Series information

An Enterprise Survey is a firm-level survey of a representative sample of an economy's private sector. Firm-level surveys have been conducted since 1998 by different units within the World Bank. Since 2005-06, most data collection efforts have been centralized within the Enterprise Analysis Unit. Enterprise Surveys are conducted every three to four years across all geographic regions and cover small, medium, and large companies. Data are used to create indicators that benchmark the quality of the business and investment climate across countries.

Abstract

This research was conducted in Vietnam between June 2009 and January 2010 as part of the Enterprise Survey initiative.

The objective of the survey is to obtain feedback from enterprises in client countries on the state of the private sector as well as to help in building a panel of enterprise data that will make it possible to track changes in the business environment over time, thus allowing, for example, impact assessments of reforms. Through interviews with firms in the manufacturing and services sectors, the survey assesses the constraints to private sector growth and creates statistically significant business environment indicators that are comparable across countries.

The standard Enterprise Survey topics include firm characteristics, gender participation, access to finance, annual sales, costs of inputs/labor, workforce composition, bribery, licensing, infrastructure, trade, crime, competition, capacity utilization, land and permits, taxation, informality, business-government relations, innovation and technology, and performance measures. Over 90% of the questions objectively ascertain characteristics of a country’s business environment. The remaining questions assess the survey respondents’ opinions on what are the obstacles to firm growth and performance. The mode of data collection is face-to-face interviews.

Unit of analysis

The primary sampling unit of the study is the establishment. An establishment is a physical location where business is carried out and where industrial operations take place or services are provided. A firm may be composed of one or more establishments. For example, a brewery may have several bottling plants and several establishments for distribution. For the purposes of this survey an establishment must make its own financial decisions and have its own financial statements separate from those of the firm. An establishment must also have its own management and control over its payroll.

Sampling procedure

The sample for Vietnam was selected using stratified random sampling. Three levels of stratification were used in this country: industry, establishment size, and region.

Industry stratification was designed in the way that follows: the universe was stratified into 6 manufacturing industries, 1 services industry -retail -, and two residual sectors. Each manufacturing industry had a target of 160 interviews. The services industry and the two residual sectors had a target of 120 interviews. For the manufacturing industries sample sizes were inflated by about 33% to account for potential non-response cases when requesting sensitive financial data and also because of likely attrition in future surveys that would affect the construction of a panel. An additional 85 interviews were added to the survey half way through the fieldwork. Targets were adjusted such that the manufacturing sectors' targets were increased to 160-180 interviews.

Size stratification was defined following the standardized definition for the rollout: small (5 to 19 employees), medium (20 to 99 employees), and large (more than 99 employees). For stratification purposes, the number of employees was defined on the basis of reported permanent full-time workers. This seems to be an appropriate definition of the labor force since seasonal/casual/part-time employment is not a common practice, except in the sectors of construction and agriculture.

Regional stratification was defined in five regions containing 14 provinces: Red River Delta (Hanoi, Ha Tay, Hai Duong, and Hai Phong), the North Centre Coast (Thanh Hoa, Nghe An), Mekong River Delta (Can Tho, Long An, Tien Giang), South Centre Coast (Khanh Hoa, Da Nang) and South East (Ho Chi Minh City, Binh Duong, Dong Nai).

Two frames were used for Vietnam. The sample frame containing fresh contacts used in the Vietnam was obtained from the 2008 Vietnam General Statistics Office. A frame containing firms that had participated in the 2005 survey constituted a second frame of panel contacts.

Each database contained the following information

• Name of the firm
• Location
• Contact details
• ISIC code
• Number of employees.

Given the impact that non-eligible units included in the sample universe may have on the results, adjustments may be needed when computing the appropriate weights for individual observations. The percentage of confirmed non-eligible units as a proportion of the total number of sampled establishments contacted for the survey was 23% (734 out of 3131 establishments). Breaking down by industry, the following numbers of establishments were surveyed:

• 15 (Food) - 127,
• 17 (Textiles) -120,
• 18 (Garments) - 120,
• 26 (Non-metallic mineral products) - 123,
• 28 (Metal & Fabrication) - 122,
• Other manufacturing - 196,
• Retail & IT - 128,
• Other services - 117.