english professionl titles in the management system of joint-stock companies and their vietnamese equivalents = từ chỉ chức danh thuộc hệ thống quản lý của công ty cổ phần trong tiếng anh

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI
UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES & INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
FACULTY OF POST GRADUATE STUDIES
**************



TẠ THỊ MAI HƢƠNG


ENGLISH PROFESSIONAL TITLES IN THE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM OF
JOINT-STOCK COMPANIES AND THEIR VIETNAMESE EQUIVALENTS
– A STUDY FROM PRAGMATIC PERSPECTIVE

(Từ chỉ chức danh thuộc hệ thống quản lý của công ty cổ phần trong
tiếng Anh và cách diễn đạt tƣơng đƣơng trong tiếng Việt
– Nghiên cứu từ góc độ ngữ dụng học)




M.A Minor Programme Thesis

Field: English Linguistics
Code: 60 22 02 01

Hanoi – 2014


VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI
UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES & INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
FACULTY OF POST GRADUATE STUDIES
**************


TẠ THỊ MAI HƢƠNG


ENGLISH PROFESSIONAL TITLES IN THE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM OF
JOINT-STOCK COMPANIES AND THEIR VIETNAMESE EQUIVALENTS
– A STUDY FROM PRAGMATIC PERSPECTIVE

(Từ chỉ chức danh thuộc hệ thống quản lý của công ty cổ phần trong
tiếng Anh và cách diễn đạt tƣơng đƣơng trong tiếng Việt
– Nghiên cứu từ góc độ ngữ dụng học)



M.A Minor Programme Thesis



Field: English Linguistics
Code: 60 22 02 01
Supervisor: Assoc. Prof. Dr. Lâm Quang Đông

Hanoi – 2014


i

DECLARATION

I, Tạ Thị Mai Hương, hereby state that this minor thesis is the result of my own
research and all the materials in this study which are not my own work have been
identified and acknowledged. I also state that the substance of the thesis has not,
wholly or in part, been submitted for any degree to any other universities or
institutions.


Hanoi, June, 2014.
. Student‟s signature

Tạ Thị Mai Hương

ii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This minor thesis has been successfully completed thanks to the assistance and
guidance of my supervisor, teachers, colleagues, friends and relatives.
First of all, I would like to express my deep gratitude to my supervisor, Assoc. Prof.
Dr. Lâm Quang Đông for his patient and enthusiastic guidance, endless encouragement and
invaluable critical feedback throughout my research.
Secondly, I wish to thank all the lecturers in the Faculty of Postgraduate Studies,
University of Languages and International Studies, Vietnam National University, Hanoi for
their very useful and interesting lectures which have laid the foundation for my thesis.
I am also grateful to the librarians of the Faculty of Post-graduate Studies, who
enthusiastically helped me in finding necessary materials for my thesis.
In addition, I am greatly indebted to my colleagues at Thai Nguyen University of
Economics and Business Administration for sharing my duties and providing me with both
professional and emotional support while the work was being done.
Last but not least, I would like to express my special thanks to my family whose
love, care, support and encouragement enabled me to accomplish the study.

Hanoi, June 2014.

iii

ABSTRACT

This study is an attempt to uncover the intrinsic meanings of commonly used English
professional titles in the management system of American joint-stock companies and look
for their Vietnamese equivalents. In the study, the researcher investigates some American
and Vietnamese companies‟ organizational structures, as well as scans some job suggested
websites to figure out and make a list of the common professional titles in English and
Vietnamese language, centering upon the titles in the management system of a company.
These jobs titles are then described, compared and contrasted in terms of responsibilities to
look for the equivalents in the target language. The results of the study present the
Vietnamese equivalents of the investigated English professional titles. Based on those
findings, the thesis provides some implications for translation and pedagogy. Last but not
least, suggestions for further research are given as direction in the time to come pursued by
the author and/or other interested people.

iv

ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS

CA
Contrastive Analysis
CAO
Chief Accounting Officer
CCO
Chief Customer Officer
CEO
Chief Executive Officer
CFO
Chief Financial Officer
CHRO
Chief Human Resources Officer
CMO
Chief Marketing Officer
COO
Chief Operating Officer
CSO
Chief Sales Officer
IT

Information technology
MD
Managing Director
QA
Quality Assurance
R&D
Research and Development
SL
Source Language
SOC
Standard Occupational Classification
TL
Target Language
UK
The United Kingdom
U.S
The United States
VP
Vice President




v

LIST OF TABLES
Table 1: Types of equivalence relationship………………………………………………… 7
Table 2: English professional titles and their Vietnamese equivalents……………………. 36
Table 3: Vietnamese professional titles and their English equivalents……………………. 39
LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 1: Company structure introduced by Tullis, G. and Trappe, T. (2004) ………….…13
Figure 2: Company structure introduced by Mackenzie, I. (1997) ……………………… 14
Figure 3: Company structure introduced by McKellen, J.S. (1990) ………………………15
Figure 4: Company structure introduced by Sweeny, S. (2002) ………………………… 16
Figure 5: Company structure introduced by Mascull, B. (2002) ……………………….….17
Figure 6: Structure of Binh Minh Plastics Joint-stock Company……………………… …18
Figure 7: Structure of Lac Hong Joint-stock Company………………………………….…19
Figure 8: Structure of BSC Joint-stock Company…………………………………….……20
Figure 9: Board of Directors in American companies……………………………….… …20
Figure 10: Inner governance structure of Vietnamese joint-stock companies………… …21
Figure 11: Overview of the translation task…………………………………………… …38










vi

TABLE OF CONTENTS

DECLARATION i
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii
ABSTRACT iii
ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS iv
LIST OF TABLES v

LIST OF FIGURES v
TABLE OF CONTENTS vi
PART 1: INTRODUCTION 1
1. Rationale 1
2. Aims of the study 2
3. Research questions 2
4. Scopes of the study 2
5. Significance of the study 2
6. Methods of the study 3
7. Design of the study 3
PART 2: DEVELOPMENT 4
CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 4
1.1 Theory of Pragmatics 4
1.2 Theory of Translation 6
1.2.1 Definitions of translation 6
1.2.2. Equivalence in translation 6
1.2.3. Types of equivalence 7
1.3. Contrastive Analysis 9
CHAPTER 2: A DESCRIPTION OF AMERICAN AND VIETNAMESE JOINT-STOCK
COMPANIES 11
2.1. Definition of American and Vietnamese joint-stock companies 11
2.1.1. American joint-stock companies 11
2.1.2. Vietnamese joint-stock companies 12
2.2. Organizational structures of American and Vietnamese joint-stock companies 12
2.2.1. Organizational structures of some American companies 12
2.2.2. Organizational structures of some Vietnamese companies 17


vii

2.2.3. Concluding Remarks 20
2.3. Main titles in management system of American and Vietnamese joint-stock
companies 22
2.3.1. Main titles in American joint-stock companies 22
2.3.2. Main titles in Vietnamese joint-stock companies 24
CHAPTER 3: A CONTRATIVE STUDY ON PROFESSIONAL TITLES IN THE
MANAGEMENT SYSTEM OF AMERICAN AND VIETNAMESE JOINT-STOCK
COMPANIES 25
3.1. A description of professional titles in management system of American and
Vietnamese joint-stock companies 25
3.1.1. American professional titles 25
3.1.2. Vietnamese professional titles 29
3.2. A contrastive analysis of professional titles in management system of American
and Vietnamese joint-stock companies 32
3.2.1. Titles denoting General Managers 32
3.2.2. Titles denoting Functional Managers 33
3.2.3. Concluding remarks 35
CHAPTER 4: APPLICATIONS FOR TRANSLATING, TEACHING AND LEARNING
BUSINESS ENGLISH 38
4.1 Suggestions for translating English professional titles into Vietnamese and
Vietnamese titles into English 38
4.2. Implications for teaching and learning Business English 40
PART 3: CONCLUSION 42
1. Recapitulation 42
2. Limitations of the study 44
3. Suggestions for further research 44
REFERENCES 45

1

PART 1: INTRODUCTION

Part one of the research states the rationale for the study. It also outlines the aims,
scope, method, significance, and design of the thesis.
1. Rationale
Over the past decade, the increase of international economic integration after
Vietnam‟s accession to the WTO has made more job opportunities available for Vietnamese
labor force. People are made accessible to positions not only in local business enterprises
but also in large foreign corporations. As a direct result, university graduates have great
chances to be employed by local companies which have increasing business relationships
with oversea ones, and even by multinational enterprises. Hence, the ability to use English
has become one of the preliminary requirements for a potential candidate.
Although Vietnam has been exposed to the market economy for a considerable
period, there remains a lack of economic terminology system in general and Vietnamese
equivalents of English occupational titles in particular. Professional titles are among those
English terms which are popularly used in both local and global companies. In addition, an
incorrect choice of business contacts due to the misunderstanding of their job title‟s
responsibilities may negatively affect the viability of business cooperation. As a matter of
fact, working people need to have some knowledge about business titles.
Being a teacher of English responsible for teaching English to students majored in
management studies, my job is to help students improve their language proficiency and
provide them with the language skills they need for their future career. Thus, I feel the need
to pre-teach students the common job titles and people‟s responsibilities when they hold
these posts.
So far, few researchers have had interest in researching the job titles in the economic
fields. Therefore, to be able to provide learners with better understanding of the professional
titles and their implied meanings, it is necessary for me to do a research into the frequently
used job titles and the responsibilities undertaken by people carrying those titles.

Throughout history, joint-stock companies, though might be denoted by different
names, remain one of the most popular business models in many countries in the world as
well as in Vietnam. In addition, the professional titles of this type of company can be found

2

in many other business models. Therefore, I decided to make an investigation into the
management system of the companies of this type.
2. Aims of the study
The primary purpose of the study is to look for the intrinsic meanings of the words
denoting common professional titles in management system of American joint-stock
companies and their Vietnamese equivalents.
3. Research questions
The study is carried out with a view to answering the following research questions:
1. What are the common English professional titles and their responsibilities in
management system of joint-stock companies in the United States?
2. What are the equivalents of these job titles in the Vietnamese language?
4. Scopes of the study
The study investigates the management system of some large joint-stock companies
in the United States (U.S.), looking for common professional titles and their responsibilities.
These business titles will then be compared to titles existing in management systems of
Vietnamese companies to find the equivalent terms in Vietnamese language.
It should be noted that the study only deals with linguistic aspect. The term “joint-
stock company” used in this study is an old word referring to the companies raising capital
by issuing stocks and being owned by its shareholders. It can be replaced by “shareholding
company” or “public company” in modern English.
5. Significance of the study
It is expected that the result of this research will help Vietnamese learners of
English, especially students whose major is economics and business administration, have
better understandings of the management system of joint stock companies and the

responsibilities of some popular positions in the company system. Having a clear idea of the
possible responsibilities of a title will facilitate students in the process of applying for a job
as well as being of great help when they have to find the right people to work with in their
future career.
Also, the attempt to find and suggest equivalents of professional titles in Vietnamese
language will help limit the use of borrowing words, thus, partly contribute to preserving
the value of our national language.

3

6. Methods of the study
This research is a kind of qualitative research, in which the author integrates
different methods including listing, descriptive, comparative and contrastive to be able to
successfully answer the research questions. By stating that the study is a kind of pragmatic
perspective, the author implies that she mainly focuses on working out the intrinsic
meanings of the professional titles investigated.
In terms of contrastive analysis, the researcher follows the principles suggested by
James C. (1980), who stated that contrastive method involves two steps, namely, description
and comparison. Following this method, the thesis is carried out through two steps:
- Step one: English and Vietnamese professional titles in are listed and described.
- Step two: English and Vietnamese professional titles are compared to find out the
equivalents.
7. Design of the study
The study has three main parts: Introduction, Development, and Conclusion.
The introduction presents the rationale for choosing the topic, aims, scope, method,
significance, and design of the study.
The development consists of four chapters. Chapter one provides a review of
literature on pragmatics, translation and contrastive analysis, which provides background
knowledge of some linguistic aspects that the researcher needs to consider when carrying
out this research. Chapter two is the illustration of Vietnamese and American joint-stock

companies‟ structures and description of popularly used professional titles. Chapter three
presents the contrastive analysis of the English and Vietnamese professional titles. Chapter
four discusses the pedagogical implications and suggestions for translating professional
titles into the target language.
The conclusion provides the summary of what has been discussed in the study, states
the limitations of the study and makes some suggestions for further research.







4

PART 2: DEVELOPMENT
CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW
This chapter presents the theoretical foundation on which the study is based and set
up. It deals with theories of pragmatics, translation, equivalence in translation and
contrastive analysis.
1.1 Theory of Pragmatics
Pragmatics has been the concern of different authors since the early of the twentieth
century. Charles Morris, a philosopher, was one of the most influential writers on the issue
of pragmatics in its first stage of development (Banjar, 2009). The author was concerned to
outline the general shape of a science of signs, which he called “semiotics”. Within
semiotics, Morris distinguished three distinct branches of inquiry including syntactic, being
the study of the formal relation of signs to one another; semantics, the study of the relations
of signs to the objects to which the signs are applicable; and pragmatics, the study of the
relation of signs to interpreters (Morris, 1938, cited in Levinson, 1986:1). During the three
stages of its development, the terms “pragmatics” has been redefined by many authors.

However, as Levinson (1986) stated, the modern usage of the term “pragmatics” is, indeed,
an attribute to Morris‟ theory.
Bar-Hiller (1954) took the view that pragmatics is the study of languages, both
natural and artificial, that contains indexical or deictic terms. Carnap (in the late 1960s)
referred to pragmatics as “those linguistic investigations that make necessary reference to
aspects of the context”. In Levinson‟s view, pragmatics can be defined as “the study of
those relations between language and context that are grammaticalized, or encoded in the
structure of a language” (Levinson, 1986:9). Considering the truth conditions, Gazdar
(1979, cited in Levinson, 1986:12) proposed that pragmatics has those aspects of meaning
of utterances which cannot be accounted for by straightforward reference to the truth
conditions of the sentences uttered.
According to Mey (1993), “pragmatics” is the study of the use of language in human
communication as determined by the conditions of society. Stalnaker (1972, cited in Horn,
L.R. and Ward, G., 2006) viewed pragmatics as the study of linguistic acts and the contexts
in which they are performed. Similarly, Sperber and Wilson (1986, cited in Kirsten and
Williams, 1998) assumed that pragmatics is the study of the interpretation of utterances.

5

Yule (1996) is also concerned with the interpretation of utterances in the Sperber
and Wilson‟s sense. In his book, the writer gives a detailed description of what is called
“pragmatics”. According to this author, the approach falls into four areas including speaker
meaning, contextual meaning, listeners‟ inference and the expression of relative distance.
As what people say or write is not always what they mean, pragmatic studies are
carried out to investigate the meaning communicated by a speaker or writer and interpreted
by a listener or reader. In this case, the author defines pragmatics as “the study of speaker
meaning”.
Pragmatics is also concerned with the interpretation of what people mean in a
particular context and the influences of the context on what is uttered. Hence, pragmatics is
the study of contextual meaning.

In many circumstances, it is necessary for the listeners to make inferences about
what is said in order to understand the speakers‟ intended meaning. Obviously, the unsaid in
these cases are part of what is communicated. Thus, Yule (1996:3) refers to pragmatics as
“the study of how more gets communicated than is said”.
As people living near each other usually have more shared experience than those
who live far apart, the distance between the listeners and speakers significantly influences
how much needs to be said. In this case, pragmatic studies can be carried out to look for the
factor that determines the choice between the said and the unsaid. Therefore, pragmatics is
defined as the study of the expression of relative distance (Yule, 1996:3).
The author, then, concludes that pragmatics is “the study of the relationships
between linguistic forms and the users of those forms” (Yule, 1996:3).
Yongping (2002), a well-known Chinese scholar, also explained the norm of
“pragmatics” in his book A Survey of Pragmatics. As the author expressed, pragmatics is a
discipline which not only concerns the sense but also concerns the derivation of sense and
the understanding of underlying meaning as its objects. The aim of this discipline is to
decipher the negotiation and derivation of meaning in communication (Yongping, R. and
Ziran, H., 2002).
Though a number of definitions about pragmatics have been published, these
definitions share the similar conclusion that pragmatics is the study of how language is used
in particular situations to express a meaning that may not be obvious from the actual words.

6

In this study, the researcher stated that the thesis is towards the pragmatic
perspective since her aim is to find the intrinsic meanings of frequently used professional
titles to understand how they function in a company management system.
1.2 Theory of Translation
1.2.1 Definitions of translation
Translation has been approached by a number of linguists. According to Catford
(1965), translation is the replacement of a text in one language by an equivalent text in

another language. In regards to various linguistic aspects, Nida (1969) states that translating
is the process of finding closest natural equivalent to the message of the source language not
only in meaning but also in style.
Considering translation as the preservation of meaning from one language into
another language, Newmark (1986:5) defines translation as the process of “rendering the
meaning of a text into another language in the way that the author intended the text”. This
concept is shared by many researchers such as Meetham and Hudson (1972) and House
(1981). Meetham and Hudson (1972, cited in Bell, 1991:59) state that translation is the
replacement of a representation of a text in one language by a representation of an
equivalent text in a second language. Similarly, House (1981) defines translation as the
replacement of a text in the source language by a semantically and pragmatically equivalent
text in the target language.
Although each linguist tries to explain the term “translation” in their own words, the
common feature of the above definitions is that they emphasize the importance of finding
equivalents with similar characteristics to the original by the choice of appropriate lexicon
and grammatical structures.
1.2.2. Equivalence in translation
In most definitions about translation, “equivalence” is mentioned as the key term.
Catford (1965, cited in Van den Broek, 1978) defines the notion of “equivalence” by stating
the conditions in which translation equivalence occurs. According to this author, translation
equivalence occurs when “source language and target language texts or items are related to
(at least some of) the same relevant features of situation substance”. Similarly, Halverson
(1997) also views equivalence in the relationship between two entities, and the relationship
is described as a similarity in terms of any of potential qualities. In general, proponents of
equivalence-based theories of translation usually define equivalence as the relationship

7

between a source text and a target text that allows the target text to be considered as a
translation of the source text. Also, equivalence relationships appear to hold between parts

of source texts and parts of target texts. These definitions are supposed to be problematic as
what Pym (1992:37) has pointed out: equivalence is used to define translation, and
translation, in turn, defines equivalence. The existence of this circularity explains why
Snell-Hornby (1988) and many other theorists who support him believe that translation
equivalence is just an “imaginative” phenomenon.
Although the concept of “equivalence” remains controversial, few attempts have
been made to define equivalence out of its relationship with translation. Yet, though being
claimed to be irrelevant (Snell-Hornby,1988) or damaging (Gentlzer,1993) to translation
studies, equivalence is still variously regarded as a necessary condition for translation, an
obstacle to progress in translation studies, and a useful category for describing translations.
1.2.3. Types of equivalence
Theorists have studied equivalence in relation to the translation process, using two
approaches, namely quantitative and qualitative. Concerning the quantitative approach,
Kade (1968), and Hann (1992) divide equivalence into six categories as follows:
No
Types of equivalence
relationship
Description
Explanation
1
One-to-one
equivalence
E V
A single expression in the
target language (TL) for a
single source language (SL)
expression is used.
2
One-to-many
equivalence

More than one TL expression
for a single SL expression is
used.
3
Many-to-one
equivalence

More than one SL expression
for a single TL expression is
used.
4
Many-to-many
equivalence

More than one TL expression
for more than one SL
expression is used.
5
Whole-part/Part-whole
equivalence

V E
A TL expression covers part
of a concept designated by a
single SL expression or vice
versa.

8

6
Non-equivalence

There is no TL expression for
an SL expression.
Table 1: Types of equivalence relationship
There exist three subdivisions under qualitative approach, that is, function-based,
meaning-based and form-based approach. Nida, Koller and Baker are three linguistic
researchers who are credited as the founders of these above approaches with their major
works of the time.
In terms of function-based equivalence, Nida (1964) argues that there are two
different types of equivalence, including formal equivalence which is also referred to as
formal correspondence (Nida & Taber, 1969) and dynamic equivalence. While formal
correspondence focuses attention on both form and content, dynamic equivalence
emphasizes the text readability.
In light of meaning-based equivalence, Koller (1977) proposes five types of
equivalence including “denotative, connotative, text-formative, pragmatic and formal
equivalence”. Denotative equivalence is described as extralinguistic content as it involves
“content invariance”, which means the SL and TL words refer to the same thing in the real
world. Connotative equivalence is that SL and TL words should produce the same
communicative values in the mind of native speakers of the two languages. This
equivalence type involves lexical choices and can be referred to as “stylistic equivalence”.
With regard to text-formative equivalence, the author means the SL and TL words should
use the same or similar text types in their respective languages. By pragmatic equivalence,
Koller (1977) implies that the SL and TL words should have the same effect on the reader
or mainly aiming at the receiver, to whom the translation is directed. Pragmatic equivalence
is, therefore, similar to Nida‟s dynamic equivalence in that both kinds concentrate on the
communicative equivalence and are oriented to the receiver of the text message. The last
type of equivalence, namely, formal equivalence is referred to as “expressive equivalence”,
which respects the form and aesthetics of the text.

With regard to form-based equivalence, Baker (1992) explores the notion of
equivalence at different levels in relation to the translation process. This author proposes
that there are two types of equivalence including equivalence at word level and equivalence
above word level. In this author‟s view, translation equivalence involves grammatical
equivalence, textual equivalence, and pragmatic equivalence. Baker notes that a word
sometimes carries different meanings in different languages, and relates meaning of words
E
V

9

with morpheme. Baker mentions problems at word level and above word level before
suggesting some strategies in dealing with them. Grammatical equivalence refers to the
diversity of grammatical categories across languages. The linguistic scholar affirms that
grammatical rules across languages may differ, which lead to some problems in finding a
direct correspondence in the TL. Textual equivalence denotes the equivalence between a SL
text and a TL text regarding information and cohesion. Finally, pragmatic equivalence
touches on implication of the TL text. The duty of a translator is recognizing the implied
meaning of SL text, and then reproducing it in a way that readers of the TL can comprehend
clearly without any misunderstanding in terms of culture.
1.3. Contrastive Analysis
In the second half of the 20
th
century, the influence of the first language in learning a
second language was noted by different linguists such as Lado and Postman. According to
Lado (1957), learners of a second language tend to transfer the forms and meanings and the
distribution of forms and meanings of their native language and culture – both productively
and receptively. Similarly, Postman (1971) states that learning is a cumulative process, in
which, the more knowledge and skills an individual acquires, the more likely it becomes
that his new learning will be shaped by his past experiences and activities. “An adult rarely,

if ever, learns anything completely new; however, unfamiliar task confronts him, the
information and habits he has built up in the past will be his point of departure. Thus
transfer of training from old to new situations is part and parcel of most, if not all, learning”
(Postman, 1971). This theoretical assumption of behaviorism forms the basis of contrastive
analysis.
The term “contrastive analysis” (CA), also called “contrastive linguistics”, was
suggested by Whorf (1941) and was defined as “a sub discipline of linguistics concerned
with the comparison of two or more languages or subsystems of languages in order to
determine both the differences and similarities between them” (Fisiak, 1981). From the
definition, it can be said that according to this author, CA deals with both similarities and
differences of the two languages investigated.
Unlike Fisiak, James (1980) supposes that CA, as the term contrastive implies, is
more interested in the differences between languages than in their likenesses. The scholar
then describes CA as “a linguistic enterprise aiming at producing inverted two-valued

10

typologies (a CA is always concerned with a pair of languages), and founded on the
assumption that languages can be compared” (James, 1980:3).
In the 1960s and early 1970s, contrastive analysis was used extensively in the field
of Second Language Acquisition. Despite an array of criticisms, contrastive analysis is not
merely relevant for second language teaching and learning but it can also make useful
contributions to machine translating and linguistics typology. Chaturvedi (1973) suggests
the following guiding principles for contrastive study: (1) To analyze the mother tongue and
the target language independently and completely. (2) To compare the two languages item-
wise-item at all levels of their structure. (3) To arrive at the categories of a/ similar features
b/ partially similar features c/ dissimilar features – for the target language. (4) To arrive at
principles of text preparation, test framing and target language teaching in general. Having
similar view, James (1980:63) explained that executing CA involves two steps, namely,
description and comparison, and the steps are taken in that order. According to this author,

although these two procedures cannot be said to characterize CA uniquely, it is the general
principle in executing a CA.
In this study, the researcher would like to follow the procedures suggested by James
(1980) as the framework and carry out the research through two steps:
- Step one: English and Vietnamese professional titles in are listed and described.
- Step two: English and Vietnamese professional titles are compared to find the
equivalents.



11

CHAPTER 2
A DESCRIPTION OF AMERICAN
AND VIETNAMESE JOINT-STOCK COMPANIES
Chapter two provides a description of American and Vietnamese Joint-Stock
Companies, including the definition of a joint-stock company and the illustration of
common company structures.
2.1. Definition of American and Vietnamese joint-stock companies
2.1.1. American joint-stock companies
The use of the term joint-stock company or corporation has been common since the
various Joint-stock Companies Acts were passed in the 1800s in England. As defined by the
Oxford Pocket Dictionary of Current English (2009), a joint-stock company simply means a
company whose stock is owned jointly by its shareholders.
More detailed definition can be found online at www.businessdictionary.com on
which joint-stock company is stated to be the original name for a corporation with limited
liability for the shareholders. Investors in an American joint-stock company receive stock or
shares which can be transferred, and can elect a board of directors to help them control the
company operations. With regards to American joint-stock company, Downes and
Goodman (2006) described this type of company as a form of business organization that

combines features of a corporation and a partnership. A similar explanation can be retrieved
from West‟s Encyclopedia of American Law (2005) at www.encyclopedia.com. On this
website, a joint-stock company is noted as an association engaged in a business for profit
with ownership interests represented by shares of stock. A joint-stock company is financed
with capital invested by the members or stockholders who receive transferable shares, or
stock. Although it shares majority features of a corporation, this type of company is
somehow similar to partnership because it also possesses the element of personal liability
where each member remains financially responsible for the acts of the company.
Though joint-stock company has long history, this original name is not very
commonly used in the U.S at present. According to Plessis & Grobfeld (2007), nowadays
in the U.S, the UK and other Anglo-American jurisdictions, this type of company takes the
name of “public companies or corporations, publicly-traded companies/corporations; public
companies of corporations limited by shares, or public limited companies or corporations”.

12

In this study, the author will use these terms interchangeably when referring to “joint-stock
company”.
2.1.2. Vietnamese joint-stock companies
Vietnam Enterprise Law (2005), Article 77 defines joint-stock companies as
follows:
Article 77: Joint-stock companies
A joint-stock company is an enterprise where:
a/ Its charter capital is divided into equal portions known as shares;
b/ Shareholders may be organizations and/or individuals; the minimum number of
shareholders shall be three and shall not be restricted to any particular maximum number;
c/ Its shareholders shall be liable for debts and other property liabilities of such enterprise
within the limit of the value of their capital contribution to the enterprise;
d/ Shareholders shall be entitled to freely transfer their shares, except the case specified in
Clause 3 of Article 81 or Clause 5 of Article 84 of this Law.

2. A joint-stock company shall have the legal person status from the date it is granted a
business registration certificate.
3. A joint-stock company shall be entitled to issue securities of all kinds for capital
mobilization.
(Vietnam Enterprise Law, 2005)
According to the law, a Vietnamese joint-stock company is a business entity owned
by shareholders. Shareowners of a Vietnamese joint stock company have limited liability as
just being liable for the company's debts by the nominal value of the stock or shares held by
them. Shareholders (except for some special cases) have the right to transfer their shares to
others without any effects to the continued existence of the company.
2.2. Organizational structures of American and Vietnamese joint-stock companies
2.2.1. Organizational structures of some American companies
According to Tullis and Trappe (2004:4), most companies are made up of three
groups of people including shareholders who provide the capital, the management and the
workforce. The management structure of a typical company is shown in the following
organization chart.

13


Figure 1: Company structure introduced by Tullis and Trappe (2004)

As can be seen from the above diagram and the explanation of the authors, at the top
of the company hierarchy is the Board of Directors. This board is headed by the
Chairperson or President and is responsible for policy decisions and strategy (Tullis and
Trappe, 2004). Managing Director (MD) or Chief Executive Officer (CEO) ranks second in
terms of authority. The person who holds this position has overall responsibility for the
running of the business. Companies also have senior and middle management to help head
the various departments or functions within the company. Different departments that can be
found in most companies are Marketing, Public Relations, Information Technology (IT),

Personnel or Human Resources, Finance, Production, and Research and Development
(R&D) (Tullis and Trappe, 2004:4)
Similarly, Mackenzie (1997:11) stated that companies generally have shareholders
who provide capitals for the companies and are managed by the board of directors (headed
by a Chairman or President), who oversee operations and the managing director or CEO
who takes responsibility for the day-to-day running of the company. In smaller companies,
the roles of chairman and managing director are usually combined. Americans tend to use
the term President rather than Chairman, and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) instead of
Managing Director (MD). The CEO or MD is supported by various executive officers or
vice-presidents (VP), each with clearly defined authority and responsibility.


14
















Figure 2: Company structure introduced by Mackenzie (1997)

According to the author, typically, the functional different departments in a company
are Production Department, Finance Department, Human Resources Department and
Marketing Department. Executive Directors, carrying the title of VP are responsible for
strategic decisions and operations of these functions while managers of each department are
in charge of particular functions. The functional departments are made up of several
sections as introduced below.
1. Marketing Department consists of three sections, that is, sales, sales promotion and
advertising;
2. Human Resources Department is made up of of Recruiment and Personnel, and Training
section.
3. Production Department is composed of five sections including Production Control,
Purchasing, Manufacturing, Quality Control and Engineering Support.
4. Finance Depatment con sists of Financial Management and Accounting
(Mackenzie, 1997:13)
Regarding business structure, McKellen (1990:29) also introduced an organization
chart that is, as he stated, one of the most usual.

Shareholders
Board of Directors
(Executive Directors)
VP of Production
Production
Department
Finance
Department
Chairman or President
Managing Director or Chief Executive Officer
Non-Executive Directors
VP of Finance

VP of Human
Resources
VP of Marketing
Human Resources
Department
Marketing Department

15











Figure 3: Company structure introduced by McKellen (1990)

As illustrated by McKellen (1990:29), Managing Director, Chief Executive or
President is the top position in company hierarchy. Companies are managed by a group of
directors and managers. Normally the directors are responsible for strategic planning and for
making decisions while managers of the company departments are in charge of day-to-day
running and report to the directors.
As the author explained, the key functional departments of a company include
Finance, Sales, Marketing (sometimes part of Sales), Production, Research and
Development (R&D) and Personnel Departments. These are the most common departments,
but some companies may have other departments as well (McKellen, 1990:29)

A similar structure which is built based on the chain of command can be found in
the book Test your professional English – Management written by Sweeney (2002:66). The
author illustrated a typical model of a company management system in the following
diagram.








Managing Director/ Chief Executive/
President
Departments
each headed
by a Director
R&D
Personnel
Others
Production
Marketing
Sales
Finance
R&D
Manager
Production
Manager
Accounting
Manager

Sales
Manager
Marketing
Manager
Personnel
Manager
Manager

16

Figure 4: Company structure introduced by Sweeney (2002)

According to Sweeney (2002:66), at the top of the company structure is the Chief
Executive or Managing Director. Production Director, Sales Director, Marketing Director,
Finance Director, Human Resources Director and Company Secretary belong to the group
of senior management system. Middle management often has the title of Managers who run
the functional departments of a company.
Another company organizational chart which is introduced in the book Business
Vocabulary in Use is that of Fun and Sun Holidays (Mascull, 2002:26). The company has a
similar structure to that of those businesses previously discussed.

Sales
Department
Manager
Chief Executive/Managing Director
Production
Director
Sales
Director
Marketing
Director
Finance
Director
Human
Resources
Director
Company
Secretary

SENIOR
MANAGEMENT
Production
Department
Manager
MIDDLE
MANAGEMENT
Marketing
Department
Manager
Finance
Department
Manager
Human
Resources
Department
Manager
Area
Sales
Manager
JUNIOR
MANAGEMENT
Area
Sales
Manager
Production
Controller
Market
Research, PR
and Publicity

Officers
Financial
Controller
Personnel
and
Training
Officers
Senior
Administrative
Assistant
Workforce
Sales
Teams
Clerical
Staff
Clerical
Staff
Clerical
Staff
Clerical
Staff