This chapter presents the context and scope of the dissertation as well as summing up major contents in
the following chapters: the theoretical background of trade and the origin of the two main branches of
international trade (chapter 2), a qualitative analysis helps to generalize the Vietnamese export structure
since the year of the country's political and economic reform (chapter 3), the export trade pattern of a
small and emerging country such as Vietnam replicating the gravity model (chapter 4), the role of
firms in determining the trade patterns corresponding to footwear, rice and wood and wood products
export sectors (chapter 5) as well as firms' internal factors affecting their export performance (chapter
6). This chapter also describes the general and specific objectives of the research, indicates the research
methodologies as well as the contribution of this research and concludes with the organization of the
dissertation.