The impact of foreign ownership and management on firm performance in Vietnam

Abstract

The human and capital resources from foreign investors are important sources of finance for developing countries. Foreign ownership can help the firm to raise funds for operations and the foreign management can help the firm expand the market and improve management. However, does this really happen to Vietnamese firm? To find the answer to that question, this paper examines the impact of foreign ownership and management on the financial performance of listed firms on Vietnam's stock market. The data collected include 427 listed firms in all fields over five years, from 2014 to 2018. The financial performance is measured by Tobin's Q, ROA and ROE. The study carried out testing of each model by the least squares method of Pool OLS, assessing random effects (REM) and evaluating fixed effects (FEM). The most effective model is the FEM model. The results show that the foreign ownership ratio and the size of the firm have a positive impact on the financial performance. The foreign management, the age of the firms, the liquidity and financial leverage have a negative impact on the financial performance. Based on the research results, the study proposes some recommendations to improve the financial performance of listed firms in Vietnam.