The COVID-19 Pandemic Impact and Responses in Emerging Economies: Evidence from Vietnamese Firms

Nguyen Duc Kien, Pham Xuan Hung (), Truong Tan Quan and Nguyen Minh Hien
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Nguyen Duc Kien: Faculty of Economics and Development Studies, University of Economics, Hue University, 99 Ho Dac Di Street, Hue City 530000, Vietnam
Pham Xuan Hung: Faculty of Economics and Development Studies, University of Economics, Hue University, 99 Ho Dac Di Street, Hue City 530000, Vietnam
Truong Tan Quan: Faculty of Economics and Development Studies, University of Economics, Hue University, 99 Ho Dac Di Street, Hue City 530000, Vietnam
Nguyen Minh Hien: Faculty of Economics and Development Studies, University of Economics, Hue University, 99 Ho Dac Di Street, Hue City 530000, Vietnam

Economies, 2023, vol. 11, issue 1, 1-16

Abstract: A nationwide survey of 162,738 firms in Vietnam asked firms to report the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the health of the business, coping strategies used, and various firm and situational characteristics. More than 80% of firms reported negative impacts from the pandemic with fewer than 4% reporting positive effects; 63% of the firms adopted at least one coping strategy. The coping strategies were categorized into seven groups as follows: (1) Non-adoption, (2) promoting e-commerce, (3) transforming key products/services, (4) training employees to improve professional qualifications, (5) finding new markets for input materials, (6) finding markets for products outside of the traditional market, (7) producing new products/services according to market demand during the epidemic period, and (8) other strategies. A multinomial logit regression model showed statistically significant associations between a firm’s selected coping strategy and several independent variables, as follows: (1) Firm size, (2) impact of the pandemic on firm health, firm access to inputs, and firm access to domestic markets, (3) decrease in firm revenue, and (4) receipt of government support. However, many businesses have not implemented coping strategies, leading to concerns regarding their resilience to upcoming threats and uncertainties.

Keywords: COVID-19 pandemic; impact; firms; response strategies; Vietnam (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: E F I J O Q (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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