The aims of this research were to identify the factors affecting milk consumption of rural households. As well as to determine the effects of these factors on the rural household's intention to consume milk. A random sample of 514 rural households in northern Vietnam was selected to collect data on their milk consumption. Methodologically, statistical analysis was used to identify the preferences of rural households in purchasing dairy products and the two-step econometric technique was applied to measure the effects of the socioeconomic and demographic factors and characteristics of milk market on milk consumption of the rural households. The integrating results from the two models showed that household's income and convenience in milk buying have strongly positive effects on milk consumption of the rural households. At the lighter level, numbers of children and elders in the rural household also have positive effects on the probability of milk purchasing of rural households and milk expenditure while educational level was only found to affect milk expenditure of the rural households. In contrast, age of the rural household head and the importance of milk price have significant negative effects on both decisions of milk consumption of the rural households, decision to buy milk and level of milk expenditure. Finally, several implications of this study highlighted the contribution of the research to theory by enriching body of literature and marketing perspective by showing the worthy bases for the companies to determine their target rural consumers and improve their products.

This paper investigates the existence of financial market integration between Vietnam and the region (ASEAN, ASIAN) as well as the world using price-based indicators. Our paper is the first to assess the overall integration of the Vietnam financial market based on two different datasets for different sub-capital markets, the bond market and stock market, during the period of 2009 - 2018. The empirical results show that Vietnam, compared to other countries in research, holds lower regional and international integration levels in both the bond market and the stock market, but demonstrates considerably strong signs of progressing regional and global stock market integration over the period. Especially, the absolute values estimated from the beta coefficient and beta convergence approaches for the Vietnamese stock market are larger than for the bond market, proving better convergence degree and speed of Vietnamese stock market over the bond market. These bring policymakers and regulators new thoughts and more challenges in designing appropriate policies towards the development of the financial markets in the future.

Financial accounting information has impacted the operation of enterprises, especially SMEs. With the development of technology, digital accounting applications are playing an increasingly important role in minimizing mistakes, and ensuring the accuracy and timeliness of accounting information. Using multiple discriminant analyses, this study confirmed the significance of accounting software in reducing frauds and errors in SMEs’ businesses despite some drawbacks. It showed that the managers’ ability to access the software and the decentralization of power in accessing the  accounting software were the two key factors deciding the success/failure of applying accounting software to control frauds and errors. In addition, smart applications of the accounting software positively contributed to the elimination of frauds in enterprises. Based on these results, recommendations are drawn for SMEs, such as investing more in smart applications of accounting software, as well as updating knowledge about accounting for management, in order to get more advantages from accounting software applications for their business in the long term.

This study uses a comprehensive dataset of 5938 small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in seven ASEAN economies to scrutinize the credit constraints currently deteriorating the firms’ growth incentives and development paths. By employing the ordered logit model to the research sample, we extracted novel and valuable findings that highly enriched the research field and provided a firm foundation for our recommendations to loosen credit obstacles to supporting ASEAN SMEs’ development in the future. Specifically, we found strong and positive linkages between SMEs’ easier access to credit and a group of factors including firm’s age, industry, export activities, audited financial statements, and female managers. Meanwhile, rising business competition and unfavorable legal frameworks block SMEs from obtaining credit finance.