Week 10_ Toan Tran

Never before have I read anything remotely close to business, but I found what I consumed of Start-Up Vietnam to be very interesting and easily digestible from the viewpoint of someone who is not used to this realm of thought and subject matter. To start off, I appreciated the foreword written by Giang Lam, because it gave an accurate and insightful look into the outside of Vietnam from the view of a native and a foreigner. As I was reading, many parts stood out to me as being very evident and relatable from what I experienced when I went back to Vietnam this past summer.

As a pre-health student, I feel that so much of my attention is focused on the sciences that I do not pay enough attention to much outside of it. I want to make a more conscious effort to look into more topics such as business in Vietnam because it does interest me. Professor Valverde mentioned that as time passes on and more young entrepreneurs pave the way for Vietnam to be more suitable for business, eliminating the cons that Rowan mentioned, the older, more traditional and corrupt business people will cycle out and Vietnam as a whole will experience a greater growth in business than it is right now. I look forward to that day and am curious as I am getting older to see how the globalized future of Vietnam pans out.

References:

Business in Vietnam - Google Search. https://www.google.com/search?q=business+in+vietnam&rlz=1C5CHFA_enUS789US789&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiwvdOIvpnhAhWMHzQIHVwfCWUQ_AUIDygC&biw=1439&bih=690#imgrc=A5z-C17MgSYjfM: Accessed 23 Mar. 2019.

Rowan, Andrew. Startup Vietnam: Innovation and Entrepreneurship in the Socialist Republic. GKTA Group, 2018.

Week 1 - Yufei Liu

There are multiple start ups within the last few years ranging from Uber to Tinder and they all have a big target audience. Every start up is based on an idea of improving lives. The way a start up makes money is to offer people better technology than they have now. The article talks about Google as an example. Google was simply to create a search site that is helpful. They had three new ideas for Google which sets it apart from other search engines: index more fo the Web, use links to rank search results and have clean, simple web pages with unintrusive keyword-based ads. Above all, Google is determined to make a site that was good to use with the least bugs and glitches. Basically the main way to generate start up ideas is to look at something people are trying to do and figure out how to do it in a way that doesn't suck. One advantage startups have over established companies is that there are no discrimination laws about starting businesses. For example, I would be reluctant to start a startup with a woman who had small children or was likely to have them soon. However, you're not allowed to ask prospective employees if they plan to have kids soon. Under current US law, you are not even allowed to discriminate on the basis of intelligence. Whereas when you're starting a company, you can discriminate on any basis you want about who you start it with.

week 10- Vivianne Lee

        Gaining further knowledge on the country of Vietnam is significant to me, as I understood more clearly how Vietnam remade itself into a country currently thriving in economy and education. As it was previously known as a host to “revolutionary, civil, proxy, and conventional wars” (Rowan, page 1). According to the article“Start Up Vietnam”, Andrew P Rowan states that countries which were in war with Vietnam some being the United States, Japan and South Korea, are currently sending business people, investors and skilled workers to Vietnam. Furthermore, there are more than “thirty thousand Vietnamese students at institutions of higher education in the United States, Vietnam’s former enemy. Vietnamese students are the fifth-largest group of students in the United States from any country. ” (Rowan, page1). Aside from sending students to Vietnam, the United States is Vietnam’s largest export market exporting “USD $177 billion worth of goods” (Rowan, page 2). Vietnam has created substantial economic growth that it further experienced a rapid growth in population. According to the article within a span of thirty years Vietnam economy has turned into a “startup economy” with thousands of high growth enterprises. Thus, in order to continue achieving its maximum “national aesthetics” status of a country flourishing in economy and education, it must continue to carry on strong relations with foreign countries that take in their goods and students.







Works Cited: 
Rowan, Andrew. Startup Vietnam: Innovation and Entrepreneurship in the Socialist Republic. GKTA Group, 2018.

Week 10 - Diane Tran

Andrew Rowen's book called, Startup Vietnam: Innovation and Entrepreneurship in the Socialist Republic talk about how to start successful entrepreneurship in Vietnam. In the last 20 years, Hanoi's leadership is trying to make Vietnam a "startup nation" to help the country grow over the next few years. From this book, I learned that Vietnam is second to China of how much growth and development this country has had.  Even though Vietnam does not have a huge market, they still have about 1,500 startups. Rowen also describes how people outside of Vietnam have this idea that Vietnam is just a location where wars were fought. However, he goes into detail how Vietnam is undergoing massive change. The urban changes in Vietnam are visible. He talks about what has not changed and what stayed the same. He also depicts how to work in Vietnam, one must understand the people, culture, environment to successfully create a start up there. He also talks about how Vietnam is known for its political stability but this also somewhat not as true. There are other things that are going on that is operating in Vietnam. Rowen describes the challenges and opportunities in Vietnam and how the government should build a solid foundation if Vietnam wants to be nation that becomes successfully involved with startups.


I thought that this book easy to read because it was not the longest book. In my opinion, there was some information I thought was deemed interesting. However, I somewhat felt that he would be repetitive on the things he mentioned. Vietnam must recognize what the country needs to fix and improve on to excel forward.

Works Cited

Rowan, Andrew. Startup Vietnam: Innovation and Entrepreneurship in the Socialist Republic. GKTA Group, 2018.

Week 8 - Percy Yan

In the article "An ecological risk assessment of pesticides and fish kills in the Sixaola watershed, Costa Rica" by Matthew Morra, he talks about the risks Costa Rica is facing. Along the southeastern coast of Costa Rica, a variety of pesticides are intensively applied to produce export quality plantains and bananas. In this region, and in other argricultural areas, fish kills are often documented by local residents and in the national news. This study examines principal exposure pathways, measured environmental concentrations and selected toxicity thresholds of the three most prevalent pesticides to construct a deterministic risk assessment for fish mortality. Comparisons of observed pesticide concentrations, along with estimated biological effects and observations during actual fish kills, highlight gaps in knowledge in correlating pesticide environmental concentration and toxicity in tropical environments. Observations of fish kill events and measured pesticide concentrations in the field, along with other water quality indicators, suggest that a number of environmental conditions can interact to cause fish mortality and that current species toxicity datasets may not be applicable for estimating toxicological or other synergistic effects, especially in tropical environments.

Week 10 - Yufei Liu

Startup Vietnam: Innovation and Entrepreneurship in the Socialist Republic by Andrew Rowan captures the challenges, efforts, and successes of Vietnam’s youth, local startups, and foreign entrepreneurs during a time of transition between tradition and modernity. Having significantly evolved during the last 20 years, Hanoi's leadership is committed to making Vietnam a “startup nation” in an attempt to accelerate the country’s growth over the next 20 years. The spirit and promise of a resilient, improvisational, driven, and entrepreneurial people in this Southeast Asian nation are presented within an understandable operational landscape, in addition to creating a vision for what a 21st century Vietnam might become. Rowan talks about how Vietnam has developed significantly over the last 20 years. Many people outside of Vietnam first and foremost think of the wars fought there. But that’s not the everyday Vietnam that is undergoing massive change. The urban changes in Vietnam that are visible on the surface level and they are raw, real, and deep-rooted. In fact, it would be hard not to notice the hustle and bustle as well as omnipresent noise pollution in the most populous cities.It can be confusing for foreigners to reconcile what they read or hear with what they see once landing in Vietnam: it’s changing literally right before your eyes in the major cities. Vietnam is more than just a collection of rice paddies, conical hats, and water buffalo. "VC" used to mean VietCong but now it stands for Venture Capitalists in Vietnam. 

Week 10 - Alvin Du

Andrew seems quite contradictory in his book Startup Vietnam. It appears to be a book about how to manage a startup business in modern Vietnam but as you keep reading, you'll encounter statements that seem to direct you the opposite way. After about 40 pages into the book, I came across a list of pros and cons of startup culture in Vietnam. There are a handful of good things to say such as everyone's enthusiasm to create things and the rise of technology. But there are actually a lot of cons that are listed, nearly three times as much. Andrew lists things such as failure to commit due to family issues or lack of decency to reply even as far as claiming Vietnamese people don't respect your time because they sit on your offer and eventually ghost you. All these cons are listed and yet the book is called Startup Vietnam, a book that is supposed to introduce you to entrepreneurship in modern Vietnam. The reason I think Andrew contradicts himself this book is because he wants to expose the audience to the reality of Vietnamese business practices. While Vietnam's business practices dont seem too ideal for entrepreneurship currently, it'll get better as Vietnam grows. Specifically, when there are more of the younger tech-savvy generation. Vietnam has so much potential to become a tech powerhouse, but in order to do so, the younger generation along with newfound culture needs to envelop the country first.

Rowan, Andrew. Startup Vietnam: Innovation and Entrepreneurship in the Socialist Republic. GKTA Group, 2018.

Week 7 - Percy Yan

In the article, Botswana's success: Good Governance, Good Policies, and Good Luck by Michael Lewin, he talks about Botswana's economic and social growth. Botswana is a sparsely populated, arid, landlocked country; at independence it was also one of the poorest countries in the world with per capita income of just $70 a year. According to Lewin, Botswana's extraordinary growth was fueled by minerals particularly diamonds. At independence, the country's main export and largest sector, contributed 39 percent of GDP. From independence until 1970s, international aid dominated the government budget and was the main source of foreign exchange. At that time, the mineral sector like diamonds began to take off and soon became the dominant sector. Mineral-based countries seem to be prone to bad government and others have termed it "good economics, bad politics". In almost all developing countries, the government owns the mineral resources and is therefore, the main recipient of the revenues from their extraction. Landlocked Botswana seems to have defied the odds by creating a successful economy. Poverty has been reduced, education has become more widespread, and health indicators had improved all throughout the nation.

Week 6 - Percy Yan

According to Branding a Rising China: An Analysis of Beijing's National Image Management in the Age of China's Rise by Sheng Ding, she mentions that national image is not only a channel to wield a state's national power, but also an important national power resource. It has become critically important for China as it tries to rise in a relatively favorable international environment. This article also examines China's strengths and weaknesses in its national image management. On the one hand, China's national image benefits from its strong commitment to cultural diplomacy, effective employment of information and communication technologies in international broadcating, and close connections with the Chinese diaspora around the world. On the other hand, China's national image management is constrained by such hurdles as weak political credibility, reviving popular nationalism, and various missteps in its foreign policies.

There are many severe problems with China though, such as pollution, food safety, transparency, credibility, consumer consciousness… No country is ever perfect. There is major pollution in the United States; food safety is an issue across Asia, transparency and credibility of a government is not promised in any country; consumer consciousness has a deeper root with influence around the world. However, often times China is put to the spotlight for critiques around the world. Just like the article Media, the Olympics and the Search for the “Real China” written by Kevin Latham describes, no one cares about the eagerness of China trying to prove what we are really about, our growth, our economy and new technology, all they see is air pollution, fakeness, and government control. It’s kind of heartbreaking to see my country going through such tremendous development after world war 2 is still being misunderstood. This article shows China's national image management will remain an uphill battle in the long run.

Week 4 - Percy Yan

In the article "How American Style Fueled Postwar Youth Fashion in Japan" by Chantal Fernandez, she talks about the post World War II Japan. Kensuke Ishizu started a men's ready to wear company called Van Jacket to provide a functional uniform for the emerging middle class - men who were not yet accustomed to thinking about fashion. She also talks about the fact that this generation would always favor tailor made clothing over off the rack styles, he turned his attention towards the next generation. During a world tour in 1959, Ishizu visited Princeton realized that the preppy style of the dapper young students was perfect for Japanese youth. She also told us that in Japan, if you pick up Popeye or Men's Non-no or whatever, it's fashion. Since the internet is very big but mainstream media has not moved over to the Internet, Japan is using print culture for their fashion.

Week 10 - Percy Yan

In the article Startup Vietnam by Andrew Rowan, he talks about Vietnam and how it has created and experienced a remarkable growth and development in the last 30 years. This book also captures the challenges, efforts, and successes of Vietnam’s youth, local startups, and foreign entrepreneurs during a time of transition between tradition and
modernity. Having significantly evolved during the last 20 years, Hanoi's leadership is committed to making Vietnam a “startup nation” in an attempt to accelerate the country’s growth over the next 20 years. The spirit and promise of a resilient, improvisational, driven, and entrepreneurial people in this Southeast Asian nation are presented within an understandable operational landscape, in addition to creating a vision for what a 21st century Vietnam might become. We also learn that Vietnam doesn’t have a market of over a billion people like China or India. Yet, with a population of over 90 million people, it has more than 1,500 active startups, making Vietnam the third largest entrepreneurial ecosystem in Southeast Asia (behind Singapore, the major financial hub in the region, and Indonesia with 240+ million people, respectively). The World Bank and the IMF have both recognized Vietnam’s development success. In 2013, the World Bank acknowledged Vietnam’s path from one of the world’s poorest countries to a lower middle-income country in the span of 25 years. Last year, Christine Lagarde, Managing Director of IMF, delivered remarks in Hanoi about Vietnam “gearing up for the next transformation.” If Vietnam is able to avoid the middle-income trap, it can then provide a blueprint for similar countries. Furthermore, as a country among the first to be impacted by climate change, Vietnam will serve as a litmus test for how a rising sea level will impact countries around the world.

Week 10-Uyen Ngo

Last summer when I arrived in Vietnam after just one year after my last visit, Ho Chi Minh City seemed like a completely new city. Despite knowing that it was already becoming quite Westernized from my last visit, it seemed like in 365 short days, it developed exponentially. That meant there were some districts that looked as if they were a part of a first world country. But on the other hand, there were districts that were filled with broken down buildings. I remember sitting in a Starbucks near home to study and it was overfilled with people for the majority of hours of the day. It made me wondering why people did not think about investing in Vietnam. Because the competition would not be as abundance as in the West, especially with leisure companies such as food and clothes. 

Then when I read Andrew Rowan's book and when we had our discussion, it made sense. I think it is definitely a two sided story. As Rowan mentioned, it is important to do 5 things: learn the local language, local business culture, the history, the pulse of the city and country, and opportunities. These "tips" where mentioned because, as he says "the opportunity costs are real-there is a lack of both professionalism and mentors underlying many interactions" (Rowan, 236). As a so called "Viet Kieu", I have to agree with many of the criticism that he mentions. As a country, Vietnam has to accept its flaws and attempt to fix it to increase its chances of moving forward. That being said, I also hope that investors and entrepreneurs recognize that it takes some adapting but when it is done, they will be in a position of a business that has a plentiful of opportunity. As long as both sides swallow their pride, there will be a business opportunity of a lifetime waiting. But if Vietnam never allows itself to admit its mistakes, it will put a cap on its developmental potential. 

Works Cited

Rowan, Andrew. Startup Vietnam: Innovation and Entrepreneurship in the Socialist Republic. GKTA Group, 2018.

Week 10_Yueming Tan

First of all, this book made me know a new look at Vietnam. Vietnam is a country with more than 90 million people and more than 1,500 active startups. This complete overturn general misunderstanding that Vietnam is a poor developing country. Second, when people mention Vietnam, they will think of war. Vietnam’s rapid development now moves them from one of the poorest countries to low- and middle-income countries. Third, entrepreneurs now try to expand the size of their company but lack transparency and restrictions about the Internet. Fourth, due to the rapid economic development of Vietnam, many foreign entrepreneurs have put their eyes on Vietnam. But at the same time, the participation of foreign entrepreneurs will make Vietnam culturally impacted and contradictory.
On the other hand, this book mentions many interesting places in Vietnam. This makes me want to travel to Vietnam.

• https://cdn.tourradar.com/s3/tour/original/95481_99a760be.jpg
• Rowan, Andrew. Startup Vietnam: Innovation and Entrepreneurship in the Socialist Republic. GKTA Group, 2018.

Week 10. Garcia, Moises

Start up Vietnam really spoke to me; when he mentioned that Vietnam first had to get rid of what it was known for, or for what the world saw Vietnam as. He went on to mention that the media portrays Vietnam in this form and that isn't really what Vietnam is, Vietnam is a place where people can share their ideas and create businesses from these ideas. The book talks about what it takes to go into the start up business. Vietnam has more than 1500 active start ups which is the 3rd largest entrepreneurial ecosystem in the world. I don't really want to speak on the book specifically but the message that he is trying to send, or at least the message that I am receiving from it. That is that a lot of these poorer countries automatically get seen as dangerous or the view of them just isn't to par to countries like the US or Europe. I am especially talking about countries like El Salvador to be more specific and connect with the die that he is trying to bring up; El Salvador as we all know is known for its gang worldwide because of news outlets, and even then you have to look it up to see what is going on. I like his idea of Vietnam wanting to be the start up capital of the world. He is able to be successful with his idea because he seeks help from all over like "governments of Vietnam, the United States, and Finland as well as private sector advocates (local and international investors, entrepreneurs, and developers) to further the development of the enterprise ecosystem".



Citations:
-Rowan, Andrew. Startup Vietnam: Innovation and Entrepreneurship in the Socialist Republic. GKTA Group, 2018.
-“Getting into Vietnam’s Startup Scene? Here’s 10 People You Should Meet.” Seedcom. Accessed March 21, 2019. https://seedcom.vn/blogs/seedcom-news/1000055319-getting-into-vietnam-s-startup-scene-here-s-10-people-you-should-meet.

Week 10 - Samantha Soleta

Andrew Rowan's Startup Vietnam: Innovation and Entrepreneurship in the Socialist Republic serves as almost a handbook to successfully navigating entrepreneurship in modern day Vietnam. In the first chapter of his book, Rowan uses lots of firsthand accounts to explain the current business environment in Vietnam and its growing economy. Vietnam is quoted to be "gearing up for the next transformation." As Vietnam has experienced rapid development over the past few decades, we see it moving up in the global economy and being one of the most entrepreneurial ecosystems in Southeast Asia at the moment. Ultimately, Rowan's main point of the book is to share how Vietnam is a prime location for startups to begin for all of its potential. However, he explains that when beginning to work in Vietnam, business owners must understand the kind of culture, environment, and hard work that is involved with creating a startup in Vietnam.

In my opinion, I think the book did seem quite repetitive yet still had a lot of valuable information as well as not-so-valuable but still interesting information. An example of this is his story of the "Great Rat Hunt" which occurred during French colonization. In fear of the bubonic plague, the French had Vietnamese hunters to search for and kill rats. Their wages would then be based on how many rats they killed. This story caught me off guard because I thought I was learning about entrepreneurship but then he explained the entrepreneurship of it. The hunters began to farm the rats in order to turn in their tails and receive compensation. Although it didn't quite align with modern day entrepreneurship in Vietnam, I thought this was a funny story to include.

Cited:

Rowan, Andrew. Startup Vietnam: Innovation and Entrepreneurship in the Socialist Republic. GKTA Group, 2018.

“Vietnam's Startup Ecosystem over 5 Years Reviewed.” THE VOICE OF VIETNAM, 26 Sept. 2017, vovworld.vn/en-US/news/vietnams-startup-ecosystem-over-5-years-reviewed-579272.vov.

Week 9 - Samantha Soleta

Nguyen and Shillabeer's "Issues in Transnational Higher Education Regulation in Vietnam," the two authors speak on transnational higher education in the context of Vietnamese students. The transnational component is actually increasingly desired as students are even beginning to pay premiums for educations that teach them english, a desirable trait that propels them in the work force. But understanding transnational education is actually more complex than one may think. There's different types of transnational higher education and within that there's a number of regulatory models that dictate how TNE (transnational education) comes into play within different countries. In Vietnam specifically, they employ a moderately liberal model regulatory model. Using this model, foreign institutions must adhere to a few standards set out by the hosting country.

To me this seems to be a good model to both expose students to skills that could extremely broaden their range of opportunities. More importantly, Vietnam uses these regulations to ensure that foreign institutions are also taking part in programs/projects that give back to the hosting country. I think following this model in my own startup project could be extremely effective in creating a better education system within the Philippines as well as create more opportunities for the transnational skills that so many learn to use abroad, and instead use those skills within the Philippines.

Works Cited
https://wenr.wes.org/2015/07/developing-international-education-hubs-asia

Week 9 - Yufei Liu

       

 The article "Issues in Transnational Higher Education Regulation in Vietnam" by George Nguyen and Anna Shillabeer reveals concerns that has been raised by the expansion of western education into various Asian countries including Vietnam. There are many different models of international investment and involvement in education. The three major types are People mobility-based education, Program mobility-based education, and Institution mobility-based education. Though all three models exist in Vietnam, people and institution based are more prevalent throughout the country. People mobility-based education is where students or academics travel for teaching and studying. Program mobility-based education involves the mobility of educational programs and curricula via e-learning or educational partnerships with joint courses. Institution mobility-based education is the mobility of the institution moving across borders to set up a campus abroad. Vietnam is a relatively new player in the TNE space and is still developing capability to deliver western style education programs. There is not always a sufficiently strong language capacity in local academics. Most students in Vietnam do not usually have the required English or other language skills and hence language training is usually a part of the university's student service provision for commencement.

N/A. (2013, November 29). Australia and Vietnam renew education ties. Australian Government.

Retrieved from

https://internationaleducation.gov.au/International-network/vietnam/PolicyUpdates-Vietnam/Pages/Australia-and-Vietnam-renew-education-ties.aspx

week 9- Vivianne Lee

Vietnam and its connections to it’s temporary diaspora have persisted through its technological advances in travel, communications and growing interconnections in finance and culture. Cold War politics and changes experienced during globalization have created interconnections among Viet Nam, Vietnamese diaspora and the United States that have re-made the country. Despite its restrictions on travel and communication the Vietnamese managed to establish and maintain connection with Viet Nam through political, technological and cultural means. Internet responses and organizing a virtual community is key in maintaining this national aesthetic. As this virtual community can organize political movements thus furthering technological advances. Through the work of American expatriates and overseas Vietnamese introducing and promoting information communication technology in Viet Nam, thousands of Vietnamese are able to express themselves and promote socio political change (Valverde, page 24). This even fostered areas of communication where none had existed. A goal of subscribers was to create change in Viet Nam through civil discourse and the propagation of information as the internet grew. The Vietnamese diasporic community’s transnational connections evolved largely from community members strong desire to connect with people in their homeland. Diasporic communities stir the imaginations of people at home and transform people’s views of their nation and their world. 

Works Cited:
“Vietnam Boasts 30.8 Million Internet Users.” VOV - VOV Online Newspaper, 20 Oct. 2012, english.vov.vn/society/vietnam-boasts-308-million-internet-users-244627.vov.
Valverde, Kieu-Linh Caroline. Transnationalizing Viet Nam: Community, Culture, and Politics in the Diaspora. Temple University Press, 2013.

Week 9 - Percy Yan

In the article "Issues in Transnational Higher Education Regulation in Vietnam" by George Nguyen and Anna Shillabeer, the expansion of western education into many Asian countries has raised concerns about maintaining the quality of higher education as compared to the home location and complying with quality requirements in the destination location. This article talks about Vietnam's significant transnational education influx from the West. There are three major types of transnational education. They are People mobility-based education, Program mobility-based education and Institution mobility-based education. People mobility-based education is where students or academics travel for teaching and studying. Program mobility-based education involves the mobility of educational programs and curricula via e-learning or education partnerships with joint courses and join curricula. Institution mobility-based education is the mobility of the institution moving across borders to set up a campus abroad. The delivery is diversified and may include franchising, program articulation, branch campuses, off-shore institutions, corporate universities, international institutions, distance learning and virtual universities.

https://www.timeshighereducation.com/features/malaysia-full-of-western-promise/407873.article

week8- Vivianne Lee

        The country of Costa Rica re-made itself by becoming a global center for ecotourism.

Costa Rica is the largest ecotourism destination, by promoting and educating it’s people on conservation parks and reserves it has remained sustainable. It created a national image of paradise that “conserves the environment and improves the well-being of local people” (Jones & Spadafora, page 2). For example, this conservation developed a growing beach tourism market which began to improve transportation infrastructure to service it (Jones & Spadafora, page 4). The completion of rail lines, the expansion of the Pan-American Highway, and an international airport were all due to ecotourism. Furthermore, in order to understand the country’s biodiversity and the need to protect it, biologists from Costa Rica and the United States established institutions that would educate a new generation of conservationists, protect forests and wildlife. Without the scientists and conservationists work, limited knowledge would be known about Costa Rica’s rainforests and few if any national parks would’ve been created. Thus, in order for this country to remain it’s national aesthetic of “paradise” more developments and further research on preserving the lands should continue to be conducted as it not only raises employment, generates considerable income flows but overall preserves the land that draws tourism.

Works Cited:

Figure 2f from: Fleming A, Wood D, Janzen D, Hallwachs W, Smith MA (2015) Seven new species of Spathidexia Townsend (Diptera: Tachinidae) reared from caterpillars in Area de Conservación Guanacaste, Costa Rica. Biodiversity Data Journal 3: E4597. https://doi.org/10.3897/BDJ.3.e4597. (n.d.). ECOTOURISM IN COSTA RICA: THE ULTIMATE ECO TRAVEL GUIDE. doi:10.3897/bdj.3.e4597.figure2f

Jones, Geoffrey Gareth and Spadafora, Andrew, Entrepreneurs and the Co-Creation of Ecotourism in Costa Rica (June 14, 2016). Harvard Business School General Management Unit Working Paper No. 16-136.

Week 9-Uyen Ngo

Growing up, my cousins would scream every Tet at the idea of wearing an ao dai. For me, I have always loved it. There was something about it. When I wore it I felt so feminine and elegant, yet so strong and independent. To me, the ao dai was representative of everything a Vietnamese woman is. Like me, many others say it as "a quintessential symbol of Vietnamese national identity, tradition, and femininity" (Treen). It was interesting to learn that, while it is something that has been around for centuries, its revival, in some ways, was what propelled it into the fashion world. "The revival began when the people of Viet Nam rediscovered not only the tradition beauty of this garment, but also the desire to update it for a modern generation" (Valverde). I think it is important to note that the people of the fashion industry in Viet Nam were able to use the ao dai as a way to show the world what Viet Nam's people are all about without ruining the meaning and integrity of the piece, a risk that is always present when rebranding anything.

To me the ao dai really is the essence of the Vietnamese people, fiercely independent but remarkably flexible, "borrowing and adapting what they found to their liking from many other cultures, merged it with their own rich heritage and created a syncretic yet highly distinctive material culture that is uniquely Vietnamese"(Treen). This might seem ridiculous to others, the ao dai holds so much meaning in its flaps and loose fitting silk pants. And I might be biased, but I believe it is so rare for a piece of clothing to embody so much representation and so much emotion for those who truly understand the meaning and resilient behind it. I also find it is a way to pass along the spirit of our people to the generations that follow, especially the generations that will soon be primarily made up of American born Vietnamese. It is a way to connect them to a country that is thousands of miles away but a part of their blood. While China used the Olympics to show the world what it was about, Vietnam used this centuries-old garment to paint its picture to the world.

Works Cited

"San Jose Museum of Quilts and Textiles" Ao Dai: A Modern Design Coming of Age 2009: Catalogue

Week 9 - Alvin Du

I've always been aware that Vietnam suffered from bad debt, but now the stagnant growth of the country has been brought to light. Nicholas Kaldor's second law of growth is effective in that it shows the correlation between the rate of manufacturing output and labour productivity growth. I can understand why small farmers are more adept on increasing volumes than improving quality since their main focus is to increase their revenue especially at the beginning of their businesses. I was surprised that the cause of Vietnam's current account deficits is a large and growing trade deficit with China, considering that China's GDP has eased since 2011. Failure of Vietnamese firms to capitalize on export growth seems to be the root of slow growth of labor productivity. I was not aware of Singapore's slow growth in the past since the country seems to always be on the rise compared to the Philippines and Vietnam. Vietnam's middle class seems to be growing more rapidly than anywhere in Asia. A suggested strategy for reform was to implement the retention of technicians and managers, but it seems unlikely that Vietnamese companies or businesses hire many new technicians and managers when these positions have already been filled.

Week 9 -Diane Tran

Ever since I was little, when Vietnamese New Year (Tết) came around everyone would wear the Vietnamese traditional dress called Áo dài. People would also wear this traditional dress for weddings. It would come in various designs and patterns and I would always think this traditional dress was so elegant and beautiful. I would love wearing this dress on Vietnamese New Years and it made me more connected to my Vietnamese culture.  Áo dài is considered, "one that is a reinvention of culture, general identity and expression" (Treen, 4). They are worn by both sexes, but mostly by women. This is a cultural symbol of Vietnam that connects the elderly, parents, and children together. We can say that the past, present, and future is represented with this traditional dress. In addition, "Áo dài, like so much of Việt Nam, is a fusion of cultures, integrating Chinese, French, and American influences. Despite this mix, Áo dài retains its uniquely Vietnamese heritage" (Valverde, 8). Different cultures are implemented into Vietnamese traditional dresses, but it also has its uniqueness. Like how Paris used fashion as a way to rebrand its nation, Vietnam used ao dai to represent what the country is about. The history of the Ao dai reflects the adaptability of the Vietnamese.  As people who constantly had to defend themselves against foreigners, they adopted products of foreign cultures which they valued and transformed them into their own.  Thus, the women’s Ao Dai is a cultural metamorphosis that is typically Vietnamese, a design adopted from different culture combines with Western and Oriental elements of fashion and aesthetics to become a product that is uniquely Vietnamese. This dress has become the national dress, a symbol, and pride for Vietnamese people. 



Citations:
"San Jose Museum of Quilts and Textiles" Ao Dai: A Modern Design Coming of Age 2009: Catalogue
“Wedding Aodai | Heaven Ao Dai.” Aodai Heaven, heavenaodai.com/wedding-aodai/.

Week 9_Yueming Tan

In the article "The legacy of agent orange: empirical evidence from central Vietnam" by Michael G. Palmer, the author states that the US military used the chemical weapon Agent orange to cause a large number of US and Vietnamese soldiers deaths in the Vietnam War. First, the US military used Agent Orange to destroy the grass that the Vietnamese army used to hide, and the second was to destroy Vietnam's crops. To my surprise, the power of Agent Orange is not less than that of an atomic bomb. Those polluted land cannot self-purify, and the nearby residents are significantly affected. Some of the affected residents had Cancer, and some children were born with defects. Most of them suffered from miscarriages and various skin disease. What surprised me is that these infected people did not receive sufficient economic and medical assistance. Most people are sick and die after they get sick.  Most of these affected people are single because they cannot learn or work. This reason also led to a decline in the population of some rural areas. According to the survey, most AO families indicated that they did not receive adequate assistance. The author believes that the Vietnamese Red Cross will need to cooperate with foreign NGOs to obtain donations. This picture makes me sad because many children are actually infected with AO, and most of the children are born without vision.

• The legacy of agent orange: Empirical evidence from central Vietnam. (2004, August 19). Retrieved from https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S027795360400317X
• https://allthatsinteresting.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/agent-orange.jpg

Week 9_Toan Tran

Week 8_Yueming Tan

In the article "Entrepreneurs and the Co-Creation of Ecotourism in Costa Rica" by Geoffrey Jones and Andrew Spadafora, the authors state that Costa Rica has rapidly developed into a world-famous eco-tourism attraction through a unique natural resource. Although ecotourism has brought huge income and employment opportunities to Costa Rica, the excessive access of tourists and the lack of effective pesticide management have brought harm to the natural environment. On the other hand, The Costa Rican government does not have a good environmental management policy, and this has led to a large number of forests being over-cut. However, the development of ecotourism has slowed down deforestation in Costa Rica. Although the development of ecotourism has brought huge capital and income to Costa Rica, the Costa Rican government has criticized for its environmental policies or lack of environmental policies.  Excessive use of pesticides causes pollution of rivers and the environment, and contaminated streams cause fish to die. Costa Rica needs to pay attention to this problem because it is long-term harm to people and the country. 

• Entrepreneurs and the Co-Creation of Ecotourism in Costa Rica. (2016, July 01). Retrieved from https://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/entrepreneurs-and-the-co-creation-of-ecotourism-in-costa-rica
• https://backroads-web.s3.amazonaws.com/images/trips/2018/slideshow/MCRQF-costa-rica-multisport-tour-4.jpg

Week 8 - Samantha Soleta

Examining Costa Rica's commitment to eco-development, we can understand how the past few decades have led to Costa Rica becoming synonymous with ecotourism. The rise of ecotourism within Costa Rica can be attributed to the increased action of preservationists to combat deforestation, pollution, and more. However, Costa Rica was also lucky to avoid much conflict or intense domestic concerns like their other Central American counterparts. Interestingly enough, a rise in entrepreneurial presence in Costa Rica didn't have the same kind of effect as other nations. In many other nations, we see an extreme commodification of locations. Cultural, urban, and natural landscapes are often primary targets for the commodification of the travel industry. However, the focus of Costa Rican tourism is that of conservation. Michael Kaye, the founder of Costa Rica Expeditions, was very intent on creating an environment of tourism that would stimulate the economy as well as benefit the land and the people. He argued that "Operating in an environmentally and culturally sensitive way made both business sense and ethical sense. [We] hired local people as guides and installed [eco-friendly technology] at its properties." (Jones & Spadafora 24)

Moving forward, I want to adopt this same ethic into my startup. I believe I do my best to approach things like this with the same level of cultural sensitivity but I think it's also important to not just think that way but make it a pivotal cornerstone of the startup. Basing movements and ideas for change on the foundation of furthering the wellbeing of the people, land, and culture is of the utmost importance for me as a startup owner.

Week 8 - Diane Tran

Costa Rica is known as a pioneer for a global center of ecotourism. It increased from 155,000 to $1.15 billion. The article "Entrepreneurs and the Co-creation of Ecotourism in Costa Rica," stated that, "responsible travel to natural areas that conserves the environment and improves the well-being of local people " (Jones, 4). Over time, ecotourism became a way to preserve the natural areas throughout Costa Rica. It provided a greater incentive for natural resource conservation. With a rise in ecotourism and benefits to other industries, locals were relocated and logging industries shut down and Costa Ricans were able to turn to the tourism industry for employment.  The government has plans for buy-ins in Costa Rica. There are still problems in Coasta Rica even tough ecotourism has its benefits. There are regulatory double standard consequences for pesticide residue consumption. Pesticid residues are on produce and the markets and pesticide residue is hard to control in Coasta Rica. Costa Rica used ecotourism and implemented a way for the world to see Costa Rica's natural riches and thus helped the country to avoid poverty in third world countries. The country has done very well in this aspect.



For my startup, I can observe how and why Costa Rica took a problem they had and used their resources to turn their country into a popular tourism country. Thus developing the country into one of the many developing nations. In a way, I can understand and grasp an example such as Costa Rica to find a way to boost my country economically. This can be done by finding something that is special about Japan such as how Costa Rica has its own natural riches that is popular and what everyone wants to see.
Citations:
Polidoro, Beth A., and Matthew J. Morra. “An Ecological Risk Assessment of Pesticides and Fish Kills in the Sixaola Watershed, Costa Rica.” Environmental Science and Pollution Research23, no. 6 (March 2016): 5983–91. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-016-6144-0.

“Head to Costa Rica This Winter for $205 Round-Trip.” Travel Leisure, www.travelandleisure.com/flight-deals/cheap-flights-costa-rica-fall-winter-spring.

Week 8. Garcia, Moises

Costa Rica is now known for their Ecotourism as one of the key activities of the tourism industry. In the early 90’s the country was one of the many developing nations that look to Ecotourism as a way of cashing in on the growing demand for this popular trend of travel. Costa Rica has done rather well since starting the eco-tourism, in comparison to other underdeveloped regions, they rank relatively high in terms of standard living. Costa Rica offers a look at a way of life distinct from the modernized world, while allowing tourists to largely avoid the sad realities of poverty in the third world. I can connect this to my start up because they are pretty similar in that I am trying to clean the streets of gangs in order for the country to grow economically. I want tourist to visit El Salvador on a more frequent basis, and the only way to do this is to make El Salvador a safer place. Not only making it safer, but when you go visit a country, you don’t want to go into a country where all you see is people struggling to eat, that kills tourist’s mood, and on top of that they no longer recommend it to other tourists. El Salvador need to invest in cleaning, and look at Costa Rica as a blue print, not in the ecotourism sector, but how they make Costa Rica an enjoyable third world country to visit. Sooner rather than later using methods like theirs will help on the idea that I have for the country, that will help it economically and also boost the education system in the country. 

- Polidoro, Beth A., and Matthew J. Morra. “An Ecological Risk Assessment of Pesticides and Fish Kills in the Sixaola Watershed, Costa Rica.” Environmental Science and Pollution Research23, no. 6 (March 2016): 5983–91. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-016-6144-0.

- “Ecotourism in Costa Rica.” In Wikipedia, February 25, 2019. https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ecotourism_in_Costa_Rica&oldid=885079851.

Week 8 - Uyen Ngo

Ecotourism is defined as "responsible travel to natural areas that conserves the environment and improves the well-being of local people" by the non-profit International Ecotourism Society (TIES). This struck out to me as I had never heard of Ecotourism before as tourism was taught as a negative thing to me, especially in my previous ASA courses. Tourism was painted as something that was used to make a profit will pushing natives out of their land, as in the case with Hawaii. Costa Rica shows that there could be a positive side to that

Previously in this course we talked a lot about a country using its resources to increase its economy and brand itself. However, for Costa Rica, this was not necessarily a viable option. It's biodiversity is extraordinary but biodiversity is not necessarily natural resources. Once again the government part caught my eye as it is mentioned that "the growth of all varieties of tourism was, however, promoted by a level of political stability which set the country apart from its neighbors" (Jones&Spadafora, 7). The article talks that besides from a revolution involving the "father of modern Costa Rica", Costa Rica's government has been alternating peacefully and investing their energy into promoting policies that would benefit the country. On top of that, as a science major myself, I found it to be touching that scientists ended up playing a huge role in Costa Rica's economic growth and ecotourism. Usually, the focus is on entrepreneurs or politicians but Costa Rica uses their fully science industry's potential as "scientists not only catalogued Costa Rica's biodiversity, promoted conservation, and protected and operated important private reserves" (Jones&Spadafora, 11). It reminds me that when it comes to our project, I cannot only focus on the business group in my country, but rather think outside the box and figure a way in which I can maximize talent from other industries or fields such as arts and humanities or the science field or engineering field, especially when it comes to something as complex as exhaust filters. 

Works Cited

Jones, Geoffrey Gareth and Spadafora, Andrew, Entrepreneurs and the Co-Creation of Ecotourism in Costa Rica (June 14, 2016). Harvard Business School General Management Unit Working Paper No. 16-136. Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2796024 or 

http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2796024

Week 8 - Alvin Du

Surveys suggest that Costa Rica blossomed as a tourist attraction with huge increases in revenue and visitors, but more importantly, two thirds of people traveling in Costa Rica are either in or traveling to protected areas. This means that Costa Rica flourishes as an ecotourism country. The article talks much about small businesses and their role in Costa Rica's ecotourism and I couldn't agree more. I remember in 2014 when I traveled throughout the Caribbean on a cruise ship. One of the many stops was in Falmouth, Jamaica. Initially when I stepped off the cruise ship, everything seemed lively and all the buildings were sporting green, yellow and red in vision of their culture. Many restaurants and souvenir shops were lined throughout the town. Everywhere you walk would be a vendor trying to sell you stereotypical Jamaican things. However, in order to get to Dunn's River Falls and Ocho Rios, we had to bus throughout the island. On the way, everything was foreign; there were no colorful buildings or shops. In fact there were hardly buildings at all, just dirt. It was at that moment that I realized all these small businesses take advantage of what they do have to attract customers. They have culture and everything fits perfectly with the stereotype of Jamaican culture; from the accent to the clothing to the jerk chicken. Everything was how you would imagine it.
additionally, because of Jamaica's poverty, ecotourism is also a big thing.

Entrepreneurs and the Co-Creation of Ecotourism in Costa Rica. (2016, July 01). Retrieved from https://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/entrepreneurs-and-the-co-creation-of-ecotourism-in-costa-rica

Week 8_Toan Tran

Week 7-Uyen Ngo

Learning about Botswana was actually quite interesting as when the name Botswana comes up, it is referred to as a third world country instead of the fast growing developing country that it actually is. I thought the mention of the so called "Dutch Disease" was quite interesting and it shows how Botswana was smart in learning from others mistakes. In combination with that, it once again stresses the idea of how important government is in a nation's growth. Botswana's government took action in prevention of the Dutch Disease through "three key components: fiscal saving, a surplus on the current account of the balance of payments, and heavy government investment in infrastructure and human capital" and more importantly, these policies were able to limit the "erosion of domestic productivity and competitiveness that can result from the appreciation of the real exchange rates"(Lewin, 85). The key to the success of Botswana has laid in its good government and good policies. And while it is not the perfect government, it has been a government that have made significant strides in not ONLY the economy but also in social aspects such as mortality rates and health. It made me think of how, especially when our project involves improving the health of the population of Vietnam, I have to dig into the policies in a way that it can be regulated to prevent previous mistakes as well as utilized in a way that it can benefit the country not only in terms of health but other aspects like economically.

Works Cited

Lewin, Michael. (2019). Botswana's Success: Good Governance, Good Policies, and Good Luck.

Week 7 - Diane Tran

I find it very interesting to read about Botswana because I rarely hear about this country at all. Botswana was one of the poorer countries, but its economy has become one of the most successful in the world. Its growth was developed because of the minerals such as diamonds. In "Botswana's Success: Good Governance, Good Policies, and Good Luck" by Michael Lewin, " Botswana has maintained a parliamentary democracy since independence" (Lewin, 5). Due to this, the government of Botswana focuses on the transparency of the people and the respect for private property. Furthermore, the foundation that was built led to better and improved systems in the government. In addition to the article, "Poverty or riches who benefits from the booming tourism industry in Botswana" by Joseph Mbaiwa depicts that, "the rich wildlife resources and scenic beauty" is an attraction that appeals to people. Moreover, interests attract tourists making it a key destination. This allows investors to pilot into Botswana's industry, the repatriation of tourism revenue, and lower salaries for workers. It fails to contribute to rural development. Tourism allows for the promotion of inclusive and beneficial policies to allow this attraction to become more sustainable.



Relating these articles to our startup project, Botswana uses its resources to actually allow for their country to develop into this fast pace growing country. In addition, Botswana has a government that is looking for its best interest for the country without any disputes. For my startup, I want to promote something that will catch the attention of the people whether its diamonds, wildlife, or scenery, and develop forward a plan to renationalize my country.

Citations:
Lewin, Michael. Botswana’s Success: Good Governance, Good Policies, and Good Luck. Accessed 15 Feb. 2019.

“Luxury African Safaris,South America & South Asia Tours|AndBeyond.” Luxury African SafarisSouth America South Asia ToursandBeyond, www.andbeyond.com/advice/africa/botswana/what-should-i-expect-on-a-botswana-safari/.