Ảnh hưởng của cạnh tranh và quy trình sản xuất sản phẩm đến kế toán quản trị cho việc ra quyết định và tác động của nó đến hiệu quả hoạt động của doanh nghiệp: Nghiên cứu tại các doanh nghiệp sản xuất cơ khí Việt Nam

INFLUENCE OF COMPETITION AND THE REQUIREMENTS 
FOR PRODUCTION PROCESS ON MANAGEMENT ACCOUNTING
FOR DECISION - MAKING AND ITS IMPACT ON FIRM 
PERFORMANCE: A SURVEY IN VIETNAMESE MECHANICAL
MANUFACTURING ENTERPRISES
ẢNH HƯỞNG CỦA CẠNH TRANH VÀ QUY TRÌNH SẢN XUẤT 
SẢN PHẨM ĐẾN KẾ TOÁN QUẢN TRỊ CHO VIỆC RA QUYẾT ĐỊNH
VÀ TÁC ĐỘNG CỦA NÓ ĐẾN HIỆU QUẢ HOẠT ĐỘNG 
CỦA DOANH NGHIỆP: NGHIÊN CỨU TẠI CÁC DOANH NGHIỆP
SẢN XUẤT CƠ KHÍ VIỆT NAM
MA, Nguyen Quynh Trang - Thuongmai University
quynhtrangnguyen2408@gmail.com
Abstract
The purpose of this study is to determine the influence of competition and the requirements
for production process on management accounting for decision-making in Vietnamese mechanical
manufacturing enterprises (VMMEs). The sample was collected from a survey of senior
executives, chief accountants and accountants of 38 VMMEs in July 2020.The results showed
that both competition and requirements for production processes have an impact on management
accounting for decision-making in these enterprises. In addition, management accounting for
decision-making also contributes to improving firm performance. From the results, the study
proposes some suggestions to promote the role of management accounting for decision-making
in VMMEs.
Keywords: Management accounting for decision-making, competition, production
processes, firm performance.
Tóm tắt
Nghiên cứu được thực hiện nhằm xác định mức độ ảnh hưởng của 2 yếu tố: cạnh tranh và
yêu cầu đối với quy trình sản xuất sản phẩm đến kế toán quản trị cho việc ra quyết định tại các
DN sản xuât cơ khí Việt Nam. Dữ liệu được thu thập thông qua khảo sát các nhà quản trị cấp
cao và những người phụ trách công tác kế toán của 38 DN sản xuất cơ khí Việt Nam. Kết quả
nghiên cứu chỉ ra rằng cả áp lực cạnh tranh và yêu cầu đối với quy trình sản xuất sản phẩm đều
có ảnh hưởng đến KTQT cho việc ra quyết định tại các DN được khảo sát. Ngoài ra, KTQT cho
việc ra quyết định còn có vai trò tích cực đối với hiệu quả hoạt động của doanh nghiệp. Từ đó,
chúng tôi đã đưa ra một số khuyến nghị cần thiết nhằm phát huy tối đa vai trò của KTQT cho
việc ra quyết định trong các DNSX cơ khí Việt Nam.
Từ khóa: Kế toán quản trị, ra quyết định.
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1. Introduction 
Mechanical manufacturing is a fundamental industry to the country’s socio-economic 
development. In recent years, the number of VMMEs accounts for nearly 30% of the total
processing and manufacturing enterprises in Vietnam (General Statistics Office of Vietnam, 2019).
Vietnam is a developing country, before the requirements of economic restructuring towards
industrialization and modernization, the mechanical industry must be strong enough to carry out
the contents of the Industrial revolution 4.0 and technological innovation for other economic
sectors. However, with the development trend of the market economy, production and business
activities of corporations are increasingly expanded, VMMEs are facing to some difficulties:
Firstly, the mechanical industry is a diversified product industry but the pressure of
competition is great. Competition makes economic relationships arising in the business process
of enterprises become complicated. Enterprise must be competed with domestic and foreign
businesses. In fact, many domestic manufacturing enterprises are not competitive enough, not
ready to access new technologies to meet the increasing demand for quality technology products.
Secondly, difficulties comes from the specific characteristics of the mechanical
manufacturing industry. This is a production industry, that the production process goes through
many different stages, requires very high accuracy in terms of technology level and production
inputs. The main materials are iron, steel and other color alloys. Most of these materials cannot
be domestically produced, so they must be imported. Therefore, the price of input materials
fluctuates and affected by the world market. For labour, this is a field that requires highly skilled
and specialized labor to exploit and operate technology in design and production consultancy
process. This is also a big challenge for VMMEs.
In the context of the Industrial revolution 4.0 and economic integration with other
economies in the region and the world, VMMEs must change to be able to adapt and survive and
develop. In fact, managers of these enterprises are facing many difficulties in identifying,
collecting, processing and analyzing information in decision-making. They have a great demand
for modern management knowledge and the support of management tools. In particular,
management accounting is effective tool for providing useful information for manager. In recent
years, the perception of managers about the role of management accounting has also changed. It
directly affects to the application of management accounting in the enterprises.. In  ... ly controlled
PPC 2 Flexible production system
PPC 3 The machine is controlled by digital
PPC 4 Products are designed and manufactured
to maximize the added value to the
customers.
Management
accounting for
decision-
making (MAD)
Kinney & Raiborn (2011),
Garrison, Noreen & Brewer
(2017), Lanen et al (2013),
Horngren et al (2014)
MAD 1 Collecting management accounting
information for decision-making
MAD 2 Processing and analyzing management
accounting information for decision-
making
MAD 3 Providing management accounting
information for decision-making
MAD 4 Application IT in collecting, processing,
analyzing and providing management
accounting information for decision-
making
Firm
performance
(PER)
Ngo The Chi & Nguyen
Trong Co (2008), Doan
Ngoc Phi Anh (2016), Bui
Tien Dung (2017); Do Thi
Huong Thanh (2019)
PER 1 Revenue growth
PER 2 Profit growth
PER 3 Quality of the products
PER 4 Labor productivity
PER 5 Research and development
b30 Machinery manufacturers;
b24 Auto suppliers/ Vehicle components suppliers;
b25 Electronics manufacturers.
These are 3 important mechanical sub-sectors on the list of national key mechanical
products according to Decision No. 10/2009/QD-TTg dated January 16, 2009 on the support
mechanism for key mechanical products, period 2009 - 2015.
During 2 months of survey from December 2019 to April 2020, we sent 350 questionnaires
and received 327 ones. However, only 201 questionnaires were used for analysis purposes. The
descriptive statistical analyses are performed with the support of SPSS 22.0 and AMOS 22.0. 
4. Results of data analysis 
4.1. Describe the research sample
Classification results of research samples is as follows:
Table 2. Information about respondents
4.2. Reliability and validity analysis
To test the reliability of observed variables, the researchers used Cronbach’s Alpha and
Corrected item-total correlation. The analytical results are presented in the following table:
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Items Frequency Ratio %
Percentage 
of accumulative
Sex
Male 137 68.16 68.16
Female 64 31.84 100
Postion
Senior executives 52 25.87 25.87
Chief accountants/ Finance Director 77 38.30 64.17
Accountants 72 35.83 100
Experience
Less than 5 years 33 16.41% 16.41
5 to 10 years 66 32.82% 49.23
More than 10 years 102 50.77 100
Table 3. Test results of Cronbach’s Alpha coefficient
The results of the reliability analysis showed that all independent and dependent variables
in the research model have Cronbach’s Alpha groups from 0.781 to 0.897. Also all observed vari-
ables had Corrected Item- Total Correlation greater than 0.3. All of these indicators are greater
than the minimum to ensure convergence, reliability and distinctiveness of factors as suggested
by Hair et al (2010) should be included in the analysis in the next steps.
4.3. Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA)
Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) with Principal Axis Factoring and Promax rotation
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Variables Scale Mean if
Item Deleted
Scale Variance if
Item Deleted
Corrected Item-
Total Correlation
Cronbach’s Alpha if
Item Deleted
Competition (COM) Cronbach’s Alpha = .889
COM 1 7.4876 6.571 .790 .845
COM 2 7.4826 6.471 .838 .825
COM 3 7.2338 6.550 .810 .837
COM 4 7.4080 7.993 .599 .911
The requirements for production processes (PPC) Cronbach’s Alpha = .781
PPC 1 12.35 3.058 .577 .733
PPC 2 12.13 3.177 .551 .745
PPC 3 12.31 3.046 .647 .696
PPC 4 12.34 3.265 .571 .735
Management accounting for decision-making (MAD) Cronbach’s Alpha = .897
MAD 1 11.51 4.421 .747 .877
MAD 2 11.47 4.010 .822 .848
MAD 3 11.39 4.090 .790 .861
MAD 4 11.42 4.524 .732 .882
Firm performance (PER) Cronbach’s Alpha = .896
PER 1 15.8458 6.841 .632 .897
PER 2 15.8358 6.088 .799 .861
PER 3 15.8905 6.468 .713 .881
PER 4 15.8259 6.435 .782 .866
PER 5 15.8657 6.147 .801 .861
showed that the observed variables in each factor is unidirectional scale and the 17 observed vari-
ables are compatible with the data. The KMO coefficient is 0.795, greater than 0.5, the Barlett
test has a p-value less than 0.05, the Eigenvalue coefficient > 1, factor loading > 0.5 (see table 2) 
Table 4. Results of EFA analysis
4.4. Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) 
We used Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) to evaluate the fit of the research model with
collected data. CFA results indicated that Chi-square/df = 2.086 < 3; CFI = 0.947; TLI = 0.932;
IFI = 0.948, were all greater than 0.9; RMSEA = 0.074 < 0.08. The normalized regression weights
were greater than 0.5, the Composite Reliability (CR) were greater 0.7 indicating that all factors
are sufficiently credible (Hair et al., 2006). Testing Discriminant validity representing the level
of square roof of Average Variance Extracted (AVE) of factors was greater 0.5 indicating that the
factors have convergent value, the latent variable is well explained by its observation variables
(Hair et al., 2006) (Table 5). 
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Component
1 2 3 4
PER5 .861
PER4 .834
PER2 .824
PER3 .803
PER1 .728
MAD2 .865
MAD4 .828
MAD3 .815
MAD1 .793
COM2 .909
COM1 .906
COM3 .892
COM4 .709
PPC1 .848
PPC3 .791
PPC2 .641
PPC4 .624
KMO 0.795
Variance explained) (%) 72.36%
Table 5. Result of Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA)
4.5. Structural Equation Modeling Analysis and Hypothesis Testing 
The analysis of structural equation modeling showed that the model fits the data, Chi-
square/df = 2.211 < 3; CFI = 0.941; TLI = 0.924; IFI = 0.942, were greater than 0.9; RMSEA =
0.078 < 0.08, P.Value = 0.000 < 0.05. The estimated results of relationships among factors are
shown in Figure 2. 
Figure 2. Standardized structural equation modeling analysis
The two factors: competition (COM) and the requirements for production processes(PPC)
both have positive impact on management accounting for decision-making (MAD). This result
is also consistent with the findings of previous studies (Abdel - Kader & Luther, 2008; Albu,
2012; Sulaiman et al, 2015; Almad, 2012, 2015; Doan Ngoc Phi Anh, 2012, 2016; Bui Tien Dung,
2018; Thai Anh Tuan, 2019; Do Thi Huong Thanh, 2019). In which PPC with beta coefficients
of .618 has a stronger influence on MAD than COM (β = 0.248).
In addition, the results also indicate that management accounting for decision-making
(MAD) has a positive effect on firm performance (PER) with beta coefficients of.541. As a result,
three hypotheses are accepted. 
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Factor
Number of 
observation
variables
Composite
Reliability
Average
Variance Ex-
tracted
Minimum nor-
malized regres-
sion weight
Competition (COM) 4 .886035 .904 .816453
The requirements for production
processes (PPC)
4 .781831 .796 .633493
Management accounting for
decision-making (MAD)
4 .897714 .911 .829178
Firm performance (PER) 5 .90636 .903 .815423
Table 6. Regression analysis and hypothesis results
5. Conclusion
The requirements for production process are factors that motivate VMMEs to increase the
application management accounting techniques in collecting, processing, analyzing and providing
information for decision-making. Specifically, the characteristic of the mechanical manufacturing
industry is an industry with a complex technological process, requiring very high precision of
technology and production inputs. In the context of globalization and the effects of the Industrial
revolution 4.0, VMMEs should apply modern technology to their production. The application of
scientific and technological advances will help enterprises use rationally and efficiently
production resources, improve quality of products and labor productivity, thereby increasing
competitiveness. Therefore, the authors suggest that VMMEs should establish / maintain R&D
centers. These centers are responsible for researching and improving of products and
manufacturing processes, designing and updating of modern manufacturing processes. In addition,
these enterprises should build flexible production systems, integrate computer and robot systems
with fast, accurate and safe job processing speed. We believe that the application of advanced
and modern production technology not only motivates VMEs to increase the implementation of
management accounting contents for decision-making but also for the process of collecting,
processing, analyzing and providing management accounting information more smoothly and
effectively.
On the other hand, research also shows that competition also affects the implementation
of management accounting for decision-making in VMMEs. In fact, the competitiveness of these
enterprises is not high. Especially in the context of the Industrial revolution 4.0, VMMEs have
to compete in many aspects: input materials, selling price, market share, labor skills, production
equipment, distribution, product diversification ... In order to survive and develop, each enterprise
needs to choose one / a number of different competitive advantages which can compare with
other competitors in the market.
The results of this study also show that, in VMMEs, the implementation management
accounting for decision-making (collecting, processing, analyzing, providing information and
the application of IT for decision-making) also contributes to improving firm performance (both
financial and non-financial perspective). Therefore, administrators in these enterprises should
promote the investment in modern technology in production and apply measures to increase the
competitiveness of enterprises, facilitate the implementation of management accounting contents
value for decision-making. 
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Estimate S.E. C.R. P
MAD <—- COM .248 .077 3.231 .001
MAD <—- PPC .618 .096 6.460 .000
PER <—- MAD .541 .091 5.912 .000
From a macro perspective, we need to have appropriate policies to enhance the advantages
of management accounting, thereby encouraging enterprises to implement management
accounting for decision-making. To do this, it is important to pay attention to the role of
professional associations, as well as universities and training centers in introducing,
disseminating, and guiding the work process of accounting management and related techniques
for enterprises.
6. Limitations and further research 
The results of these studies are the basis for managers in VMMES to consider in
establishing a management accounting system in their enterprises as well as applying management
accounting techniques for controlling and operating enterprise.The research also has a number
of limitations. Due to limited time, our research only investigated 2 factors affecting management
accounting for decision-making in VMMEs. There are some factors which influence the appli-
cation of management accounting for decision-making that have not been included in the research
model such as organizational structure, managers’ knowledge, culture, qualification of
accountants,... Therefore, these issues may be further clarified in further research. 
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