Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of independent directors on firm performance in Vietnam and identify how different types of ownership structure and the presence of controlling shareholders influence the relationship. Design/methodology/approach For a sample of 217 non-financial Vietnam-listed companies during the period from 2010 to 2014, this study uses the ordinary least squares regressions to estimate the relationship between independent directors and firm performance. Two econometric techniques – the fixed effects estimation and the difference in difference estimation – are used to control for endogeneity. The results are also robust to the lag variable of independent directors. Findings The results reveal that independent directors have an overall negative effect on firm operating performance. This finding may be because of information asymmetry, expertise disadvantage and the dominance of ownership concentration that prevent independent directors from fulfilling their monitoring function in governance. The negative relationship between independent directors and firm performance is stronger in firms where the State is a controlling shareholder. Research limitations/implications Findings suggest that changes relating to independent directors, as a response to the new corporate governance code in 2012, do not have a positive effect on the relationship between corporate governance and firm performance. Further reform is required to improve internal control mechanisms and corporate governance systems in Vietnam. Originality/value This is the first study to provide a robust evidence on the relationship between independent directors and firm performance in Vietnam as well as to explore the impact of the type of controlling shareholders on the relationship.

Employees' knowledge sharing and innovative work behavior play an important role for the development of Vietnam telecommunication enterprises. Knowledge sharing along with two central processes; namely knowledge donation and collection, fosters employees' innovative work behavior of Vietnam telecommunication enterprises. Based on a sample size survey of 396 Vietnam telecommunication employees and exploration factor analysis (EFA), confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and structural equation modeling (SEM), the study determines factors such as trust, enjoyment in helping others, knowledge self-efficacy, management support, using information and communication technology significantly influence knowledge donation and collection. At the same time, knowledge donation and collection have positive impacts on employees' innovative work behavior of Vietnam telecommunication enterprises. Finally, several suggestions for enhancing employees' knowledge sharing and innovative work behavior of Vietnam telecommunication enterprises managers are given. .

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This article considers a two-sector economy with externalities. In particular,the analysis involves an industrial sector whose production activities have negative effects on the regeneration of a natural resource in the other sector. Without the usual convexity or the super-modularity structure, we prove that the economy evolves to increase the net gain of stock, and establish the conditions ensuring the convergence of the economy in the long run.