The Impact of Corporate Entrepreneurship on the Business Performance of Small and Medium Enterprises: A Case Study in Vietnam
Authors: Pham Anh Dung  
Published: February 2025

In recent years, the global economy has declined, Vietnam’s economy has still made strong developments, the GDP growth rate has always reached a high level (6-7%/year). In that general picture, there is a great contribution of small and medium-sized enterprises. In that context, small and medium-sized enterprises in Vietnam as well as other enterprises have also been maximally facilitated by the authorities at all levels in terms of policies for development, Vietnam province has issued many guidelines, mechanisms and policies to support business development,  helping businesses improve their competitiveness and towards sustainable development goals such as plans and programs to support small and medium-sized enterprises in the country; policies of the State Bank of Vietnam to support small and medium-sized enterprises to access credit capital for production development; policies on tax declaration of the Provincial Tax Department; guarantee for small and medium-sized enterprises to borrow capital at commercial banks... Thanks to the gradual improvement of the business environment, the development conditions of businesses are favorable, so the speed of establishing businesses is quite high. On average, in the period 2006-2010, the rate of registration of new enterprises was 20%. The total number of small and medium-sized enterprises in Vietnam accounts for 95% of the total number of enterprises in Vietnam; the average registered capital is 5.32 billion VND/enterprise; the rate of small and medium-sized enterprises existing and operating after business registration is 84.2%; on average, each enterprise pays 445 million VND/year to the state budget.Entrepreneurship (EO) is an important factor for businesses in developed countries. However, in Vietnam, the concept of enterprise spirit is still quite new, there is still no unified concept or definition of this concept, especially the impact of enterprise spirit (EO) on the operation and business results of enterprises. “Enterprise spirit” is people’s attitude of responsibility, thoughts, deep affection for business, the will to succeed, the orientation for the burning desire to get rich, persistence, perseverance with creative ideas, resoluteness, daring to take risks. It is the deepest, most core of business action.A person with an entrepreneurial spirit is a person who has the following capabilities: Having an entrepreneurial mind, that is, knowing how to combine, in a given situation, the virtues of the individual, the financial means and other resources that one has into the business. Know how to detect and evaluate opportunities that arise in business, find the necessary means and resources to take advantage of those opportunities, and find appropriate decisions to ensure the success of the action that he is about to take. They are people of action and imagination, have a strong personality, are full of responsibility, and accept risks and risks to achieve their goals. The personality pattern of people with an entrepreneurial spirit is not immutable. In the process of development, that spirit still retains its core and always changes in accordance with contemporary social norms. On the other hand, the change in the personality pattern of people with an entrepreneurial spirit over time and space is due to the progressive and self-improving nature of people. Previously, there have been a number of studies on factors affecting the business results of small and medium-sized enterprises such as product and service quality, factors that satisfy market demand, etc. However, finding a study on the impact of corporate spirit on the performance of small and medium-sized enterprises is difficult, although entrepreneurial spirit (EO) has long been considered a paramount characteristic in well-performing enterprises (Covin & Slevin 1991). There is little literature on the impact of EO on the performance of small and medium-sized enterprises in Vietnam. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to explore the impact of entrepreneurship on the business operations and results of small and medium-sized enterprises in Vietnam.