tate-owned enterprises), and the government took a reactive attitude to ease the pressures of the shortage economy with the objective to achieve socialist transformation. The second period known as soft reform is began from the economic “renovation” (otherwise known as “doi moi”) in December 1986 till 1990s. The ideology behind the soft reform is the recognition of the fundamental flaw of Vietnam’s socio-economic system under the neo-Stalin model. The government initiated a stronger form of reform to move towards a market economy especially by opening up to foreign direct investments (FDI). Figure 1: Vietnam’s reform processVietnam’s overall reform processHard Reform Socialism: 1976-1986Soft Reform Socialism: 1986 onwardsPre-Stage(up to 1979)Fence-breaking(up to 1981)Formal Transition(up 1989)Post-Stage(1990 onwards)Second Five-Year Plan(1976-1980)Third Five-Year Plan(1981-1985)Economic ‘Renovation’(1986-1990)Subsequent Five-Year PlansIn addition, Vietnam’s gradualist approach to transition can be further broken into a four-stage process within the two periods (Figure 1 above). The first stage is the Pre-stage, which is the period before the transition process takes place. An important feature was the distortions to economic structures and prices due to central-planning. It lasted till 1979 when the Vietnamese economy was on the verge of collapse . The second stage is that of Fence-breaking, which is a period when, the process of transition takes place with an increase in unplanned economic activities. New and direct linkages between customers and suppliers were formed. It lasted till early 1981, with the passage of two decrees that institutionalized the transition . (namely: 25-CP and CT-100). The third stage is the Formal transition itself. This stage involves the recognition of the transition by the government and to assist in the development and expansion of market-oriente...
