DOI:

Abstract

"HCMC is considered as the Vietnam’s biggest economic center. With this advantage, it has been among the list of top destinations for foreign investment since the early 1990s when Vietnam was open to foreign investors. According to the HCMC Service of Planning and Investment, however, the FDI in HCMC has decreased in recent years and showed signs of promising recovery in mid 2007. There are many causes of the fall in the FDI flow, but the main ones are the global economic recession, saturation of strategic investment flows, keen competition between developing countries for the FDI, changes in investment strategies of investors in different provinces, and financial health of investors. This papers wants to discuss two aspects of the investment promotion in HCMC: (1) efforts to promote the FDI in HCMC in the past few years, and (2) strategy to attract the FDI to HCMC. Based on numerical data and secondary information gathered from statistical offices, the paper analyses and explains factors affecting marketing effort to promote the FDI, thereby suggesting measures to enhance performance of these efforts in the near future. To support arguments and explanations in the paper, I also interviewed experts to get their opinions about these measures. Many authors have analyzed methods and strategies to promote the FDI in HCMC, so I decided to apply marketing principles to the efforts. The stress is put on actual causes of success or failure for the efforts to promote the FDI in HCMC shared by many foreign investors. And I hope my suggested measures are feasible."

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