Working Conditions, Export Decisions, and Firm Constraints-Evidence from Vietnamese Small and Medium Enterprises

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

The article raises an interesting issue regarding exports. However, I suggest that you do not include the title in the form of a question. The synopsis needs a major overhaul as it is very chaotic. The author jumps from issue to issue. Little is known about the abstract. In line 11, the author writes: "The study utilizes datasets from small and medium-sized manufacturing enterprises (SMEs) from 2011 to 2015." It is not known where the exact data comes from, whether the author received the questionnaires from the company or conducted them himself, and most of all, it is not known how many were The author also does not specify what the novelty is in the work. and the result. There is a lack of transparency in the work with regard to research goals. I propose to define them in the introduction to the work and mention them in the conclusion and express their opinion. In my opinion, this approach will make your work more readable. The author has conducted a solid literature review but recommends adding more recent studies.

Author Response

 Dear Sir/Madam,
First of all, I would like to thank you very much for giving me the opportunity to respond to your comments. Your insightful reviews and suggestions help me look at issues more holistically. I have accepted your comments and revised my manuscript. I hope that my efforts can solve the problems you have raised. Given the limitations of time and data, some problems cannot be fully resolved. I appreciate your comments, and I will certainly complete them in future work.
Here, I list the issues you raised, along with our detailed responses point by point. To be more specific, you can see the manuscript file. 

Point 1. The article raises an interesting issue regarding exports. However, I suggest that you do not include the title in the form of a question. The synopsis needs a major overhaul as it is very chaotic.

Response: Following your comment. I change the title:

" Working conditions, export decisions, and firm constraints. Evidence from Vietnamese small and medium enterprises"

Point 2: The author jumps from issue to issue. Little is known about the abstract.

Response: I re-wrote the abstract as below:

" Better working conditions promote employee creativity and loyalty. Meanwhile, a stable and skilled workforce contributes to a firm's sustainable growth. Therefore, providing favorable working conditions is one of the critical sustainable goals of many countries worldwide. However, some critics are concerned participating in international trade causes worsening employment conditions in developing countries. Driven by these concerns, the relationship between exports and labor conditions is worth illuminating. This study adopts the data from Vietnam's small and medium-sized manufacturing enterprises SMEs. The dataset was collected by the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs MOLISA and the University of Copenhagen, UNU – WIDER from 2011 to 2015. Unlike previous studies, this study clusters firms by export status, including four groups: non-exporting, consecutive exporting, start-exporting, and exit-exporting. Observing dynamic exports sheds light on the effects of export decisions more thoroughly than the static export. Another contribution, this study focuses on an essential aspect of working conditions: providing fringe benefits. Subsequently, the analysis is upgraded by controlling for firm constraints as interaction variables. A major constraint and financial constraint are adopted to proxy for a firm's constraints. This work promotes assessments to be more accurate, thereby providing more valuable information to policymakers. Finally, a robustness test is applied to each type of fringe benefit. Instrumental variables are used to solve the problem of endogeneity. The results found that exporting firms provide better working conditions. Additionally, constrained firms have worse working conditions.”

Point 3. In line 11, the author writes: "The study utilizes datasets from small and medium-sized manufacturing enterprises (SMEs) from 2011 to 2015." It is not known where the exact data comes from, whether the author received the questionnaires from the company or conducted them himself, and most of all, it is not known how many were The author also does not specify what the novelty is in the work. and the result.

Response: Following your suggestion, add the information about the data on Abstract: “This study adopts the data from Vietnam's small and medium-sized manufacturing enterprises SMEs. The dataset was collected by the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs MOLISA and the University of Copenhagen, UNU – WIDER from 2011 to 2015”

I also hightlight the study contributions in the line 83-88, 98, 111:

Line 83-88: This study fills a gap in research on working conditions in \textit{SMEs}, which is poorly known \mbox{\cite{ILO2015a}}. The highlight is that firms are clustered by export status, including four groups: non-exporting, consecutive exporting, start-exporting, and exit-exporting. Observing dynamic exports sheds light on the effects of export decisions more thoroughly than the static export. Another important contribution that differentiates this study from the previous research is its focus on a lesser-known aspect of working conditions: nonwage benefits (also known as fringe benefits).

Line 98: Additionally,  "\textit{the proximity to airport}" is used as an instrumental variable to solve the problem of endogeneity. This method of constructing instrumental variables is inspired by Tanaka's research\mbox{\cite{Tanaka2020}} but applies to specific characteristics of Vietnam. This new point has not been approached in the Vietnamese literature stream.

Line 111: Controlling constraints as an interaction variable in the relationship between exports and working conditions is a novelty. This work promotes assessments to be more accurate, thereby providing more valuable information to policymakers.

Point 4. There is a lack of transparency in the work with regard to research goals. I propose to define them in the introduction to the work and mention them in the conclusion and express their opinion. In my opinion, this approach will make your work more readable. The author has conducted a solid literature review but recommends adding more recent studies

Response:

Thank you so much for your comments. I re-wrote Introduction and conclusion.

I also added more recent studies.

 Thank you for your time and your support
Sincerely, 

Trang Phan

 

 

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 2 Report

I cannot figure out what I should remember from this paper. The paper needs a summary section saying what the important conclusions are. Very few readers will read the paper in its entirety. They will look at the abstract, introduction and summary. The paper should be accessible to those with limited time, who want to focus on what is important. If you want to influence policy makers you need an easy-to-read summary section.

The language needs to be improved for clarity. I will cite a few examples. But there are lots of instances where language needs improvement.

"In the integration trend, the increase in job supply and the pressure of international competition has made many critics concerned about the worsening working conditions, especially in developing countries. " Better to write simply "Working conditions in less developed countries are an important issue."

 "The model approaches the instrumental variable to solve the 13 endogenous problem. The results found that exports can positively influence working conditions. 14 Additionally, working conditions are only affected by export decisions in the group of firms facing 15 major constraints. Especially, financial constraint is likely to reduce the impact of exports on 16 working conditions." Better to write "Instrumental variables are used to solve the problem of endogeneity. Firms unable to borrow have worse working conditions."

 "However, the current socio-economic development puts 33 increasing demands on the workforce regarding professional qualifications, workload, 34 and creative capacity." I don"t know what current socio-economic development is. Please be specific. The current statement doesn't say anything useful. 

"The increasing pressure in the workplace causes many people to 35 face physical and mental problems." You have not established that pressure is worse today than it has been in the past. Better, would be to write "Pressure in the workplace..." unless you establish that pressure is worse today than it has been in the past. Even if pressure is not increasing, your point that pressure is a problem is an important one, so don't hang the point on increasing pressure.

"Working conditions is a term that covers both the physical requirements of the 37 working environment and the terms related to employee benefits. " Better to write "Working conditions refers to physical requirements and employee benefits."

"In other words, nonwage benefits are 42 considered one of the employee’s rights as compensation outside of the official salary. 43 Therefore, in terms of employees, these compensations can increase job satisfaction and 44 ensure physical and mental health for employees to complete and be creative in their 45 work." Better to write "Nonwage benefits are important. They increase...."

The authors should eliminate unnecessary words. They clutter the story. Go for simplicity. My guide for writing is the book by Diedre McCloskey titled "Economical Writing." you can find summaries of it on line.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Author Response

Dear Sir/Madam,
First of all, I would like to thank you very much for giving me the opportunity to respond to your comments. Your insightful reviews and suggestions help me look at issues more holistically. I have accepted your comments and revised my manuscript. I hope that my efforts can solve the problems you have raised. Given the limitations of time and data, some problems cannot be fully resolved. I appreciate your comments, and I will certainly complete them in future work.
Here, I list the issues you raised, along with our detailed responses point by point. To be more specific, you can see the manuscript file. 

 

Point 1: I cannot figure out what I should remember from this paper. The paper needs a summary section saying what the important conclusions are. Very few readers will read the paper in its entirety. They will look at the abstract, introduction and summary. The paper should be accessible to those with limited time, who want to focus on what is important. If you want to influence policy makers you need an easy-to-read summary section.

Response: Thank you very much for your comment. I re-wrote Abstract, Introduction, Conclusion.

Point 2: The language needs to be improved for clarity. I will cite a few examples. But there are lots of instances where language needs improvement.

Response:

I changed all the line you comments, and rechecked the whole paper. Thank you very much for the book "Economical Writing" that  you suggested. I learned many things from that book.

Point 3: "However, the current socio-economic development puts 33 increasing demands on the workforce regarding professional qualifications, workload, 34 and creative capacity." I don"t know what current socio-economic development is. Please be specific. The current statement doesn't say anything useful. 

Response: I re-wrote this sentence in line 32-46.

However, changes in society and the economy significantly affect employment Grant2010. Firms devise internationalization strategies to adapt to new markets and societal requirements. Fierce competition caused by the expansion of international trade has stimulated enterprises to cut costs, improve product quality, and reallocate resources Pascual2019. At the same time, firms raise their expectations about employee flexibility and dedication  Sparks2001, Wong2007. In addition, Idris's research Idris2011 pointed to evidence that globalization increases workload pressure. Workers are under more psychological pressure about threats of being fired or making mistakes. In addition, Fenner2004 showed that the development of modern information technology and the availability of the Internet facilitates employees to become more and more involved in additional work-related activities. The flip side of the problem is that employers can be overly demanding about employees' availability Andreassen2014. Consequently, employees become more stressed, which can lead to physical and mental impairment. Therefore, many authors have recognized that today's socio-economic development can be a risk factor for working conditions Idris2011, Kortum2010, Grant2010. Studying the impact of economic and social factors on working conditions becomes more important.

Thank you for your time and your support
Sincerely, 

Trang Phan

 

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Round 2

Reviewer 1 Report

Thank you for improving the paper. It looks very good. Good job.

Reviewer 2 Report

good interesting paper. ready to publish