Lien Thi Hoa Do

This study investigates the impact of biomass energy consumption, agricultural value added, raw material productivity, and gross domestic product growth rate on Vietnam’s environmental quality within the framework of the load capacity curve hypothesis over the period from 1986 to 2021. The analysis employs ARDL estimation and Granger causality tests to examine correlations. The results proved that agricultural value added and biomass energy are critical long-term drivers of environmental quality in Vietnam. The long-term estimation results suggest that a 1% increase in biomass energy consumption contributes to a marginal increase of 0.82% in the load capacity factor. In addition, agricultural value added appears to have a significant diminishing effect on the load capacity factor in Vietnam (an increase of 1% in agriculture value added versus a reduction of the load capacity factor by 2.28%). The study unveils a bidirectional relationship between biomass energy consumption and load capacity factor. These findings suggest that in Vietnam, biomass energy consumption improves environmental quality. In turn, improved environmental quality will promote biomass energy consumption.

Type of the article: Research Article

Abstract
This paper aims to assess the relative importance of various determinants impacting small and medium enterprises’ (SMEs) capacity for innovation. The study employed a quantitative approach with data obtained from 462 participants working across SMEs in 2023 in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. The collected data were subsequently processed and analyzed using structural equation modeling (SEM) and exploratory factor analysis (EFA). The EFA results indicated the removal of two items due to their poor fit within the variables. Furthermore, the statistical adequacy of the data for factor analysis was confirmed by a Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin (KMO) coefficient of 0.892 and a significant Bartlett’s test (Chi-square = 8177.250, p-value < 0.001). The remaining variables yielded a convergent solution in the subsequent CFA analysis, with goodness-of-fit indices meeting acceptable thresholds. The SEM results revealed four key factors influencing the innovation capability of SMEs in Ho Chi Minh City: collaboration networks, organizational culture, entrepreneurial leadership, and internal human resources, with p-values for all these factors’ estimates of 0.000. The survey respondents indicated that collaborative networks exerted the most substantial influence on the innovation capability of SMEs (with an estimate of 0.282). Subsequently, factors such as organizational culture and entrepreneurial leadership demonstrated progressively lesser degrees of impact, with corresponding coefficients of 0.266 and 0.207, respectively. Recommendations for both enterprises and state policies are then proposed.