The Prime Minister affirmed the attraction of Foreign Direct Investment as a key policy for the upcoming five years. The country’s export industry strongly depends on imports, and traditionally, Vietnam shows a trade deficit. But recently, the country managed to generate a plus the third year in a row. Where exactly is Vietnam placed within the stages of development and how much does Switzerland contribute to its FDI inward flows? Moreover, competition among developing countries for inward FDI is increasing. Therefore, it is crucial to understand how a country can increase its competitiveness by assessing factors driving a country’s development and, hence, its attractiveness.

The author found an approach to assess a country within the limited scope of the thesis. A main source builds on the Global Competitiveness Report of the World Economic Forum, which annually analyses a country’s strengths and weaknesses. This underlying thesis will assess those ratings of the last years by comparing the findings with experiences made by foreign managers in Vietnam. Their statements will contribute to show various challenges, as well as hurdles, foreign companies face by doing business in Vietnam. This approach will provide a comprehensive framework of the current situation in Vietnam focusing on investment flows and government measures, which dictate the business climate of the country.

The underlying thesis showed the importance of FDI for the successful development of Vietnam. Thereby, Switzerland ranks among the 15 largest investors and is further fostering its diplomatic ties with the ASEAN nation. Moreover, this study revealed that most foreign managers in Vietnam are positive about the country’s future and the majority believes in the government’s strengths to enforce all measures needed in reaching prosperity. However, Vietnam can only reach next smaller steps towards a more developed country with the help of foreign investors and the efforts of foreign companies that continuously train the Vietnamese workforce by sharing their expertise. Hence, Vietnam's competitive position has been strengthened by the presence of its highly motivated employees but at the same time, suffers from burdensome bureaucracy. These findings confirm that being able to compete against other nations and thus, provide prosperity to the whole population, depends on several factors and can not be revealed by one single holistic approach. Moreover, the client profits from customized statistics and research on crucial factors, the country needs to consider in order to become a developed nation.