The paper aims to measure and explain the business activities of small and micro
enterprises (SMEs) in Vietnam. The paper is approached based on management
practice perspectives in enterprises to test the hypothesis about the relationship
between business practices and the outcome of SMEs, simultaneously determining
the factors afecting the business practice level of owners/managers of the SMEs.
The data were collected from two diferent sources: (i) face-to-face interviews with
168 owners/managers about their application of business practices, and (ii) business
outcomes of the frms collected from corporate income tax reports provided by tax
authorities. The results show mean business practice scores of the frms of 15,87
(out of 26), which has a positive correlation with the proft of the frms. Further￾more, it shows that business practice scores depend on the competitive level, educa￾tion of managers, and type of business. This paper also highlights the importance of
the competitive efect, human capital, and types of business on business practices.
Finally, implications and ideas for future research are suggested