Purpose This study aims to unlock the path of growth for sustainable economic development and accomplish the government's vision 2030 by ameliorating the productivity of the manufacturing sector in Laos. Design/methodology/approach This study applied cross-sectional data of 2,009 firms from the national firm survey, namely the Economic Census Survey (ECS), in 2012/13 in addition to employing the stochastic frontier analysis (SFA) to assess the production frontier and factors behind the technical inefficiency to arrive at policy recommendations. Findings The study found that the efficiency level varied across subindustries with an average of 72.51% in full potential production. Out of the five classified groups, Sub4 (chemical and plastic) was found to be the most efficient manufacturer, while the rest in order are Sub1 (food and beverage), Sub5 (furniture and others), Sub2 (garment and textile), and Sub3 (paper and printing), providing the evidence to improve the technical efficiency. This study discovered that the firm's size, accounting system and credit access are crucial to enhancing the production efficiency of all sampling firms. However, these factors might be subject to specific industries. Practical implications For the implication to the business community and policymakers, the findings of this study could be a reference in terms of which areas they should concentrate on to improve the technical efficiency as a part of productivity in the manufacturing industry. For instance, it suggests that firms could improve their production efficiency by introducing the accounting system, laborers' skills (education of managers) and engaging in international trade activities. Additionally, it asks policymakers to help private firms by improving the infrastructure, credit access, training and trade facilitation. Originality/value It is believed that, as the major contribution in Lao literature, this study is the first research applying the largest data from the national survey – the Lao ECS – examining the technical efficiency in the manufacturing sector in the country, and overcoming the gap of the previous research which recruited few policy variables and applied a small sample size in one specific industry. Therefore, the findings of this study impart more insights into the analysis, providing more effective and credible recommendations to policymakers and firms to improve their technical efficiency and, consequently, their competitiveness.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the problem of fiscal sustainability for a panel of developing Asian economies. Design/methodology/approach In this study, cross-section dependence and heterogeneity are controlled while estimating the fiscal reaction function, which shows how governments react to the accumulation of public debt. The study employs the common correlated effects mean group estimator in Pesaran (2006) for a panel of 22 developing Asian economies for the period 1999‒2017. Findings It is found that the fiscal sustainability issue in the region is not so benign as in previous studies. Overall, fiscal policy is unsustainable, even for the nonlinear fiscal rule. Country-specific long-run coefficients are also examined in the study. Research limitations/implications The findings show that many developing economies in the region could not satisfy the intertemporal budget constraint, which raises concerns about debt sustainability in the area, especially for the post-crisis period. Originality/value This study investigates whether governments can maintain the sustainability of public finances in the long-run, if the ratios of public debt over GDP and primary deficit over GDP continue their recent problematic trends. Another novelty is controlling for heterogeneous effects among the countries in the region to give a more precise picture of debt sustainability. The empirical evidence also supports that insolvency risk can occur at low levels of public debt.

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to incorporate risk in technical efficiency of ASEAN banks in a panel data framework for the period 2000 to 2015. Design/methodology/approach – The directional distance function and semi-parametric framework are employed to estimate efficiency scores for two scenarios, one with only good outputs and the other with a combination of good and bad outputs. Findings – The findings show there is no evidence of technological progress for banks in ASEAN and concerns about the outperformance of Vietnam’s banks. In addition, performance of Vietnam’s banks tends to be distorted by low level of loan loss reserves. Practical implications – To reflect the true performance and shorten the period of removing bad assets, the State Bank of Vietnam can request banks in Vietnam to book more loan loss reserves. Originality/value – By examining such a new approach, this study makes an early attempt to incorporate credit risk into the banking efficiency in ASEAN region.

The fierce competition among hardware companies is increasingly becoming a global competition. With a fast-paced innovative environment, international business is becoming a strategic plan that all hardware management teams have to follow. However, with unique characteristics of high-tech industry, the international business of hardware firm potentially has specific issues, which make this research worth to proceed. This study examines the relationship between international business and performance of hardware companies from 2008 to 2014. To evaluate this potentially significant relationship, different degrees of internationalization are accounted to examine whether each stage may influence dissimilarly to the performance. In order to study a greater scale of this relationship, innovative performance, as a key competitive factor of high-tech companies, is also measured as another indicator to evaluate the internationalization’s effects. A profound analysis is also provided to explain the findings based on unique characteristics of the hardware industry. The study finds out that companies who invest to diversify their markets likely achieve a higher profit during the internationalization process than their competitors.

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