Huy Quoc Huynh '15

The Economic Development of Vietnam from International Trade and Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) Perspective

Major/minor: Information System
Hometown: Hochiminh City, Vietnam
Project mentor: Dr. James P. West

Project Details:

1. Briefly describe your SOAR project.
   The main goal of this project was to review the opportunities and challenges of the Vietnamese economy as a global competitor based on the article written by Lawrence E. Grinter, Professor of National Security Affairs at Air University. Grinter points out the opportunities and challenges that the Vietnam’s economy may face in the process of shifting to a socialist-oriented market economy. In the thirty years since the Vietnam’s shift to a market economy, the opportunities and challenges mentioned in Grinter’s article have changed, so I studied an extensive literature on these relations to support our analysis of the development of the Vietnamese economy.  
    
2. What motivated you to participate in SOAR? 
   I came to the U.S from Vietnam to study abroad when I was 16. Naturally, I got most of my knowledge in economics in the U.S. and, after taking a business course called International Management Issues instructed by Dr. James West, doing fiscal research on Vietnam gave me a unique opportunity to apply all the concepts and economic analyzing methods to reality. My major is Information Systems, which requires knowledge in both Computer Science and Economics, and I want to be a business analyst; thus, having an in-depth knowledge of how to conduct economic analysis will assist me in making educated decisions in my career. 
    
3. What are the results of your work on this project? 
   As we expected, the opportunities and challenges of the Vietnamese economy as a global competitor, discussed by Lawrence E. Grinter in his work in 2006, had changed positively after eight years of economic development. However, many challenges such as government transparency, lack of intellectual property rights, and media censorship had little improvement or remained unchanged. Currently, Vietnam has its own strengths and weaknesses to attract foreign direct investment (FDI) and become an effective competitor in international trade. I am working to develop a website contains all material used in my project and the project’s results.
    
4. What are your personal takeaways from the project? And do you plan to continue work on this project after SOAR? 
   I have a new perspective on how to live and become an effective citizen. I rarely question myself what having freedom really means and why it is important. Building a politically, socially, and economically strong nation is not the task of the government but of every citizen who lives in it, and an effective government is the one that gives its people sustainable freedom to make their decisions on various aspects. I expect my future courses in economics will give me more knowledge to conduct independent research to help develop this project after SOAR.

Biographical Information:

1. What clubs/sports/activities/community service are you involved in? 
   I am a computer science teaching assistant and a math tutor for the department of computer science and mathematics and an advertising designer for the  department of international studies. Currently, I am on a team trained by Dr. Ben Coleman for programming contests.
    
2. Briefly, what are your future plans and career goals? 
   After graduating from Moravian University, I will pursue a job in my field while considering an MBA program or an advanced degree in computer science.