Evaluation of administrative capacity to manage vietnamese fishery administration to meet the requirements of sustainable development to the year 2020

If working skills and experiences of the staffs can be the main indicators to decide public management capacity of the VFA and they also are important factors for the sustainable develop

UPPSALA UNIVERSITET & f^&C

UNIVERSITY OF ECONOMICS «& BUSINESS, VNUH ' ^ ^

UPPSALA ^,^,^, VNU-UEB

UNIVERSITET -y^Kp-^^j^:^

MASTER THESIS OF MPPM

EVALUATION OF ADMINISTRATIVE CAPACITY

T O MANAGE VIETNAMMESE FISHERY ADMINISTRATION

T O M E E T THE REQUIREMENTS OF SUSTAINABLE

DEVELOPMENT TO THE YEAR 2020

Authors: Cuong Vu Tuan &

Trong Le Dinh

Superx'isor: Prof Lars-Torstcn Eriksson PhD

Local Superx'isor: Dr Thanh Ngu>en \ iet Class: MPPM INTAKE 6 - Group 20

Hanoi, Ma> - 2 0 1 3

The present study was conducted under the framework of a Sixth Master of Public Management Program (MPPM) which is held by University of Economics -Hanoi National University and the University of Uppsala Sweden Here are the results

with great effort of the authors but they are received of the guidance, enthusiastic help

of Prof Lars Torsten Eriksson PhD and Dr Thanh Viet Nguyen, especially in thinking about research methods and learn how to identify, select the research scope Also need

to mention that participation, enthusiastic help of some of our colleagues are currently

working at the Vietnamese Fisheries Administration (VFA), Ministr\' of Agriculture

and Rural Development to our more complete this thesis Closely and accompan\ us not only during the implementation of the thesis but also during the period we studied

MPPM intake 6 program is the support, encouragement, sharing the enormous material

and spiritual from some leaders of VFA and our families

We are extremely grateful and would like to send our most sincere thanks to ever>'one!

1 Title: Evaluation of administrative capacity to manage the Vietnam Fisherv

Administration to meet the requirements of sustainable development by 2020

2 Course: Thesis on Master Program in Public Management

3 Authors: Trong Le Dinh and Cuong Vu Tuan

4 Supervisors

1 Prof Lars Torsten Eriksson PhD

2 Dr Thanh Nguyen Viet

5 Defending date: 2013 May

6 Objectives:

6.1 Background:

A recent report of the VFA has indicated that there was a serious limitation

on state management capacity of many staffs working under the VFA due to lack oi

experiences and ambition to improve their working skills

So a research issue raised is that if the above conclusions and evaluations are currently reflecting a real and natural situation on public management capacity of the VFA's staffs In addition, if so lack of sound public management capacity could

be a reason causing unsustainable de\'elopment of the fisheries sector o\'er in the past and in the present

6.2 Goals:

- The main goal of this study was to analyze the strengths, weaknesses,

opportunities and threats of human resources of the VFA in responsible for the assigned tasks

- Additional goals were to clarify some particular questions as indicated in the Annual Report of the VFA as follow:

+ Is the VFA lacking its human resources?

+ Is the VFA lacking the leaders of the VFA and leaders of its Units, and more particularly whether or not there are lacks of skilled people responsible for \ cry important tasks of the VFA?

7 Method

The research group used the knowledge to public management and manipulates of the SWOT model to analyze the situation the state administration of the VFA On study process, research groups combined qualitative and quantitative

on the basis of statistical analysis of primary data collected through sample surveys, interviews, and these will be analyzed, reviewed, evaluated In addition, secondary data was also used to codify and compare the related contents

- Primary Data Collection: by investigation through questionnaire and

interviews some individuals

+ Sample Method: Using a referendum through questionnaire-based sampling This method is used to collect additional information, measuring the status of content related research issues Questionnaire was designed for broad stakeholder + Conduct interviews: This method is mainly based personal ideas to find out the cause of the contents studied The selection of interxiew people was considered

to ensure that the interviewees have deep understanding of relevant contents and with sufficient experiences The interview was recorded by the camera or radio recorder and then was converted into text

- Collecting and analyzing secondary^ data: information in the secondar>

related documents were analyzed and synchronized to achieve the research goals ol the thesis We considered and used some research results in the de\elopment plan for human resources of the VFA from 2011 - 2030 conducted by STOFA project in

2011 to evaluate reality of these development plans

management capacity of the VFA today

+ The results of the collecting primary and secondary data have the same content or similar are aggregated into research conclusions are edited in accordance with the actual situation based on experience and knowledge of the authors

+ The results of secondary data deemed inconsistent with the objectives of this research (eg Infrastructures initially meet the working requirements) will not

be selected for a research conclusion;

+ The results of the collecting primary data even though the rate is lower opinion yet (Example: Foreign language good, 1/5 opinions) but still synthesized and the research conclusions are edited in accordance with the actual situation based

on experience and knowledge of the authors (eg time will only conclusion is: Foreign language proficiency rather than good)

+ The results of primary data collection is not really clear if removed from the research conclusions

8 Results & Conclusions:

5.7 The strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of human resources

of the VFA

8.1.L Strengths

1 Staffs are trained basic working skills from not only in national training course but also in abroad training courses and haxe sufficient experiences in accordance with their assigned positions

2 Leaders of VFA and leaders of its relevant units ha\e experiences, understanding and dedicating to the fisheries sector

3 Young staffs with ability to quickly learn and thus it is easy for enhancing capacity to adapt quickly to the competitive environment, integration and advanced technologies

4 The leadears of units are interested in training tasks for their staffs

5 Fisheries sector is ahead in time of international intergration

6 Qualified information technology applications

7 Sufficient foreign language proficiency

L There is a lack of potential recruitment of leading staffs and unreasonable allocation;

2 More young staff lack of management experience and lack of practical experiences

3 Lack of major leaders in the next generation;

4 Staffs of the VFA are currently lack of management knowledge, skills and those has not yet been trained properly;

5 Difficult to attract human resources for VFA;

6 The current young staffs seem more pragmatic and less of enthusiasm on the job than previous generation;

7 Language proficiency (English) of staffs of the VFA is limitted:

8 No "leading experts" in the most important management areas e.g exploitation, protection and aquaculture;

9 Organization structure of the VFA is incosistancy and thus there is a need

to supplement and adjust the organizational structure;

10 Implementation and organization of tasks between the different le\els are not effective (1/5 opinions)

11 Some areas are lacking specialized staffs who are capable of synthesis, analyzing and policy making

8.1.3 Opportunities

1 Training opportunities are always widely opened

2 International cooperation is deeper and deeper and this is openning up new opportunities

3 Working regimes and conditions for staffs gradually improved

4 Attract external human resources to work for Directorate of Fisheries

in management tasks and hence less quality;

3 Instability in personnel and organizational structure of the VFA causing impacts on human resources of VFA;

4 The laws have not been sufficient and do not met the necessary requirements for the operation of the VFA; The policy of the Government is cutting out its employees, so it is difficult to recruit new employees due to this Government policy

8.2 Answers to additional questions:

1 Is the VFA lacking its human resources?

2 Is the VFA lacking its leaders and leaders of Sub-departments, and more particularly whether or not there are lack of skilled people responsible for very important tasks of the VFA?

3 Is the VFA lacking talent people who have good professional experiences,

on state management and there are few such staffs that are usually on the workload situations?

4 Do the VFA have a lot of staffs who are currently lacking experiences, and just senior staffs and thus they have many difficulties on facing with hard problems?

5 Whether or not skills and working experiences of most of the VFA"s staffs are insufficient and improved slowly?

6 If working skills and experiences of the staffs can be the main indicators to decide public management capacity of the VFA and they also are important factors for the sustainable development of the fisheries sector?

8.3 Comments

In general the present study by applying theoretical studies with high reliability and frequent applicability of the SWOT analysis has addressed some research questions which questioned at the beginning of the stud\ These questions have also been answered completely and scientificallj using both secondary and primary data collected

By comparing the results of the primar\ survey data collected and analxzing the secondarv documents, ihis sludv demonstrated the strengths, weaknesses

the 2011 Annual Report and activity implementation schedules of 2012 of the VFA

is basically a reality and reflected the actual problems of the VFA in term of human resources and its organization structure

9 Suggestions for future research:

- The results of this study may be used to evaluate different specification secfions in the fisheries sector (capture, aquaculture, and fishery processing)

- In addition, they can also be developed to evaluate the working capability

of fisheries managers, scientists, employee, staffs or e\en DepartmentsLJnits belonging to the VFA in order to indicate their strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats on the research subjects/objects

- Set up and issue priority policies/strategies based on SWOT matrix analysis

to achieve research results of this thesis ( eg Proposes SO strategy: use strengths to exploit opportunities, WO Strategies: take advantage of opportunities to o\ ercomc these weaknesses, ST strategy: exploiting strengths to overcome challenges; WT strategies: minimize weaknesses and avoid threats), provide appropriate solutions to promote their strengths and limit their weaknesses Moreover, it is also essential to take good opportunities and to overcome challenges for sustainable development

10 Contribution of the thesis:

- The results of the present study also partly indicated capacity of the staff of the VFA and hence reflecting real administrative management capacity of the VFA This can be one of the important and key factors currently affecting the sustainable development in the fisheries sector

- The results of the present study can also be used to set up and issue priority policies/strategies and plans for human resources development of the VFA

11 Key words

- Vietnammese Fishery Administration (VFA)

- Strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT)

- Capacity of public management

4.1 Collecting and analyzing secondary data 14

4.1.1 Overview of the Plan of Human Resource Development (HRD) for the VFA in 2011 - 2020 period

conducted bythe STOFA project 14

4.1.2, Excerpt from the report related the current human resource of the VFA 15

4.2 Collecting primary data IS

4.2.1 The results of the sample survey questionnaire 15

4.2.2 Results depth interviews 16

5 ANALYSIS 17

5.1 Answer for main questions: What are strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats of human

resource of Vietnamese Fishery Administration (VFA)? 18

5.1.1 Strengths of human resource of VFA: 18

5 1.3 Opportunities of human resources of the VFA: 23

5.1.4 Threats of human resource of VFA: 24

5.2 Answers to additional questions: 26

5.2.1 For question 1: Are the VFA lacking its stafP 26

5.2.2 For question 2: Is there a lack of leadership of VFA, disability leaders departments, and more

specifically the lack of a competent professional positions for the most important areas of VFA? 26

5.2.3 For question 3: Is the VFA lacking talent people who ha\'e good professional experiences, on state

management and there are few such staffs that are usually on the work load situations^ 27

5.2.4 For question 4: do the VFA hax'e a lot of staffs who are currently lacking experiences, and just

senior staffs and thus they have many difficulties on facing with hard problems? 2 8

5.2.5 For question 5: whether or not skills and working experiences of most of the VFA's staffs are

insufficient and improved slowly'^ ^ y

5 26 For question 6: if working skills and experiences of the staffs can be the main indicators to decide

public management capacity of the VFA and they also are important factors for the sustainable

development of the fisheries sector?

30

6 CONCLUSION

32 REFERENCES

34 APPENDIX

MPPM Master of Public Management Program

VFA Vietnamese Fishery Administration

SWOT S: Strengths; W: Weaknesses; O: Opportunities: T: Threats SOFT S: Satisfactory; O: Opportunities; F: Fault; and T: Threats

ND Decree

CP Government

FSPS II Fisheries Sector Programme Support - Phase II

STOFA Strengthening capacity of Fisher>' Administration

Figure 1.1 Building of the Vietnamese Fisher>' Administration at 10 Nguyen

Cong Hoan, Ba Dinh Ha Noi Figure 1.2 Organizational Chart of the Vietnamese Fishery Administration Figure 2.1 SWOT model

Figure 2.2 The number of publications on the SWOT analysis by years

Table 2.1 SWOT Matrix

Table 2.2 The number of publications on the SWOT analysis by years

Table 2.3 The scope of the study material of the SWOT analysis

Table 2.4 List of top 10 countries publishing documents relating to the SWOT

model Table 2.5 List top 10 journals publishing the SWOT analysis

Table 2.6 List of top 10 authors having documents in relation to SWOT

Table 4.1 The results of the SWOT analysis by STOFA project

Table 4.2 Summaries of the implementation and demanding on employees/staffs

of the VFA Table 4.3 The status of recruitment of leaders/key persons in the units of the

VFA Table 4.4 The situation of staffs appointed to the position of leadership in the

departments of the VFA Table 4.5 Summary of SWOT analysis The first questionnaire

Table 4.6 Summaries of fact findings through using second questionnaire

Table 5.1 The strength of the human resources of the VFA

Table 5.2 The weakness of the human resources of the VFA

Table 5.3 The opportunities for human resources of the VFA

Table 5.4 The threats for human resources of the VFA

Table 5.5 Answer questions 1

Table 5.6 Answ^er questions 2

Table 5.7 Answer questions 3

1.1 Background

The Vietnamese Fishery Administration (VFA) is an organization under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development established according to Decree of Government No 75/2009/ND-CP dated on 10 September 2009 amending the Article 3 of Decree No OI/2008/ND- CP of the Government dated 03/01/2008 The VFA has responsibilities to assist the Minister of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development to carry out the state governing on capture fisheries, aquaculture fisheries resources protection and development of public services

The organizational structures of the VFA consists of 10 units: Planning and Finance Department; Science & Technology and International Cooperation Department; Legal and Inspection Department; AquacuUurc Department; Department of Capture Fisheries and Resources Protection: Department ol'l isheries Surveillance; Administrative Office (with another branch at Ho Chi Minh City);Vietnam Institute of Fisheries Economics and Planning: Fisheries Information

Center; and Centre for Analyze and Verification for Aquaculture

Ihe management board comprises a Director General (The vice Ministers) and three Deputy Director General

Figure LI Building of the VFA headquarters

at 10 Nguyen Cong Hoan Ba Dinh Ha Noi

Figure 1.2 Organizational Chart of the VFA

Over three operational years from 2010 up to now the VFA has achieved some important results and is playing very essential roles as indicated in its annual assessment reports In this reports it was indicated thai there were some shortcomings and limitations as indicators for Hsheries unsustainable development for instance there have been slowlv on establishment of fisheries policies on fisheries management or if yes these policies are not inadequate or o\erlapping lack

of feasibility Fisheries management has still rexealed man> difllculties and challenges on capture fisheries such as unreliable fishing ground forecastins ineffective tlshing boat management post-har\est fisher) storage technolocN In aquaculture, there have been disease outbreaks without immediate controlling and aquaculture environmental risk is a highly possibilitx b> overcapacity, development without planning and non-compliance with the management requirements on seed, feed, chemical processing and improvement of the aquaculture environment qualit> Thc reports also mentioned and evaluated administrative management capacity according to the functions and dutiesof staff, officers and emplovees who are direcll> working under the VFA The outcomes of this evaluation can be used to indicate reasons whv there have still been shortcomings and limitations inthe fishery sector

An annual operational final report in 2011 and implementation schedules in

2012 of the VI-A hasclcarlv indicated that "The VFA is still lackine of skilled statTs

important tasks of the VFA There are some staffs who have good working skills and experiences in state management and these people are usually on the work load situations However, there are many young staffs that have less professional experiences and have many difficulties on facing with hard problems especially on tasks of which require highly experiences and good management skills In general, working skills and practical experiences of almost staffs of the VFA is limited and improved slowly In many cases, the leader of the units is verv' dependent on his/her staffs without providing detail guideline on how to solve difficult problems On the other hand, facing with difficult problems many leaders intended to deny to solve the problem or to expect outside assistances'' [10]

A recent report in 2012 of the VFA has indicated that there was a serious limitation on state management capacity of many staffs working under the VFA due

to lack of experiences and ambition to improve their working skills

So are search issue raised is that if the above conclusions and evaluations are currently reflecting a real and natural situation on public management capacity of the VFA's staffs In addition, if so, lack of sound public management capacity could

be a reason causing unsustainable development of the fisheries sector over in the past and in the present

1.2 Coals and research questions of the preent study

The main goal of this studv' is to analyze the strengths, weaknesses opportunities and threats of human resources of the \ T A in responsible for the assigned tasks Main research question of the present study is what are the strengths weaknesses, opportunities and threats for human resources of the VFA':* In addition the present study is to clarify some particular questions as indicated in the 2011 Annual Report of the VFAas tollovv:

- Question 1: Is the VFA lacking its human resources?

- Question 2: Is the VFA lacking its leaders and leaders of sub-departments, and more particularly whether or not there are lack of skilled people responsible for

very important tasks of the VFA?

the work load situations?

- Question 4: do the VFA have a lot of staffs who are currently lacking experiences, and just senior staffs and thus they have many difficulties on facing with hard problems.?

- Question 5: whether or not skills and working experiences of most of the VFA's staffs are insufficient and improved slowly?

- Question 6: if working skills and experiences of the staffs can be the main indicators to decide public management capacity of the VFA and they also are important factors for the sustainable development of the fisheries sector?

To answer the above questions we have conducted surveys on public administrative management using questionnaires to interv iew directly relevant staffs

of the VFA This information was further analvzed and assessed to provide the current status on administrative management capacity of the Fisheries sector Furthermore, the results of the study will also be used to develop further research on more specification subjects to enhance administrative management capacity of the VFA to meet the requirements onsustainable development objective to 2020

2 THEORY

The SWOT model was used in the present study The relevant theoretical application of the SWOT model were referred and compiled from several scientific publications*

* Overview of the SWOT model

According to Ghazinoory, SWOT analysis was originated at Harvard University to analyze their studies In the early 1950s, two business policy professors at Harvard University George Albert Smith Jr and C Roland Christensen have begun the research on organization strategy relating to their work

By late 1950, another professor of Harvard University Kenneth Andrews has expanded studies by assuming that all organizations must clearly defined goals and find out the way to archive these goals Until the early 1960s, group discussions at

' Sec in the List of Confferences

conference was held at Harvard University Here, the SWOT analysis was widely discussed and considered as an advanced progress of the strategic thinking (Panagiotou 2003)[6, p.25]

According to Helms 2010 the SWOT analysis has been described from 1969 (Learned et al 1969) and has been developed as a key tool to address a complex strategy situations by reducing information amount to improve decision making Others thought that the origin of the SWOT model was discovered by Professor Albert Humphrey at Stanford University He wasa key person on a research project

on investigation of 500 companies by Fourtune American Journal from 1960 to

1970 However, his studies did not prove and explain the reason why the SWOT model theory can be found [7, p.216]

According to Koo 2011 origin of the SWOT term has originally known as

"SOFT" - aabbreviation from the letters Satisfactor\ Opportunities Fault and Threats The SOFT was originated from the research task at Stanford Research Institute from 1960-1970 by Marion Dosher Otis Benepe Albert Humphrey Robert Stewart, and Birger Lie The SOFT analysis was presented at a conference at Zurich in 1964 and then Urick and Orr changed the F into W (weaknesses) and called as SWOT analysis at the present (Humphrey 2005) [9 p.63]

Therefore, at the moment the origin of the SWOT term is unclear [7 p.216] However, according to research by Helms - 2010 regardless of histon of its development, the SWOT term has been present from more than a half centurx and has successfully been used as a useful tool for academic studies [7 p.216]

According Ghazinoory, SWOT analysis is a widely used tool for analyzing infernal and external environments in order to obtain a systematic approach and support for decision making [6, p.24]

Table 2.1 SWOT Matrix

opportunities to overcome weaknesses

weaknesses and avoid threats

{Source: Ghazinoory - 2011) [6, tr.25]

According to Helms, SWOT has been used by marketing researchers, and is

a tool used frequently and popularly for business marketing and strategic studies [7 p.216] The SWOT analysis was frequently used by an organization to make strategic planning for the future In some case, the SWOT analysis can be a tool used by individual and organizations to compare two companies and to evaluate several companies (but not for all company which are representative for an industry' sector) Individual studies were categorized by subcategories such as:

- Healthcare;

- Government and non profit organizations; and

- Profitable companies [7, p,218]

In the healthcare field, Higginbottom and Hurst (2001) used SWOT analysis

to assess quality of a new Puclic Healthcare System (UK) in a training course at big hospital to develop a strategic therapy to ensure quality [7, p.224]

For the Government, Carolina Duarte et al (2006) used the SWOT analysis to assess challenges of Venezuela Government [5, 7 p.227]

For profitable companies Ahmed et al (2006) used SWOT analysis to study Air China, the largest air carrier in China to evaluate application status on an integration quality management system of the company [7, p.224]

Ghazinoory indicated that on the publications relating to the SWOT analysis have been published in 28 years ago since 1982 However, the SWOT analysis has not considered as the tool with a long histor>' because it was not applied much before 1993 Number of the publication relating to SWOT analysis have been dramatically increased from 2000 and this figure reached a record with 72 publications in 2008 (Table 2) [6 p.26]

1,1 1,4

Percentage Number <%)

11

10

15

2.0 1.8 2.7

- Methodological papers provide a new idea on SWOT structure and its

concept

- Case study papers provided recommendations for practical situations and

explain a complete stage

- Applied-methodological papers are mixture of methodological and case

study approaches In other word these papers have been modified partly or completely in the SWOT analysis, so that they can provide an adaptive method and adjust SWOT analysis on their own problem [6 tr.30]

The above analysis were performed by using existing articles, publications and documents relating to the SWOT analysis

Table 2.3 Study scopes in the SWOT analysis publication

Newsprint, service, banking, hv draulic power

generation, NIS, program development

legislation, gaming, foreign policy, economicpolicy, national economic

Rural, urban, cruise,

Management and strategic planning in business

companies, firms Offshore outsourcing Marketing and market planning at local

6.0

Learning & education at school, university &

organization research station, forest management, forest

Textile, clothing, garment, apparel

Shipbuilding, machine tools Machinery, motor

vehicles,

titanium alloys, metal powder, foundry

Construction Cable TV, capacitor,

Library Fundraising, library strategic planning

Oil and natural gas Finalce

Cosmetic Military Total

(Source: Ghazin oory) (6, p.31]

1.9 1.3 1.1 0.8

1

0.8 0.6

1

0,6 0.4

100

Ghazinoory demonstrated that, many people thought that the SWOT analysis

is usually applied in the business fieldsand industry to develop strategies in the implementation process However, as indicated in the above table the SWOT analysis mostly used in the agriculture field and mainly applied for the developing countries (especially in India) The SWOT analysisis usually used to evaluate agricultural conditions in a specific geographic area rather than to evaluate the strategic position of a particular organization The first document applied in the agricultural field was conducted by Faesel and Hill (1995) and it has been continued

to develop until 2002 and after that many papers have been published with slight modifications [6, tr.32]

It was also indicated in the Table 2.3 health and health care is the subjects of which the SWOT analysis was secondly applied The number of papers published in these subjects has reached a record in 2002 and 2003, but it has been declined in recent years In addition, the SWOT analysis was also widely used in strategic planning at Research Centers and patient treatment of the medical field It was clearly indicated that number of the SWOT publications in the medical field is huge [6, tr.32]

The SWOT analysis used in tourism has started later than other fields and the first article was published by Ravindranath (1997) But the application of the SWOT analysis in the tourism has gradually been increasing even,' year and the biggest number of the publications reached in 2009 The most of articles in this field

were used to evaluate tourism potentials in a particular geographic area or a

particular city (mostly in developing countries) for instance there were se\eral papers used to evaluate tourism ad\antages in provinces of China [6 tr.32]

Table 2.4 Top 10 countries publishing on the SWOT papers

8-9

10

{Source: Ghazinoory) [6, p.28]

Iran Finland, Australia Poland

Managerial Auditing Journal Forest Policy and Economics Journal of the Institution of Engineers

Advantages and disadvantages of the SWOT analysis

THE SWOT-MODEL

STRENGTHS WEAKNESSES

OPPORTUNITIES

Figure 2.2 The SWOT model

(Source: Guidelines for Master Thesis MPPM-6)

Marilyn M Helms'sstudies (2010)by listing internal and external advantages and disadvantages in the four quadrants of a SWOT analysis grid indicated that policy makers can better recognize on what the strengths are for new opportunities and to understand how weaknesses can cause slower progress or magnify organizational threats In addition, it is possible to postulate ways to overcome threats and weaknesses (e.g Hofer and SchendeL 1978; Schnaars 1998: McDonald 1999; Kotler, 2000) [7, p.216], or future strategies, from SWOT analysis The application of SWOT has been used as a tool to evaluate the implementation of an environmental management system (Lozano and Valle in 2007)[6, p.33] globall\ competitive industries (Shinno et al., 2006), non-go\'emmental organizations such

as the development of trade partners (Domeisen and de Sousa, 2006)[7 p.231] the competitive advantage of the government (Chang and Lin, 2005)[7, p.224]

SWOT has been used in the analysis of a number of developing countries and emerging economies It has contributed to the understanding of a wide range of issues and decisions including production location decisions in China (Helms 1999), a strategy designed to penetrate the UK and the export promotion and joint venture China (Zhang and Kelvin 1999), strategic planning for companies in Turkey (Dinger et al., 2006) in Taiwan's information industry (Lin and Hsu 2006)[7]

With all the applications and advantages to strategic planning and its SWOT analysis has some drawbacks and limitations The success of the SWOT analysis thoroughly dependent on the analysis of internal and external, but they also depend

on time for work, the number of experts involved, and the degree of consensus professionals In addition, the classification of the variables into one of four quadrants SWOT is also challenging Strong but not maintained can become weaknesses Opportunity does not perform, but adopted by competitors, could become a threat The classification of a variable and depends on the purpose of the practice [7, p.235]

3 METHODS

The research group used the knowledge to public management and manipulates of the SWOT model to analyze the situation the state administration of the VFA On study process, research groups combined qualitative and quantitative

on the basis of statistical analysis of primary data collected through sample surveys, interviews, and these will be analyzed , reviewed, evaluated In addition, secondary data was also used to codify and compare the related contents

- Primary Data Collection: by investigation through questionnaire and

interviews some individuals

+ Sample Method: Using a referendum through questionnaire-based sur\-ey sampling This method is used to collect additional information, measuring the status of content related research issues Questionnaire was designed for broad stakeholder

+ Conduct interviews: This method is mainly based personal ideas to find out the cause of the content studied The selection of interview people was considered

to ensure that the interx iewees have deep understanding of relevant contents and with sufficient experiences The interview was recorded by the camera or radio recorder and then was converted into text

- Collecting and analyzing secondary data: the information in the secondary

related documents were anah zed and synchronized to achiev e the research goals of the thesis We consideredand used some research results in the dev elopment plan for human resources of the VFA from 2011 - 2030 conducted by STOFA project in

2011 to evaluate reality of these development plans

- Comparison method used in the analysis: the processing and analysis of

data collected in the field will be compared to the requirements of development goals to clarify the status of the management capacity of the VFA todav and to provide a basis informationto to enhance administrative management capacity of the VFA to meet the requirements on sustainable development to 2020

4 DATA COLLECTION

4.L Collecting and analyzing secondary data

Secondary data was collected from documents managed by the VFA

4.1.1 Overview of the Plan of Human Resource Development (HRD) for the VFA in

2011 - 2020 period conducted bythe STOFA project

As requested by the VFA, in the framework of the Vietnamese Fisherv Sector Program Support (FSPS-II) in 2011 STOFA Project developed a Plan of Human Resource Development (HRD) for the VFA in 2011 - 2020 period, vision to 2030

In this plan a SWOT analysis was used and a plan for Human Resource Development of the VFA has been developed by national workshops and group discussions The resuhs of this SWOT analysis have indicated the opportunities and threats of the working environment infiuencing to the development of the VFA as well as pointed out the strengths and weaknesses on organization system of the VFA [12]

The development plan identifed the operational objectives and strategic goals

of the VFA using the SWOT analysis in order to point out opportunities and threats

of working environment affecting to the development of the organization and identify the strengths and weaknesses in the VFA's organization system The SWOT matrix used to define the objectives and strategic goals of the VFA in the future The SWOT analysis process was undertaken through workshops and group discussions among Departments of theVFA

• Analysis of the organization - Strengths and weaknesses:

* Analysis of the operational environment - opportunities and threats

The results is shown in Table 4.1, Appendix 3

The Plan of Human Resource Development (HRD) for VFA to 2015 vision

to 2030 also raised the mission, vision and overall objectives of VFA in 2020 as follows:

Mission:

" Improve the roles of State management in fisheries to mobilize the power

of whole-social to keep building and developing Fisheries sector steady to be a key economic technical and take part in maintaining the security of national territorial water."

Vision:

Up to 2020, VFA will be a top management agency of fisheries from Central to local with completed organization structure, staff with ability, professibility to satisfy implementing the functions and tasks of VFA."

Straiesic eoal up to 2015:

1 Complete the organization structure, function, task of VFA;

2 Function, task, the State management organization structure about local fisheries were unified;

3 Facilities condition and financial resource were ensured;

4 VFA's staffs have enough quantity and skills to meet the work requirement Have ability to work independently with foreign experts and work more and more professional, effectively;

5 Modernize the sector management to suit with industrialization and international integration

4.1.2 Excerpt from the report related the current human resource of the VFA

See in the Tables: 4.2, 4.3, 4.4 of the Appendix 3

4.2 Collecting primary data

4.2.1 The resuhs of the sample survey questionnaire

Questionnaires were sent to individuals who are working under the VFA, the results are summarized as follows:

a) Results from the 1st questionnaire {Form in Appendix 1) This form is

designed following SWOT model analysis which can be analyzed and results can be provided right after responses of the respondents

- There are 5 people responsed our questionnaires include:

+ Mr Nguyen Viet Manh, Director of the Technology Science and International Cooperation Department - VFA;

+ Ms Nguyen Thi Thu Nguyet, Director of Financial - Planning Department -VFA;

+ Mr Le Trung Kien, Deputy Chief of Administration Oficce;

+ Mr Nguyen Manh Cuong, Deputy Manager of General Division, Administration Office

- Summary of survey results indicated that:

+ In age of respondents: 2 people over age 50 one of about 40-49 years old

1 person in about 30-39 years old; 1 person under 30 years of age

+ About time working in the fisheries sector: there are 4 people over 10 years; 1 from 3-10 years

+ On the position of the respondents in VFA: as introduced above, are staffs holding positions of management and general staff, of which 4 are leaders of the Department under the VFA; 1 people is leader of the General Division,

+ Opinions about the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats are summarized, sorted by descending magnification of importance (multiple choice comments) as shown in Table 4.5, Appendix 4

b) Results from the 2nd questionnaire {Form in Appendix 2)

- There are 15 people who answered our questionnaire, the results are sorted

by synthetic sequence in questionnaire in Table 4.6, Appendix 4

4.2.2 Results depth interviews

We have interviewed three individuals including:

- Mr Nguyen Viet Manh, Director of the Science Technology and International Cooperation Department- VFA, is among those who have work experience and most senior leader at the Fisheries Sector

- Mr Pham Trong Yen, Deputy Directorof Science Technology and International Cooperation Department - VFA, is among those who have long experience in the state management of the Fisheries Sector He has undertaken the position of assistant secretary of the Ministrv of Fisheries Leadership Deputy Director of International Cooperation Ministrv' of Fisheries, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Deputy Director of Exploitation and Protection Aquatic

resources Department

- Mr Le TrungKien, Deputy Chief of Administration Oficce one of the young staffs hold leadership positions of the VFA and job tracking array organization, training, human resource development

Through interviews, Mr Manh, Mr Yen and Mr Kien agreed that:

+ Administrative management capacity of the VFA is clearly affecting on the development and sustainability of the fishery because the VFA is administration agency at the central level, the highest level of professional branches, direct to the local guide in the country for aquaculture development;

+ Capacity of staffs in VFA decide the capacity of the Administration management of VFA;

+ The current reality is the shortage of VFA in quantity and quality of staffs thus directly affect the capacity of administration management of VFA

+ The feeling of uncertainty about age created a shortage of experienced staff and difficulties in adjacent

+ In most units of VFA: lack of staffs or verv' few staffs hav e proficiency, diligent, good working method

+ Some young staffs have the pragmatic and lack of "fire" in work

+ Should have specific policies to attract and train human resource for the fisheries sector in general, in particular the VFA now and in the near future

5 ANALYSIS

The research team used the comparative method to compare the results collected primary data sources for processing results and secondary source materials synthesized research results are shown in the Appendix 5:

- The results of the collecting primarv and secondare data have the same content or similar are aggregated into research conclusions are edited in accordance with the actual situation based on experience and knowledge of the authors

- The results of secondary data deemed inconsistent with the objectives of this research (eg Infrastructures initially meet the working requirements) will not

be selected for a research conclusion;

- The results of the collecting primary data even though the rate is lower opinion yet (Example: Foreign language good, 1/5 opinions) but still synthesized

and the research conclusions are edited in accordance with the actual situation based

on experience and knowledge of the authors (eg time will only conclusion is:

Foreign language proficiency rather than good)

- The results of primary data collection is not really clear if removed from

the research conclusions

5.1- Answer for main questions: What are strengths, weaknesses,

opportunities, and threats of human resource of Vietnamese Fishery

Administration (VFA)?

5.1.1 Strengths of human resource of VFA:

As research conclusions based on comparison given in the Table 5.1

Table 5.1 Strengths of human resource of VFA

According to STOFA According to

survey results

Research conclusions

1 Leaders of the units of

VFA have experiences in

management traditions

inherited from the former

Ministry of Fisheries,

understood and dedicated

to the fisheries sector

2 The close coordination

between the units in the

VFA avoids cumbersome

administrative procedures

3 Young staffs are trained

I

methodically and

professionally not only in

domestic but also in

foreign countries

4 Compare to other

sectors of the Ministry of

Agriculture and Rural

1 Staffswere trained basically, has expertise in accordance with their assigned positions (5/5 opinions)

2 Leaders of VFA and Leaders of the units under its have experiences, understood and dedicated

to the fisheries sector (3/5 opinions)

3 Have young statTs (about 2/3 of the statTs in the VFA are young), so the ability to learn and absorb quickly, easily for enhancing capacity to adapt quickly to the competitive environment,

1 Staffs are trained

methodically and

professionally not only in domestic but also in foreign countries, having ' expertise in accordance | with their assigned positions

2 Leaders of VFA and Leaders of the units under

I its have experiences, understood and dedicated ,

to the fisheries sector

3 Young staffs, so the ability to learn and absorb quickly, easily for enhancing capacitv to adapt quicklv to the competitive environment, j

international integration

5 Infrastructures initially

meet the working

requirements

Development, Fisheries integration, technology

sector is ahead in time of : adoption (3/5 opinions) j

4 The leaders of units are interested in staff training task through sending staffs to training courses, ' fact survey and self-training in units (3/5 ' opinions)

5 Application of information technology is good (2/5 opinions)

6 Foreign language good (1/5 opinions)

integration technology adoption

4 The leadears of units are interested in staff training task

5 Fisheries sector is ahead in time of international intergration

6 Qualified information technology applications

7 Foreign language proficiency

5.1.2 Weaknesses of the human resources of the VFA:

As research conclusions based on comparison given in the Table 5.2

Table 5.2 Weaknesses of the human resources of the VFA

According to STOFA According to

particularly lack managers

with sufficient capacity

2 More youngstaffs, lack

of management experience, little

1 Feeling of uncertainty about the age and unreasonable allocation:

2 More young staff lack

of management experience, little knowledge of the industrv'

3 Lack of major leaders

in the near future;

4 Staffs of VFA current lack of management knowledge, skills and has not vet been focusing

administrative

management, and foreign

language

5 Operational costs for

the management of the

fishery sector in general

and the VFA in particular,

did not meet the job

requirements This have

limited the effectiveness

for the management and

direction of the VFA are

knowledge of the industr>^ trained properly;

(4/5 opinions) i 5 Difficult to attract

3 Lack of major leaders human resources for VFA;

in the near future when , 6 The current young many leaders of the units staffs seem more will retire in the next 3 pragmatic and enthusiasm years (3/5 opinions) | for the job seem inferior

4 Staffs of VFA current the class before;

lack of management 7 Language proficiency knowledge, skills and has (English) of staffs in VFA not yet been focusing j is still weak;

trained properly (was 8 No "leading experts" in recruited to the position the most important through contests, mostly management areas of graduated from many , VFA is exploitation,

different majors, graduate ' protection and

of the fisher>' is not much) aquaculture;

(3/5 opinions) This can , 9 Organization of the onlv be overcome after 5 ' VFA is instable, need

to 10 years if there is continue to supplement training policy, training and adjust the properly now; | organizational structure;

5 Difficult to attract 10 Qualitv of execution human resources for VFA organizing the work because fishery training between the levels are not Universities have uneven (1 '5 opinions) difficulties in recruiting 11 Some areas lack participants in recent specialized staffs staffs years, and local officials with capable of synthesis,

do not want to work for discovery,

the VFA The ability to recommendations, policy

find good staffs (good at development

professional skills; good opinions);

knowledge about the

characteristics of the

fishery; enthusiastic,

anxious with the ups and

downs of the industry )

may be limited in the near

future (2 opinions);

6 Compared with class

officials 15-20 years ago,

the current young staffs

seem more pragmatic and

enthusiasm for the job

seem inferior class before

Many of the young staffs

who are not dedicated to

research and understand

the work is assigned, not

actively learning from

previous officials This is

entirely consistent with

the trend of social

development To

overcome, just needs the

direction, training and

experts of ministries

(including the Ministr>' of

Agriculture and Rural

/organizing the work

between the levels are not

uneven (1/5 opinions);

11 Some areas lack

specialized staffs / staffs

with capable of synthesis

discovery,

recommendations, policy

development (1^5

opinions);

5.1.3 Opportunities of human resources of the VFA:

As research conclusions based on comparison given in the Table 5.3

Table 5.3 Opportunities of human resources of the VFA

According to STOFA According to

survey results

Research conclusions

1 Have attention of the

Party, State (expressed by

Decision and Decree of

makes VFA implement

political tasks and operate

production better;

3 VFA has an important

position and expectations

from the lines It also has

the interest of the

community and State;

4 Some institutions of

legalities and legislations

of technologies have been

established and becoming

more and more

completed, provide the

chances for VFA to

1 Training opportunities are always wide open (4/5 opinions) Fisheries was planned, the government built strategies and had training programs from various funding;

2 International integration deeper requires more dynamic personnel to facilitate contact with scientific progress, learn from the experiences of the region and the world (1/5 opinions)

3 Regimes and policies for staffs increasingly improved That helped the staff assured, more dedication, on the other hand also contribute gradually attract talent to work in VFA (not in the near future) (1/5 opinions)

4 Not really clear (1/5 opinions)

1 Training opportunities are always wide open

4 Attract external human resources working for Directorate of Fisheries

accomplish its assigned

functions and missions

5 The development of

technologies (IT, GIS,

biotech ) provide the

opportunities for the VFA

to apply them in its

effective management i.e

fisheries in recent times is

the opportunity for VFA

to concentrate on

implementing

State-ratified development

strategies

5.1.4 Threats of human resource of VFA:

As research conclusions based on comparison given in the Table 5.4

Table 5.4 Threats of human resource of VFA

According to STOFA According to

surAev results

Research conclusions

\ A new agency of' 1 Work environment (the 1 Work environment (the

Ministry of Agriculture attractiveness of the attractiveness of the

and Rural Development so job salary income, job salary income that still have to face in housing problems) do not housing problems) do not

stability of human create attraction of create attraction of resources and ' qualified human resources qualified human resources

organization structure;

2 Management of local

fisheries is still unstable,

troubles in co-ordinating

with other sectors create

threats for VFA in

implementing

managements of local

fisheries

3 Function and task of

VFA do not include

uniform management of

all links in fisheries value

chain Some links belong

and human resources in

local management agency

in recent years have

limited the capacity of

local management

5 The laws have not been

completed and met the

requirement for the

operation of VFA

6 The scale of fisher

/ skilled staffs and in local area for VFA; gross

I

income is all difficuh problem for officials in VFA, good staffs tend to ' look for income, better working environment (4/5 opinions)

2 Shortage of skilled officials in fisheries, caused by difficulties of the recruitment and training, led to not have the opportunity to choose officials with experience and qualifications to participate in management/task

execution and effective quality (3/5 opinions);

3 The lack of stability in personnel and organizational structure of

the fishery impacts on human resources VFA (2/5 opinions);

4 The policy of the Government is streamlining payroll, so

the increase of the payroll

/ skilled staffs and in local area for VFA;

2 Difficulties of the recruitment and training led to not have the opportunities to choose staffs with experience and qualifications to participate in management/task

execution and effective quality;

3 The lack of stability in personnel and organizational structure of

the fisherv' impacts on human resources of VFA;

4 The laws have not been completed and met the requirement for the

operation of VFA; The

policy of the Government

is streamlining pa>roll, so the increase of the payroll

of VFA to offset shortages is in trouble

of VFA to offset

families are still small, ' shortages had difficulty

providing threats for VFA

5.2 Answers to additional questions:

5.2.1 For question 1: Are the VFA lacking its staff?

Conclusions shown in the Table 5.5

Table 5.5 Answer question 1

respondents said that the

VFA are lacking and the

lack of manpower;

- Results of 3 people

interviewed agreed that

the VFA manpower

limited by both quantity

and quality

Results of secondary data analysis

- Table 4.2 and Table 4.3 shows the current workforce of all units of the VFA are very limited and insufficiency for demanding The reason is lack of staffing (Table 4.2)

or due to delays in recruitment (Table 4.3);

- Planning for development of human

resources of the VFA by the STOFA project implementation also indicating that the VFA manpower shortage is obviously

Conclusion Question 1

Conclusions shown in the Table 5.6

Table 5.6 Answer question 2

Results collection, analyzing

primary data

Results of secondary data analysis

Conclusion for Question 2

- Table 4.6 for the results 80% of

the respondents said that the VFA

are lacking and the lack of

manpower;

The results of in-depth

interviews showed that the VFA

manpower shortage is limited by

both quantity and quality; feeling

of uncertainty about the age of the

team creating difficulties

adjacent; most units are missing

or very few is the expertise of

professionals, diligently,

methodically working well;

- There questionnaire gave for

comments : staffs recruitment is

difficult specialized fishing

capture today due to lack of input

- Table 4.4 shows that in most

of the units are still under its leadership deficiencies, including heads and deputies

least;

- Planning and development

of human resources of VFA

by the STOFA project implementation also said the VFA manpower shortage

VFA lack of leadership,

leaders defect departments, and more specifically the lack of a competent

professional positions for the most important

sectors of the

VFA

5.2.3 For question 3: Is the VFA lacking talent people who have good professional experiences, on state management and there are few such staffs that are usually on

the work load situations?

Conclusions shown in the Table 5.7

Table 5.7 Answer question 3

Results collection, analysing

primary data

- Table 4.6 for the results

Results of secondar> data analysis

Table 4.2 and Table 4.3 shows

Conclusion

for Question 3

The VFA is

80% of the respondents

indicatesthat the VFA are

lacking human resources;

- The results of in-depth

interviews showed that the

VFA manpower shortage in

quantity and quality; feeling

of uncertainty about the age

of the team creating

difficulties adjacent; most

units are missing or very few

is the expertise of

professionals, diligently,

methodically working well;

the current human resourcesof all units of the VFA are verv' limitted

The reason is that there is not sufficient manpower support of the Government (Table 4.2) or due to delaying in recruitment (Table 4.3);

- Table 4.4 shows that in most of the units of the VFA are still lacking leaders including Division Heads and Deputy Head ;

- Planning for development of

human resources of the VFA by the STOFA project indicated thatsome staffs of the VFA are work load

lacking staffs who have professional

expertise, good working skills and

experiences in state

management and they are overloading at the moment

5.2.4 For question 4: do the VFA have a lot of staffs who are currently lacking experiences, and just senior staffs and thus they have many difficulties on facing with hard problems?

- The results of Table 4.6 (Appendix 4) shows that 100°b of the interviewee have identified that staff of the VFA is lacking working experiences

- This is a weakness of the VFA according to results of survey 1

- Conclusion for question 4 is a lot of staffs of the VFA are lack of

experiences, too young to responsible for important tasks and slowly improved