Incentives evaluation from CSRTD firms via main themes

a. Credit incentive (Figure 4.6)
b. S&T results (Figure 4.7)
c. Corporate income tax incentives (Figure 4.8)
d. National Laboratories
e. S&T activities
f. Land and surface incentive
g. Intellectual property right (IPR) incentive
h. The transforming public S&T organisations
i. Type-II product incentive
j. Import tax incentive
k. S&T product commercialization


19

l. Inter-industry value chain
m. Property registration incentive
n. S&T development funds
o. Technology decoding
p. Export tax incentive

q. Capital issue
r. Other proposals
▪ Results from evaluating tax and non-tax incentives from firm perspective
The qualitative analysis has shown a detailed insight into the assessment of
CSRTD firms on tax and non-tax incentives. The majority of firms registering for
CSRTD certificate desires to receive incentives though only tax incentives are
accessible and prove their efficiency. However, tax incentives have not covered a
wide range of firms and not frequently due to the 30% income barrier every year
originated from S&T results. The main obstacles making the non-tax incentives
unreachable are credit issue, investment capital for R&D activities, registration of
type_II products, commercialization of S&T products, transformation of public S&T
organisations, import tax, national laboratories, understanding and implementing
regulations for receiving incentives.


20

CHAPTER 5: RECOMMENDATIONS AND SOLUTIONS TO ENHANCE
PERFORMANCE OF FIRMS IN SRTD INDUSTRY IN VIETNAM
5.1.

The S&T development strategy in Vietnam

5.2.

Recommendations on CEO’s demographic characteristics and some
characteristics of firms in SRTD industry

5.2.1. Recommendations to Firm72
5.2.2. Recommendations to CSRTDs

5.3.

Some solutions of non-tax incentives realization and tax incentives
accomplishment for CSRTDs

From the qualitative analysis, the main difficulties of firms relating to tax and
non-tax incentives have been recognized as follows: not receiving any credit
incentive, lack of investment capital for R&D, the obligated income ratio to receive
tax incentive, being impossible to use the national laboratories, difficulties in
transforming public S&T organisations, hardship in registering type-II products,
ways to support the commercialisation of S&T products, not receiving import tax
incentives, hardship in understanding and implementing regulations to receive
incentives. The dissertation, therefore, proposes the following solutions.
5.3.1. Media solution
5.3.2. Institutional solution
❖ Institutionalization of the mobilisation of social resources for S&T
development
❖ Solutions on accomplishing legal regulations on S&T area
▪ Building laws and other legal documents instructing ways of law
implementation on the basis of referring to other specialized laws
▪ Other legal documents instructing ways of law implementation should be
issued on time to meet the demand of implementing the regulations in practice
▪ Building rules and regulations on the basis of cooperation among competent
authorities
5.3.3. Legal support and consultancy solution
5.3.4. Commercialisation and market expansion support solution


21

5.4.

Policy recommendations to competent authorities and other relevant
organisations.

5.4.1. Recommendations to inter-ministry including Ministry of Science and
Technology, Ministry of Planning and Investment, Ministry of Finance, and
the Government
5.4.2. Recommendations to Ministry of Science and Technology
❖ Recommendations on credit support issue.
❖ Recommendations on tax incentives issue.
❖ Recommendations on building engineering benchmark for products generated
from S&T results of CSRTDs belonging to type-II products.
❖ Recommendations on the IPR database of the competent authorities.
5.4.3. Recommendations to CSRTD Association


22

CONCLUSION
1. Dissertation conclusion
Assessing the impacts of CEO’s demographic characteristics, tax and non-tax
incentives on performance of firms in SRTD industry in Vietnam has not received
adequate attention within research community while encouraging firms to conduct
SRTD with advanced technologies has been considered as one the main strategic and
privileged goals for stable growth of the nation. The dissertation, therefore, focused
on assessing the impacts of the three above factors on performance of firms in SRTD
industry within the period of 2008-2019.
On the basis of literature review, the dissertation has built the research
framework to assess the impacts of the above factors, to choose the appropriate

research models and methodology, and to propose research hypotheses. The concept
of firm performance within the dissertation scope includes two main groups which
are profitability and perceived performance. In the perceived performance of firms,
there are S&T results, firm’s survival and other results evaluated by firms themselves.
The combination of financial ratios with S&T results are similar to the balanced
scorecard of Kaplan and Norton (1992) suitable for firms in the industry typically
accompanied with R&D activities and new technology innovation. The dissertation
also synthesizes some management theories about different groups of factors
influencing firm performance to classify and test impacts of CEO’s demographic
characteristics, tax and non-tax incentives and the impact regime of those incentives
in the business practice of firms in Vietnam.
The dissertation analyses the situation of impacts of CEO’s demographic
characteristics, tax and non-tax incentives on performance of firms in SRTD industry
in Vietnam for the period of 2008-2019 combining quantitative research with OLS,
RR, RR with interaction terms, non-parametric tests of Wilcoxon rank sum, Kruskall
Wallis rank, FE, RE, FGLS and two-step SGMM, with qualitative research via semistructured in-depth interviews with 15 CSRTDs in Hanoi.
The quantitative results show that CEO age has negative impacts on
profitability of firms; however, these impacts are small; female CEOs of Firm72
operate businesses better than male CEOs do. On the industry scale, CEO education


23

has a positive impact on firm’s profitability especially the master education shows its
privilege for CEOs in the industry. These results support the UET theory and imply
some suggestions for firms in their recruitment, training, and top human resource
management strategies. Assessing the impacts of CEO’s demographic characteristics
in interaction terms shows the detailed volume of impacts and their direction. Some
firm characteristics also have impacts on firm performance such as labour, assets,
firm age, leverage, total sales growth, import and export. These characteristics reflect

the internal resources of firms supporting the RBT theory. Tax incentives for the
revenue from S&T results have been concluded to be effective to firm’s profitability,
survival and growth supporting the RDT though the incentives do not cover a wide
range of CSRTDs. The qualitative research shows the evaluation of tax and non-tax
incentives from CSRTD firms’ perspective proving the importance of the IT theory
in which the government can support firms to have better performance via their policy
tools. The qualitative analysis affirms what have been found from the quantitative
analysis relating to the tax incentives and their efficiency while showing other
impediments relating to the current non-tax incentives and other difficulties of firms
about tax incentives which is unlikely to be discovered through quantitative study
with its own tools and data.
On the basis of the country’s development target stated by the Central Party
within the period of 2021-2030 with the strategic role of enhancing research,
transferral, application and development of S&T and innovation, the dissertation has
suggested certain solutions to resolve the impediments of non-tax incentives and
some policy recommendations to competent authorities and other relevant
organisations to supplement legal framework, changing current regulations to realize
the non-tax incentives, widen the range and frequency of firms receiving the tax
incentives, and propose some other forms of tax incentives more suitable for firms in
SRTD industry.
2. Limitations and further research scope
Apart from dissertation’s contributions, there are some limitations as follows:
• Data limitation
The secondary data cannot support any quantitative analysis on S&T results