WHAT
What this platform is about

About the Projects

Project Overview

This web-based database is an RMIT project financed by the Teaching and Learning Investment Fund to support teaching and learning at RMIT. The project aims to create an integrated website with global and local databases suitable for current students and lecturers within and beyond the School of Business of RMIT Vietnam. The data collection and visualization methodology embeds datasets from highly credible data sources while also digitalizing and displaying raw data on the website so that users can search and interact with them. The website is used for educational purposes only.

Speaking solely about Vietnamese databases, our research shows that relevant business databases for international business users are available in Vietnam. In this project, we have included in our portal four separate databases encompassing E-business, Provincial Competitiveness, Provincial Governance, and notably, the Digital Transformance indexes of 63 provinces and governmental ministries in Vietnam. The objective of this project is to enhance the quality of teaching and learning in universities' business and management programs at both undergraduate and graduate levels by facilitating students’ access to current and relevant information.

The project is a valuable addition to the learning environment by supporting practice-based learning and research improvement. First, it helps broaden and deepen students' understanding of the business context and environment by delivering current information about the business environment in which live and will soon work. Second, students will also be able to practice using accurate databases to improve the quality of their work and motivate reflection on what they have learned in theories. Thirdly, the project speaks to problem-based learning, commonly used in top universities globally and at RMIT.

The Focus

Vietnam has done remarkably well in taking advantage of globalisation by participating in international markets and Global Value Chains. Globalization is emphasised in the courses and teaching approaches taken in universities across the country. Hence, while attempting to deliver globally recognized learning materials, those materials should also be contextualized to provide local examples and cases to engage local students with familiar situations. In other words, fundamental academic theories taught worldwide should be communicated in a package of recognizable examples. Additionally, there are excellent examples of case studies and other contextual tools from Vietnam which are leveraged to facilitate students' engagement with courses and enhance deep learning.

Therefore, this project has targeted the needs of Vietnamese students, who value and demand localized data. Also, with the prevalence of business intelligence and big data in this digital age, those who can utilize such data are bound to be successful. Therefore, our prime interest is to seek benefits from this project for our current students. In addition, simulations and hands-on experience for learners have increasingly become critical for students in higher education, especially in business and management.

Vision

This platform is expected to become the leading database about Vietnam in business, economics and management fields, supporting university students and business practitioners to advance using the most updated business data through a one-stop shop of data integration.

Given Vietnam's rising position in the global market, this project is considered innovative and responds to the industry's needs. Moreover, it can be sustained and enriched over time due to the following reasons:

  1. This project creates a single online platform that combines data on the essential social-economic indicators available in Vietnam's business environment.

  2. The customized and automated data on the website will greatly benefit primary users, especially business-major students.

  3. The input data are collected from trusted sources provided by government agencies and business associations.

  4. This database also provides reliable data for teaching, especially for authentically based education and industry-relevant teaching approaches.

Mission

  1. Enhance hands-on experience, skills, and knowledge for university students who are currently studying in the Department of Management specifically, (e.g. Majors of International Business, Human Resources Management, Tourism and Hospitality Management) and students from other schools and majors who share an interest in business and management.

  2. Support students and business practitioners in proactively practising and applying a data-driven approach in the decision-making process to analyze and solve real-life economics and business-related problems.

  3. Provide empirical evidence regarding the business environment of Vietnam and the world.

The Importance of Business Indicators

In today's digital era, the power of data and data analytics is increasingly important. Hence, the important role of data and a data-driven approach is inevitable and inseparable from the process of situation analysis and decision-making.

Local Databases

As Vietnam's economy has become an emerging market standout and an active player in the global market, many investors are switching their investment destination to Vietnam. Indeed, the rising position of the country is the result of many factors, namely robust economic growth, supportive and ambitious government with favourable policies, a significant number of currently operating businesses, and, more importantly, the orientation of being internationalized and integrated into the global value chain. This raises a crucial need to fully comprehend and access the country's economic and business environment. Thus, local databases appear as a fundamental tool to facilitate the process of interpreting Vietnam's business environment for research and investment purposes.

Global Databases

Along with the rising economy, Vietnam has a more buoyant open economy. Notably, the country ranks as the fifth most open economy in Asia out of 37 nations evaluated by Fitch Solutions in its Vietnam Trade & Investment Risk Report 2022. Vietnam's increasing economic openness has widened the opportunities for local businesses to enter the global market, seeking foreign direct investment and directly competing with other regional and global peers. In light of that, to thoroughly understand the global market, Vietnamese local businesses should take into account the value of global databases to better equip themselves with market knowledge, taking a data-driven approach, to improve their likelihood of business success.