The textile and apparel industries play an important role in Vietnam’s economy in general and the manufacturing sector in particular. As a matter of fact, Vietnam ranks as one of the leading suppliers of textile and apparel for major economies in the world, including the European Union. This paper attempts to examine the potential impacts of the European Union - Vietnam Free Trade Agreement on the export of Vietnam’s apparel at three levels: 2, 4, 6–digit HS respectively, assuming full liberalization from Vietnam to European Union by 2026. An analysis is undertaken using WITS-SMART model to identify the variation of Vietnam’s apparel export as well as to predict some most affected products if European Union - Vietnam Free Trade Agreement is in full application. As a result, Vietnam’s apparel exporting to European Union will increase significantly by 42% compared to the base year (2016) and is expected to reach US$4.220 billion in the next 8 years. Due to trade diversion dominates over trade creation effect, Vietnam’s apparels will get more gains than non - European Union - Vietnam Free Trade Agreement members; however, this result is not because of an effective allocation of resources. Therefore, policy makers should implement some remedies to improve the competitivey of Vietnam’s apparels, to reduce the production price to bring advantages for both Vietnam and Europe.

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This study develops and empirically validates a Participation–Learning–Innovation–Performance chain by integrating employees’ budgetary participation, learning goal orientation, innovative behaviors, and job performance. In particular, this study evaluates the mediating effect of employees’ learning goal orientation on the relationship between their budgetary participation and innovative behaviors, and then examines the performance effect of these innovative behaviors on subsequent job performance. The hypotheses were empirically tested using a sample of 337 mid- and low-level managers from business organizations in Vietnam. Partial least squares-structural equation modeling was performed to test the hypotheses. The findings indicate that: (1) Employees’ learning goal orientation acts as a transmitting device that connects their budgetary participation and innovative behaviors, and (2) these behaviors in turn lead to enhanced job performance. From these findings, this study proposes theoretical and managerial implications regarding designing a favorable budgetary environment for positive employees’ performance outcomes.

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Purpose Green innovation by organisations has the potential to create social impact across five dimensions: social capital, collective identities, environmental literacy, community well-being and human capital. However, the link between green innovation and these dimensions of social impact is underexplored, particularly in developing countries such as Vietnam, where environmental policies are still being framed. Thus, this study provides an exploratory analysis of the social impact of green innovation undertaken by organisations in Vietnam. Design/methodology/approach The perspectives of a focal organisation in Vietnam and three related stakeholders are examined. Data were obtained from the research participants using a photo-elicitation interviewing strategy with concept cards. A hybrid deductive–inductive approach to thematic analysis identified five themes. Findings There is evidence that green innovation positively influences social impact across the five identified dimensions. Additionally, the analysis suggests that green innovation can generate spillover effects amongst stakeholder organisations. Research limitations/implications An obvious limitation of this study is that it is based solely on interviews of executives and managers linked to a focal organisation that is already undertaking green innovation. Due to time and resource limitations, it was not possible to examine other sources of information, such as documentary evidence, which would have increased the reliability of the data. Practical implications This paper makes two contributions. First, it presents stakeholders’perceptions of the social impact of an organisation’s implementation of a green innovation strategy. Second, the study demonstrates the use of a novel photo-elicitation technique – concept cards – in undertaking interviews with busy business executives. Such an approach has rarely been used in business settings. Social implications This study provides managers with a framework for measuring the social impact of their green initiatives. It is no longer sufficient to evaluate a firm’s financial performance alone. With a growing emphasis on the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, managers must be able to report the impact of their work beyond business boundaries. Our research findings are also insightful for policymakers working in innovation-related government, providing a comprehensive framework for evaluating the social impact of innovation. Originality/value This study investigates the emerging concept of green innovation using a novel “concept cards” interviewing technique. The perceptions of individuals from a sample of organisations in Vietnam provide a practical foundation for organisations’ future development of effective green innovation strategies.

Purpose The main purpose of this study is to examine the disclosure of earnings forecasts in firms' prospectuses to explain investor demands or, in other words, oversubscription rates of Malaysian initial public offerings (IPOs). Design/methodology/approach Ordinary least squares and robust methods were used to examine cross-sectional data comprising 466 fixed-price IPOs reported for the period from January 2000 to February 2020 on Bursa Malaysia. Findings The results showed that IPOs with earnings forecasts obtained higher oversubscription rates than those without earnings forecasts. IPOs with earnings forecasts provide value-relevant signals to prospective investors about the good prospects of firms, resulting in an increase in the demand for IPO shares. For the IPO samples listed during the global financial crisis (GFC) period, IPOs with earnings forecasts had negative impacts on the oversubscription rates. These results were robust to quantile methods and the two-stage least squares method. Research limitations/implications The research findings provide fresh information for investors regarding the importance of earnings forecasts as a trustworthy signal of a firm’s quality when making share subscription decisions. Practical implications The regulator is advised to encourage issuers to include earnings forecasts in their prospectuses since such forecasts help to increase the demand for IPOs. Originality/value This study contributes to the literature by offering empirical evidence regarding the signalling impact of earnings forecast disclosures on investor demands for Malaysian IPOs. Moreover, this study provides evidence demonstrating the impact of earnings forecast disclosures on oversubscription rates of Malaysian IPOs during the GFC period.

Purpose This study examines the influence of economic policy uncertainty on financial flexibility before and during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Few prior studies have examined this association specifically for debt and cash flexibility. Design/methodology/approach Using quarterly data from 2016 to 2022, 1014 observations were collected from the S&P Capital IQ database for listed tourism companies in India. The pre-pandemic period is defined as 2016 Q1 to 2020 Q1, whereas the pandemic period is from 2020 Q2 to 2022 Q3. The data are analysed using ordinary least squares, probit, logit and difference-in-difference (DID) estimation. Findings The evidence of this study suggests a negative association of economic policy uncertainty with debt flexibility during the COVID-19 pandemic. The findings also suggest that COVID-19 induced economic policy uncertainty results in high cash flexibility. This meets the expectations for the crisis period, as firms are likely to hold more cash and less debt capacity to manage their operations. The results are robust for various estimation techniques. Research limitations/implications This study is limited to one emerging country and is specific to one non-financial sector. Future research could extend to more emerging countries and include other non-financial sector companies. Practical implications The findings of this research are useful for tourism sector managers as they can effectively manage their cash and debt flexibility during crisis periods. They will need to prioritise cash flexibility over debt flexibility to manage operations effectively. Policymakers need to provide clear and stable economic policies to help firms manage their debt levels during a crisis. Originality/value To the best of the author's knowledge, no existing studies have investigated the influence of economic policy uncertainty on the financial flexibility of tourism companies before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. Furthermore, this study establishes a novel set of critical determinants, such as economic policy uncertainty.