FROM HERITAGE TO MARKET: LEVERAGING DIFFERENTIATION AND CAPABILITIES TO EXPORT HUE’S HANDICRAFTS TO EUROPE

Minh Quang Le, Dao Nguyen Thuyen Phung, Khanh-Duong Quang

Abstract


Global demand for sustainable and authentic products has resurrected traditional handicrafts’ economic and symbolic worth (UNESCO, 2021). Royal needlework and conical caps from Hue, Vietnam’s imperial city, are rarely exported. Less than 10% of Vietnam’s USD 2.2 billion handcraft exports in 2022 came from the central region (Vietrade, 2023), demonstrating structural differences in distinction, marketing, and institutional support. This study examines Hue’s European handcraft export growth, Differentiation Strategy, Marketing Capabilities, Institutional Factors, and Factor–Based Comparative Advantage using the Resource-Based View and Contingency Theory. A survey of 445 craftspeople, exporters, and marketers in Thừa Thiên-Huế was evaluated statistically using PLS-SEM and Smart PLS 4.0. All four criteria improve exports. Institutional considerations predate marketing and differentiating strategy. Trained labor and raw materials help locally. The model explains 63.5 percent of export variance. This study improves cultural export knowledge by including internal and external aspects. Governments, industry associations, and cultural entrepreneurs are advised on increasing Hue’s European cultural goods market position. Vietnam, PLS-SEM, cultural handicrafts, differentiation strategy, marketing, institutional variables, export performance.

 

JEL: F14, M31, L26

 

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Keywords


export performance; cultural handicrafts; marketing capabilities; Vietnam; PLS-SEM

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References


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DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.46827/ejefr.v9i5.2056

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