Vietnam - Benefits from Globalisation

• Background Information:

  • Vietnam is an Asian country that has benefited from global systems, like the Asian Tigers.
  • Benefited from interdependence and global flows of capital, products etc.
• Economic Changes - Foreign Investment:

  • First opened its economy to foreign firms in the 1980s.
  • Investment gathered pace after the US scrapped a war-era trade embargo in 1994.
• Social Changes:

  • Since Ford opened its doors 20 years ago the area has changed from an agricultural backwater to an industrial zone.
  • There are numerous foreign-owned factors producing electronics, clothing and machinery.
  • Vegetable plots and fishing ponds have been replaced by a four-lane highway for trucks carrying goods for export.
• Positive impacts:

  • Economic growth and attraction of linked industries lead to improved infrastructure and job opportunities.
• Negative impacts:

  • Large foreign firms stand accused of flouting labour and environmental laws.
  • Taiwanese firm Formosa was blamed for killing millions of fish through toxic dumping.