Analysing Productivity in Vietnamese Seafood Processing Firms: A Control Function Approach

This study aims to estimate the production function and total factor productivity (TFP) of Vietnamese seafood processing firms. At the same time, the study analyses the impact of internal factors of firms and the quality of economic institutions on the TFP of the Vietnamese seafood processing industry. The study uses the Function Control (FC) approach in TFP estimation and the Feasible Generalized Least Squares (FGLS) regression model in the analysis of factors affecting TFP. The study was carried out on the census data of enterprises of the Vietnamese seafood processing industry collected by the Vietnamese General Statistics Office and Provincial Competitiveness Index data of Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry in the period from 2013 to 2018. Estimated results from the models show that: i) Vietnamese seafood processing firms are, currently, mainly labor-intensive, the TFP contribution and output is only about 2.258. ii) Factors such as the firm’s age, firm’s size, and the firm’s ownership affect TFP. In which, firms that have few numbers of years of operation, small and medium firms, and private firms have low TFP. iii) Institutional quality and the provincial business environment have a positive impact on the TFP of Vietnamese seafood processing firms in this period.