Phát triển kinh tế xanh ở Việt Nam - Kỷ yếu hội thảo khoa học Quốc tế (Tập 2): Phần 1

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Kỷ yếu hội thảo khoa học Quốc tế "Phát triển kinh tế xanh ở Việt Nam (tập 2)" phần 1 cung cấp cho người đọc những kiến thức như: Trách nhiệm xã hội đối với người lao động tại doanh nghiệp công nghệ thông tin và truyền thông việt nam theo cách tiếp cận phát triển bền vững; phát triển logistics xanh - xu hướng của tương lai; mô hình hóa ứng dụng công nghệ chuỗi khối nhằm phát triển chuỗi cung ứng nông nghiệp: trường hợp dầu tràm ở Huế;...Mời các bạn cùng tham khảo!

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Nội dung Text: Phát triển kinh tế xanh ở Việt Nam - Kỷ yếu hội thảo khoa học Quốc tế (Tập 2): Phần 1

Tập 2
CHUNGNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY
CHUNGNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY
4
SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY TO LABORERS IN VIETNAM’S INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATIONS TECHNOLOGY ENTERPRISES FROM SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT APPROACH Associate Professor Dr. Nguyen Thi Bich Loan Associate Professor Dr. Nguyen Thi Minh Nhan Thuongmai University Email: bichloandhtm@tmu.edu.vn Abstract: Information and communications technology (ICT) has become a platform technology with comprehensive impacts on the economy. Accordingly, ICT enterprises play a crucial role in sustainable economic development of the countries. It is therefore essential that ICT enterprises conduct their social responsibilities (SR) to stakeholders, among which social responsibility to laborers is highly emphasized as an important factor determining the enterprises’ sustainable development. Many ICT enterprises have well implemented their SR to laborers while others have not yet fulfilled their responsibility. This paper aims to identify successes and limitations of ICT enterprises in the process of implementing SR to laborers from sustainable development approach, then propose some solutions to help these enterprises better carry out their SR to laborers, contributing to their sustainable development. Key words: Social responsibility to laborers, sustainable development, Information and communications technology enterprises. TRÁCH NHIỆM XÃ HỘI ĐỐI VỚI NGƯỜI LAO ĐỘNG TẠI DOANH NGHIỆP CÔNG NGHỆ THÔNG TIN VÀ TRUYỀN THÔNG VIỆT NAM THEO CÁCH TIẾP CẬN PHÁT TRIỂN BỀN VỮNG Tóm tắt: Công nghệ thông tin và truyền thông (ICT) đã trở thành công nghệ nền tảng có ảnh hưởng tới nền kinh tế một cách toàn diện. Theo đó, trách nhiệm xã hội (TNXH) đối với người lao động (NLĐ) trong doanh nghiệp ICT mang lại một cách tiếp cận tích hợp để phát triển bền vững. Người lao động là bên liên quan quan trọng hàng đầu của doanh nghiệp ITC. Đã có một bộ phận doanh nghiệp ITC dành sự đầu tư cho TNXH đối với NLĐ nhưng vẫn còn đáng kể doanh nghiệp ITC gặp khó trong việc đảm bảo quyền cơ bản tại nơi làm việc - đây chính là những TNXH theo cách tiếp cận phát triển bền vững. Mục đích của bài viết này là nhận diện những thành công, hạn chế và những nguyên nhân chủ yếu trong thực hiện TNXH đối với NLĐ ở các doanh nghiệp ITC Việt Nam, từ đó đề xuất những giải pháp, kiến nghị để các doanh nghiệp này phát triển bền vững. Từ khóa: Trách nhiệm xã hội đối với người lao động; phát triển bền vững; Doanh nghiệp công nghệ thông tin và truyền thông. 5
1. Introduction Social responsibility (SR) is the commitments of enterprises to stakeholders, including laborers. Implementing SR in enterprises has become an integral part in the cause of realizing the sustainable development goals of the national economy. Amid the current context of globalization and the 4th Industrial Revolution, information and communications technology has been invested in to become the spearhead sector in the economy. According to the statistics of Authority of Information Technology and Communications Industry, in Vietnam at present there are 32,163 enterprises operating in ICT sector with 1,081,268 laborers. The revenue of ICT sector was estimated at USD 148 billion in 2022, increasing by 8.7% from 2021. Laborers in ICT sector have gained better care in recent time but social insurance debts and labor conflicts still happen in many ICT enterprises. Particularly, the number of laborers in ICT enterprises suffering from stress and becoming unemployed after 35 years old has increased recently, which raises a warning of SR to laborers in ICT enterprises. Vietnam has recently joined in new-generation free trade agreements with higher labor commitments based on the fundamental regulations and rights in the workplaces proposed by International Labor Organization (ILO). The intensive and comprehensive international integration of Vietnam has brought great opportunities but at the same time caused not a few challenges. One of them is the challenge in implementing SR to laborers under the commitments to sustainable trade development. ICT enterprises therefore need to transform their philosophy and activities so that they can benefit from their compliance with SR to laborers. 2. Theoretical grounds 2.1. Fundamental concepts Social responsibility to laborers: Social responsibility to laborers is the commitments of enterprises to laborers that contribute to implementing sustainable development goals. The commitments usually cover employment, labor contracts, salaries, benefits, working hours, health and safety at the workplaces, freedom of association and collective bargaining, etc. That enterprises implement SR to laborers is the way they implement their sustainable development goals as laborers are one stakeholder in SR implementation. When implementing SR to laborers effectively, enterprises can fulfill their social goals, which are one of the three important goals of sustainable development: Economy - Society - Environment. Information & Communications Technology Enterprises: Information & Communications Technology (ICT) is the combination of information technology and communications technology, including all technologies that allow users to create, access and operate information by using hardware, software, network, facilities and other communications devices. Accordingly, ICT enterprises are the shorthand expressions of enterprises operating in the information and communications technology sector, including those in software, electronics, software, digital content, information technology services (MIC, 2021). 6
In recent decades, ICT has become a fundamental technology. The theory of General Purpose Technology proposed by some neo-classical economists has illustrated the impacts of ICT on the economy in terms of quantity and quality, techno-economic system and socio-institutional system based on three main features of pervasiveness, improvement and (innovation spawning) (Helpman, 1998; Bresnahan and Trajtenberg, 1992). Besides, ICT also contributes greatly to protecting the environment as the application of technology has helped to reduce carbon dioxide, save water and energy in production processes. Therefore, implementing SR to laborers in ICT enterprises presents an appropriate approach to sustainable development. 2.2. Research approach Research on corporate social responsibility has been conducted from different approaches under the following fundamental theories: (1) Social Responsibility Implementation Degree theory by A. Carroll including economic, legal responsibility, commitments and option; (2) Stakeholder theory originating from R.Edward Freeman (1984); (3) Triple bottom line theory (TBL) by Elkington et al. (1999) (Michel Capron, Françoise Quairel-Lanoizelée, 2012). Combining the Stakeholder theory of R.Edward Freeman and Triple bottom line theory of Elkington et al. (1999) on SR to laborers, the researchers come up with the following definition: Social responsibility to laborers in ICT enterprises is commitments to laborers on their basic principles and rights in the workplaces as well as acceptable working conditions that contribute to implementing sustainable development goals. Among them, the basic principles and rights in the workplaces as stipulated in Declaration 1998 by International Labor Organization include: (1) practicing freedom of association and collective bargaining; (2) limiting the use of child labor; (3) prohibiting forced labor; (4) prohibiting labor discrimination (see Table 1). Efforts by ICT enterprises in implementing SR to laborers under sustainable approach are affected by internal factors (including competence of stakeholders, strategic goals, corporate culture, application of science and technology, etc.) and external factors (including state laws, national surveillance system, etc.) Table 1: Measurement scales of SR to laborers under ILO approach SR to No. Indicators laborers Practicing freedom Ensuring that laborers can participate in trade unions and association at their wills of association and bargaining Ensuring to facilitate the establishment of trade unions at unit level collective 1 Ensuring to organize periodical dialogues with laborers Ensuring to organize dialogues when one party requests Ensuring that dialogue contents are as stipulated by labor law Limiti ng the use of labor Ensuring not to use laborers under 15 child 2 Ensuring not to use laborers under 18 for overwork 7
Ensuring not to use laborers under 18 to do hazardous work Ensuring not to use laborers under 18 to work in bad working conditions Ensuring the system to verify laborers’ ages before recruiting Ensuring to record profiles of laborers under 18 Prohibiting forced labor Ensuring not to use violence to force laborers to stay to work Ensuring not to use threats to force laborers to stay to work Ensuring not to use penalties to force laborers to stay to work 3 Ensuring not to retain salary to force laborers to stay to work Ensuring not to keep personal documents to force laborers to stay to work Ensuring not to force laborers to work overtime Ensuring not to discriminate against marital status, races, nationalities, politics, Prohibiting labor discrimination religion, political wills, disability, HIV/AIDS, ages in recruitment and pay Ensuring not to dismiss laborers for reasons related to pregnancy, maternity leave and 4 raising of children under 12 months old Ensuring not to relocate and alter laborers’ positions, salaries, bonus or seniority during maternity leave Source: ILO (1998) 3. Research data and methods 3.1. Research data The researchers used both primary and secondary data in order to gain an objective and comprehensive reflection on the situation of SR to laborers in Vietnam’s ICT enterprises under sustainable development approach. Secondary data was collected from reports published by Ministry of Labors, Invalids and Social Affair (MOLISA), International Labor Organization (ILO), Vietnam General Confederation of Labor (VGCL), Ministry of Information and Communications (MIC), Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry, General Statistics Office (GSO) and ideas raised by experts in forums and conferences. Primary data was collected by researchers by questionnaires, in- depth interviews with stakeholders in Vietnam’s ICT enterprises. 3.2. Research methods The research used a combination of methods including: Questionnaires: Convenient sampling method was used as it is suitable with the scale, time and resources. Based on proposals by Bollen (1998) and Hair et al. (1998), the expected sampling scale is higher than 100 and the minimum scale has ratio n = 5*k (where k is the number of indicators in the research). This research has 37 indicators, therefore the minimum scale is 35*5 = 175. The research was conducted in 26 ICT enterprises based in Hanoi, Bac Ninh and Hai Phong. Questionnaire subjects include laborers, trade union executives, labor users (with the rate of 10-15 questionnaires/ 1 enterprise). The collected number of questionnaires was 207, ensuring the statistical significance. In-depth interviews: In-depth interviews were used with laborers and trade union 8
executives in ICT enterprises that participated in the survey to add detailed description of the situation of SR to laborers in these enterprises. Descriptive statistics method: the questionnaire includes questions designed in the form of statements, measured by 5-point Likert scale (from 1 as totally disagree to 5 as totally agree) with Mean. With 5-point Likert scale, (Maximum - Minimum)/n = (5-1)/5 = 0.8. The significance levels are: 1.00 - 1.80: totally disagree; 1.81 - 2.60: disagree; 2.61 - 3.40: no opinion; 3.41 - 4.20: agree; 4.21 - 5.00: totally agree. 4. Research findings 4.1. Overview of Vietnam’s ICT enterprises About quantity and operational fields of ICT enterprises: By December 2022, there were 33,783 ICT enterprises in operation, increasing by 1.26 times from 2018. The number of Vietnam’s ICT enterprises has increased sharply in recent years in all forms, of which software enterprises account for the highest proportion (over 53.6%), followed by IT service enterprises (approximately 29%), hardware and digital content production enterprises (15% and 2.3% respectively) (MIC, 2023). ICT enterprises are present in all 63 provinces of Vietnam. About business results: In 2018, the revenue of ICT enterprises totaled VND 967,580 billion, increasing by 2.36 times in 2021, of which the revenue from hardware and electronics production enterprises accounts for 93.68% (in 2021). However, the revenue growth rate of ICT enterprises tended to decrease (MOF, 2020). Table 2: Business scales of Vietnam’s ICT enterprises Year No. Kind of ICT 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 1 Hardware and electronics production Number of enterprises 4,179 4,573 4,705 4,950 5,091 Revenue (in billion dong) 868,305 979,441 2,083,24 2,114,96 - 0 1 2 Software production Number of enterprises 14,351 15,096 15,467 17,180 18,134 Revenue (in billion dong) 48,205 55,537 91,904 99,601 - 3 Digital content Number of enterprises 633 678 702 739 762 Revenue (in billion dong) 2,683 2,695 2,022 2,840 - 4 IT services Number of enterprises 7,731 8,294 8,553 9,294 9,796 Revenue (in billion dong) 38,385 41,879 36,787 40,247 - Total number 26,894 28,641 29,427 32,163 33,783 Total revenue (in billion 957,580 1,079,55 2,213,95 2,257,65 dong) 4 5 1 Growth rate from 1.23 2.05 1.9 previous year Source: MIC, 2023 9
About laborers: The total number of laborers in ICT enterprises was very big, up to 1,081,268 in 2020. On average, an ICT enterprise employed 34.62 laborers (by 31 December 2020) and the number tended to remain stable (see Table 3). Table 3: Laborers in Vietnam’s ICT enterprises Year No. Kind of enterprises 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 1 Hardware and 568,288 678,917 717,955 760,097 842,458 electronics production 2 Software production 97,387 112,004 127,366 143,149 149,072 3 Digital content 46,647 55,908 51,952 42,479 34,377 4 IT services 68,605 75,692 76,419 59,481 55,361 5 Total 780,926 922,521 973,692 1,005,206 1,081,268 Source: MIC, 2021 4.2. Reality of social responsibility to laborers in Vietnam’s information and communications technology enterprises In recent years, Vietnam’s ICT enterprises have paid due attention to SR to laborers as this is the condition to ensure the commitments that enterprises have made when exporting products to foreign markets. SR to laborers has been implemented in ICT enterprises in various forms, including: re-signing/ supplementing appendix to labor contracts with terms beneficial to laborers, having terms that allow laborers to take breaks in work shift to reduce stress; providing labor incentives in weekly and monthly basis; providing vitamin to female pregnant workers; paying in advance 6-month salaries to female laborers in maternity leave to ensure that they can pay for accommodation and utility fee, etc. ICT enterprises that are known for good SR to laborers include Ho Tram Project Company, HP Technology, etc. The compliance with SR to laborers under sustainable development approach according to ILO indicators is shown in the following aspects: 4.2.1. About social responsibility to freedom of association and collective bargaining About freedom of association: Although the number of trade union members and trade unions keeps increasing, the rights of laborers to establish trade unions in many ICT enterprises are not yet satisfied; there still exists the situation of labor users avoiding and not facilitating laborers to exercise their rights to join and establish trade unions (VGCL, 2018). In many ICT enterprises, trade unions have been established but only in theory and worked under the dominance from labor users. Table 4: Level of implementing “freedom of association and collective bargaining” in Vietnam’s ICT enterprises Stan. No. Indicators Mean deviation 10
Ensuring to facilitate the establishment of trade unions at 1 3.21 0.798 unit level Ensuring that laborers can participate in trade unions and 2 3.12 0.867 association at their wills 3 Ensuring to organize periodical dialogues 3.33 0.745 4 Ensuring to organize dialogues when one party requests 3.06 0.768 Ensuring that dialogue contents are as stipulated by labor 5 3.47 0.598 law Signing and complying with Collective Labor Agreement 6 2.83 1.012 with many contents higher than in Labor Law Being willing to dialogue and adjust contents in Collective 0.952 7 2.79 Labor Agreement Source: Survey findings by researchers (2022) These reviews are similar to the findings of the researchers, accordingly, the statements that reflect the rights to be facilitated to “establish trade unions” and to “participate in trade unions at wills” gain quite low mean of 3.21 and 3.12 respectively. About collective bargaining: The reviews of VGCL hold that there still exist many limitations in the exercise of the rights to collective bargaining and signing Collective Labor Agreement. The number of enterprises which have signed collective bargaining and Collective Labor Agreement remains low. The quality of Collective Labor Agreement has improved but not yet up to laborers’ expectations, many Collective Labor Agreements do not provide higher benefits to laborers but are just the duplications of the Labor Law 2019. Many Collective Labor Agreements are not yet practical but only signed as regulated. Especially many ICT enterprises have in reality implemented many regulations that are more beneficial to laborers than the Labor Law but do not include them in the Collective Labor Agreement so as to avoid legal binding. According to the findings of the researchers, the mean of “Ensuring to organize periodical dialogues” is 3.33/5.0, “Ensuring that dialogue contents are as stipulated by labor law” is 3.47/5.0 while the lowest mean goes to indicators which reflect higher collective bargaining rights such as “Ensuring to organize dialogues when one party requests” with 3.06/5.0, “Signing and complying with Collective Labor Agreement with many contents higher than in Labor Law” with 2.83 and “Being willing to dialogue and adjust contents in Collective Labor Agreement” with 2.79/5.0 4.2.2. About social responsibility to Prohibiting forced labor As illustrated in the research by ILO, Asia-Pacific is the region where the victims of forced labor account for over half of the total number in the world. Forced labor happens when laborers are cheated and trapped in the work and cannot escape (in every 1,000 laborers in this region, 3 are stuck in this situation) and Vietnam, which is considered as the world’s workshop, is not an exception (Chang-Hee Lee, 2020). As a result, many ICT enterprises in Vietnam face being criticized for violating forced labor, especially when Vietnam has joined new-generation free trade agreements. According to the findings by the researchers, the situation of “Prohibiting forced 11
labor” in Vietnam’s ICT enterprises is shown by the majority in “no opinion” from 2.62 to 3.23 with quite high standard deviation, of which “Ensuring not to use violence to force laborers to stay to work” gains the highest score and “Ensuring not to keep personal documents to force laborers to stay to work” has the lowest score (see Table 5). Table 5: Level of implementing “Prohibiting forced labor” in Vietnam’s ICT enterprises Stan. No. Indicators Mean deviation Ensuring not to use violence to force laborers to stay to 1 3.23 0.764 work 2 Ensuring not to use threats to force laborers to stay to work 3.13 0.997 Ensuring not to use penalties to force laborers to stay to 3 3.05 0.826 work Ensuring not to retain salary to force laborers to stay to 4 2.78 1.076 work Ensuring not to keep personal documents to force laborers 5 2.62 1.163 to stay to work 6 Ensuring not to force laborers to work overtime 2.81 1.297 Source: Survey findings by researchers (2022) 4.2.3. About social responsibility to Prohibiting child labor Currently, Vietnam has over 1.75 million laborers of children and adolescents, of which about 1 million children have to do particularly hard work, mostly in rural areas (85% of children), mainly in three sectors of agriculture, services and industry - construction. The number of children working in occupations that prohibit the use of child labor or working in harmful working conditions is 1.3 million, accounting for 75%; 34% of child labor work an average 42 hours a week (Children Protection Agency, MOLISA, 2020). The research findings indicate that the percentage of child and adolescent laborers doing hard and harmful jobs is very low (most indicators to this criterion are about 4.19/5.0). However, the risks of child labor are still likely as the mean values of “Ensuring the system to verify laborers’ ages before recruiting” and “Ensuring to record profiles of laborers under 18” are low at 2.61 and 3.05 respectively. Table 6: Level of implementing “Prohibiting and limiting child labor” in Vietnam’s ICT enterprises Stan. No. Indicators Mean deviation 1 Ensuring not to use laborers under 15 4.32 0.356 2 Ensuring not to use laborers under 18 to work overtime and 4.27 0.789 over stipulated working hours 3 Ensuring not to use laborers under 18 to do hazardous work 4.18 0.509 4 Ensuring not to use laborers under 18 to work in bad 4.19 0.654 12
working conditions 5 Ensuring the system to verify laborers’ ages before 2.61 1.210 recruiting 6 Ensuring to record profiles of laborers under 18 3.05 1.087 Source: Survey findings by researchers (2022) 4.2.4. About social responsibility to Prohibiting labor discrimination In Vietnam, discrimination against race, nationality, religion, etc. is barely recorded. But discrimination against genders remains a matter of concern as discrimination behavior in this kind is mostly hidden and unrecognizable. Table 7: Level of implementing “Prohibiting labor discrimination” in Vietnam’s ICT enterprises Stan. No. Indicators Mean deviation Ensuring not to discriminate against genders and ages in 1 2.73 1.211 recruitment and pay Ensuring not to discriminate against marital status in 2 3.12 0.832 recruitment and pay Ensuring not to discriminate against races, nationalities, 3 4.23 0.511 politics, religion, political wills in recruitment and pay Ensuring not to discriminate against disability, HIV/AIDS 4 3.18 0.897 in recruitment and pay Ensuring not to dismiss laborers for reasons related to 5 pregnancy, maternity leave and raising of children under 12 3.43 1.023 months old Ensuring not to relocate and alter laborers’ positions, 6 3.42 0.979 salaries, bonus or seniority during maternity leave Source: Survey findings by researchers (2022) The survey results by the researchers show that there are 3 groups of indicators: Group 1 include indicators with “totally agree” over 4.2, consisting of “Ensuring not to discriminate against races, nationalities, politics, religion, political wills in recruitment and pay”. Group 2 include indicators with “agree” below 4.2 and above 3.4, consisting of “Ensuring not to dismiss laborers for reasons related to pregnancy, maternity leave and raising of children under 12 months old” and “Ensuring not to relocate and alter laborers’ positions, salaries, bonus or seniority during maternity leave” Group 3 include indicators with “no opinion” above 2.6 and below 3.4, consisting of “Ensuring not to discriminate against genders and ages in recruitment and pay”, “Ensuring not to discriminate against marital status in recruitment and pay”, “Ensuring not to discriminate against disability, HIV/AIDS in recruitment and pay”, of which the lowest mean value goes to “Ensuring not to discriminate against genders and ages in recruitment and pay” with 2.73/5.0 13
5. Conclusion and recommendations 5.1. Conclusion The following conclusions about the situation of SR to laborers in Vietnam’s ICT enterprises in recent time can be drawn from the above evidence and analysis: Successes: A number of ICT enterprises have cared about SR to laborers as this is the prerequisite for their products to be exported to foreign markets under the commitments to brands; SR to laborers has been implemented in various forms; ICT enterprises which implement SR effectively have been recognized and honored. Regarding implementing SR to ensure the basic rights in the workplaces and create acceptable working conditions, ICT enterprises have implemented some indicators related to limiting the use of child laborers well and 2 indicators of “Ensuring not to discriminate against races, nationalities, politics, religion, political wills in recruitment and pay” and “Ensuring the regulation on minimum wage” are also highly appreciated. Limitations: Many ICT enterprises have not paid due attention to SR to laborers, thereby only carrying out SR to respond to stakeholders or conducting it in an “acceptable” level in accordance with the labor law. Regarding the SR to ensure the basic rights in the workplace and create acceptable working conditions, most ICT enterprises implement them at average level, some indicators even receive low scores, including: “Signing and complying with Collective Labor Agreement with many contents higher than in Labor Law”; “Being willing to dialogue and adjust contents in Collective Labor Agreement”; “Ensuring not to retain salary to force laborers to stay to work”; “Ensuring not to keep personal documents to force laborers to stay to work”; “Ensuring not to force laborers to work overtime”; “Ensuring the system to verify laborers’ ages before recruiting”; “Ensuring not to discriminate against genders and ages in recruitment and pay”. This illustrates that many ICT enterprises still have low level of guaranteeing these basic rights to laborers. These conclusions are supported by the results of the in-depth interviews that the researchers (PV) conducted with laborers/ trade union executives in 5 ICT enterprises (PV1-PV5) among the enterprises that participated in the questionnaires. The answers sound somewhat negative and show that they have to accept the reality that has lasted for a long time as a matter of course (see Box 1). Box 1: Answers of laborers and trade union executives in Vietnam’s ICT enterprises PV1 (A trade union executive in an ICT enterprise in Hai Phong, 45 years old, female): “Our company has established the trade union since its foundation. We have conducted periodical activities as stipulated by Law. However, the company has not created favorable conditions for us to participate in the union during and after working hours. That laborers show active participation in the union may affect their job and some laborers have been “warned” so as to make a choice. Well, as to collective bargaining, we have heard of this but it is just done in a superficial manner. If the trade union shows strong responses to the company’s policies, we will be called for “questioning”. Besides, 14
we have to work to make a living, so we do not have enough energy to organize diverse activities for laborers. Just implementing the programs instructed by higher-level trade unions is too tiring for us.” PV2 (A laborer working in an ICT company in Bac Ninh, 30 years old, female): “Retaining personal documents and even deliberately slowing the procedures to complete social insurance to force laborers to stay for work are common. Working overtime can be considered as luck because after the Covid-19, while many other companies have closed down, that we can work overtime for additional income is good, although we feel very exhausted, as without this additional income, we couldn’t have afforded our living costs. From the bottom of our heart, we don’t want to work overtime, we just want to be able to come back to our rented room, chat with co-workers or friends, or sometimes we want to participate in some entertainment activities, so on. But it is just a distant dream for us.” PV3 (A laborer working in an ICT company in Bac Thang Long Industrial Zone, Hanoi, 28 years old, female): “In my workplace, there is no laborer under 15 but there are 5 out of 25 people below 18 years old. The tasks of these 5 below-18 laborers are nothing different from ours. However, sometimes I see some juniors who I think are not up to 15 years old as they are very small, they carter food boxes to us. I think they work for sub- contractors that provide lunch services to our company and some others in the industrial zone.” PV4 (A laborer working as an engineer in an ICT company producing software in Hanoi, 40 years old, male): “In my workplace, the rate of male and female laborers is nearly equal, but over 70% of people in management of different levels is male. When we are doing our work, male and female do the same tasks. Our jobs are quite stressful. We don’t have the idea of “office hours”. Our salary is negotiated and agreed when we signed the labor contract, so there is not overtime increment. Our income is quite ok, but I see that with those who have married and have small children, they usually have to use home- maid services to help clean their houses and pick up children”. PV5 (A trade union executive in an ICT enterprise in Bac Ninh, about 35 years old, participating in trade union leading position for nearly 10 years): “As trade union leaders, we also want to organize many creative activities, many contests for laborers but it is very difficult as people usually have to work overtime. If not working overtime, people just want to come back home for rest. They always long for sleeps. One more challenge is the budget for trade union activities remains limited. If we want to organize any costly activities, we need to ask for fund from the company via a complicated procedure.” Reasons for inadequate implementation of SR to laborers: From ICT enterprises (i) The awareness and perceptions of ICT of SR to laborers under sustainable development approach on the basic rights in the workplaces remain poor; (ii) There is no strategy on SR to laborers; (iii) Inadequate attention has been paid to the development of SR culture. From the State: 15
(i) The laws on basic rights in the workplaces in Vietnam are not totally compatible with international labor standards; (ii) There are loopholes in the process of implementing and supervising labor laws at all levels. 5.2. Recommendations 5.2.1. Solutions to ICT enterprises To implement SR to laborers under sustainable development approach, ICT enterprises should focus on: (i) Raising the competence of labor users The competence to implement SR to laborers includes knowledge, skills and attitudes. Depending on their positions, roles and status, each entity should choose appropriate solutions: - Improving awareness and thinking of ICT enterprises about the rights and obligations of SR to laborers; the roles of SR to laborers; the inevitable trends of SR in the context of digital transformation, new-generation free trade agreements and post-Covid 19 period, opportunities and challenges when carrying out sustainable development goals, etc. - Improving knowledge of SR to laborers to labor users, including: updating core knowledge of international law standards, especially the basic rights of laborers in the workplace; fundamental knowledge of labor law. - Improving skills of implementing SSR to laborers such as social dialogue skills (information exchange, consulting, and negotiation); problem spotting and solving skills, etc. (ii) Establishing the goals of SR to laborers in development strategies The International Institute of Sustainable Development in Winnipeg, Canada states that “To a business, sustainable development means applying business strategies and activities to satisfy the current demand of business owners and stakeholders while preserving and maintaining sustainability and increasing the values of natural and human resources necessary for the future.” In reality, many enterprises have used SR as a business strategy so as to improve financial situation, increase work morale of laborers, enhance customer loyalty, and raise brand value as well as company reputation. In the value chain that the enterprises participate in, they need to transform from passively implementing and meeting minimum requirements to building strategies to actively implement SR to laborers. Enterprises should include SR to laborers in their mission statements. That way, all divisions can understand and join actions towards the sustainable business strategies. This is also the way ICT enterprises can promote their images to position their brands in the mind of target customers as well as the community. Enterprises can also take advantage of these opportunities to run internal marketing with staff, raise the values of the SR that they are implementing, connect laborers and motivate them to participate more in SR programs. In these business strategies, SR to laborers is identified as a tool to raise the company’s competitiveness and an investment of ICT enterprises. 16
(iii) Developing corporate culture that integrates SR to laborers Research by Adam Grant (Wharton Business School) indicates that becoming an ethical company is the way to create motivations for laborers. Research by Carolyn Egri (Simon Fraser University) and Susan Herman also affirm that leaders that advocate sustainable development hold 3 main points: showing care to the benefits of others; showing interest in the environment; being willing to create changes within the company. They are competent leaders who inspire other people to help them gain the vision (Nguyen Thị Minh Nhan, 2016). ICT enterprises should focus on “refining” the SR to laborers when developing their corporate culture. 5.3.2. Proposals to the State (i) Completing legal framework related to SR to laborers under sustainable development approach Firstly, it is necessary to analyze and prepare necessary conditions to sign Convention 87. This is the prerequisite for Vietnam and other member countries of CPTPP, EVFTA and UKVFTA to implement the Convention effectively; Secondly, it is important to integrate appropriate international labor standards into the national legal system. Vietnam has approached nearer to the international common legal grounds, so the Labor Law needs further amending, supplementing and completing in both contents and forms towards the SR sustainable development approach. Specifically, it is necessary to supplement and adjust the regulations on the establishment and operation of organizations representing laborers in enterprises; complete the labor law to make it compatible with Convention 29; amend legal regulations on child labor, labor discrimination to ensure the compatibility with international standards, etc. (ii) Implementing and strengthening labor inspections It is necessary to establish the mechanism to cooperate between labor inspectors and trade unions or labor representing organizations, at the same time intensify penalties to deal with violations to the labor law. When trade unions or labor representing organizations see the signs of violations and report to inspectors, it is necessary to handle the violations promptly and strictly and publish the information immediately. That way, laborers will believe in the roles of state administration agencies in ensuring law-abiding spirit in the workplaces, the labor community will also act more legally. REFERENCES 1. Ministry of Information and Communications (2021), White Book on Vietnam’s Information and Communications 2021, Information and Communications Publishing House, Hanoi. 2. Bresnahan T. F., Trajtenberg M. (1992), General Purpose Technologies: Engines of Growth, NBER Working Paper, 4148 3. Carroll Archie (1989), “Corporate Social Responsibility - Evolution of a Definitional Construct”, Business Society. 4. Center for Development and Integration, "Social Enterprise Models, Practices and 17
Trend", No 2, Labor Publishing House, Ha Noi, 2013. 5. Dang Thi Viet Duc (2019), Impacts of Information and Communications on Vietnam’s Economy, Hue University Journal of Science: Economics and Development; ISSN 2588-1205, Vol. 128, No. 5D, 2019, Pg. 5-19. 6. Helpman E. (Eds.) (1998), General Purpose Technologies and Economic Growth, Cambridge, MA: MIT Press 7. Nguyen Thi Bich Loan and Nguyen Thi Minh Nhan (2020), Labor Commitments in FTAs and Solutions of Vietnam, Industry and Trade Publishing House, Hà Nội. 8. Michel Capron, Françoise Quairel-Lanoizelée (translated by Le Minh Tien, Pham Nhu Ho) (2012), "Corporate Social Responsibility", Tri thức Publishing House, Hà Nội. 9. Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (2020), Provincial Competitiveness Index (PCI) Report 2020. 10. Website: makeinvietnam.mic.gov.vn 18
THE DEVELOPMENT OF GREEN LOGISTICS - THE TREND OF THE FUTURE Associate Professor Dr. Bui Ba Khiem, PhD. Nguyen Thi Thanh Nhan Haiphong University Email: khiembb@dhhp.edu.vn; nhanntt@dhhp.edu.vn Abstract: The world's environment is currently facing extremely serious issues, and sustainable development has become a necessary issue that countries must implement. Therefore, in Vietnam in recent times, the task of building a green economy has been mentioned in many reports and seminars. In this trend, the development of green logistics is also one of the important solutions for Vietnam to move towards a green economy. This scientific article focuses on the trend of developing green logistics in Vietnam by providing an overview of the current situation of green logistics development, the status of green logistics development, and the opportunities and challenges when developing a green logistics system in Vietnam. Keywords: Green Logistics; Green Economy; Logistics; Reverse Logictics; Sustainable Development. PHÁT TRIỂN LOGISTICS XANH - XU HƯỚNG CỦA TƯƠNG LAI Tóm tắt: Môi trường thế giới hiện nay đang đối mặt với những vấn đề vô cùng nghiêm trọng, phát triển bền vững đang trở thành vấn đề tất yếu của các quốc gia phải thực hiện. Vì vậy, tại Việt Nam trong thời gian gần đây, nhiệm vụ xây dựng một nền kinh tế xanh đang được đề cập đến trong nhiều báo cáo, hội thảo. Trong xu thế đó, phát triển logistics xanh cũng là một trong những giải pháp quan trọng để Việt Nam tiến tới một nền kinh tế xanh. Bài báo khoa học này tập trung vào xu hướng phát triển logistics xanh tại Việt Nam thông qua việc cung cấp cách nhìn tổng quan về tình hình phát triển logistics xanh, thực trạng phát triển logistics xanh và những cơ hội, thách thức khi phát triển hệ thống logistics xanh tại Việt Nam. Từ khoá: Logistics xanh; Kinh tế xanh, Logistics, Logistics ngược, Phát triển bền vững. 1. Introduction In the context of the world facing serious environmental issues, sustainable development is a necessary trend, and it is an approach to economic development that integrates economic growth with environmental protection and social welfare. Currently, Vietnam is also actively transitioning to a green economy. The approach to sustainable development is specifically divided into development goals, while the approach to green growth creates a green economy that is seen as a way to achieve sustainable development goals. And green logistics is one of the indispensable factors in creating a green economy. There have been many studies on sustainable development, green growth, and 19