<p class="Body"><em>Vietnam has been one of the best performing economies in the world over the last decade (Nguyen et al., 2008; The World Bank, 2016). The process of Vietnam’s integration into the world economic market, along with the country’s advancements in industrialization and modernization, have increased demands to improve and augment the productivity of the work force. This being so, Vietnam is now at a crucial stage of its expansionary economic development, assimilating some 425,000 tertiary graduates into its workforce during the 2014-2015 academic year (TalkVietnam, 2015). The country is also faced with a momentous challenge to provide highly qualified personnel for the emerging modern sectors of the economy. A particularly serious problem is how the country’s Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) will equip graduates with the appropriate skills and knowledge needed to meet the demands of rapidly increasing</em><em> </em><em>economic </em><em>development. Our central objective in this paper is twofold: firstly, to critically examine and assess the scholarly literature on the technological importance of soft skills in the business arena. Second to conduct a field study on the perspectives held by employers on the specific character of variant combinatory sets of key soft skills best suited for maximising commercial outcomes for employers and the companies they serve in economically vibrant business regions worldwide. The concluding section of the paper will be concerned to determine the extent to which the various skill set combinations can be sufficiently pedagogically developed so they become embedded as foundational in the creation of an international business school curriculum.</em></p>

Our central objective in this paper

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Abstract:Purpose -The purpose of this study is two twofold. Our first task is investigate the perception of major Vietnamese industrial employers and business educators to determine the extent to which they value the potential role which soft skill competencies can play in maximizing business success. Our second concern is to determine what particular soft skills employers and educators discern as best serving to maximize the economic interests of Vietnam within the global marketplace. Methodology -A Sequential Exploratory Mixed-methods Approach was deployed in which semistructured telephone interviews were conducted with 15 representative employers of Vietnam's reputedly largest business enterprises across Vietnam. To this end a questionnaire survey was conducted with 577 business educators from three major universities of Business across Vietnam. Findings -The findings of the study indicate that all respondents highly value the increasing importance of soft skills in business success. Our critical analysis of respondent data reveals that 19 essential soft skills are deemed by both employers and educators as integral to business workplace efficacy and should thus be integrated into the formal business curriculum. Implications -We are confident that our study represents the first comprehensive and specific soft skills survey yet undertaken within the business sector in Vietnam. Our study accesses and analyses the opinions of both representative employers from major companies, along with business educators from major educational institutions of business across the country. The specific analysis concerned the growing importance of 19 specific soft skills essential for maximizing overall business success. Our research findings also reveal that the integration into business school curriculums nationwide of the specific soft skills we have identified is of paramount importance to ensuring the growth of Vietnam 's economy.