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Afterschool Music Education Programs in Germany and Vietnam
Cassie Peay
Business Department, Salt Lake Community College
MGT 1060: Principles of International Business
Lon Schiffbauer
July 30th, 2022
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Afterschool Music Education Programs in Germany and Vietnam
I believe that I can offer high quality music education programs to youth in other
countries, such as Germany and Vietnam. Around the globe, there are countless kids
wrapping up their school day with either nowhere fun and safe to go or they’re spending the
afternoon doing something unproductive and boring. My plan is to give these kids, not only
somewhere safe to go while one or both parents are still at work, but somewhere with
structure, with mentors they can trust, and where they can learn a new skill.
Political
Political influence in Germany and Vietnam varies from each other, but both support
the arts in education. Germany is a Federal Republic and parliamentary democracy. The
German government, led by the Chancellor, is elected by the public and holds executive
power (Buswell, 2022). This type of political structure is described as flexible and adaptable.
This is an ideal situation when it comes to a more forward-thinking environment, where
subjects like the arts can be considered important and, perhaps, essential. Vietnam is a
socialist country under the leadership of the Vietnam Communist Party. The Party holds a
national congress every five years to outline the country's overall direction and future, as well
as to formalize policies. (Embassy of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, 2022). While
Vietnam has had a history of war, political unrest, and division between the North and South,
they were brought back together under communist rule in 1976. Vietnam has come a long
way regarding education but still, as of 2021, they were ranked # 64 out of 80 nations
globally (Nguyen, 2021).
Economic
When it comes to the economy, Germany’s is the fourth largest in the world. “Robust,
export-oriented, small and medium-sized businesses, plus a large number of global players
form its backbone. Seen as synonymous with good quality, the “Made in Germany” label is
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in demand all over the world.” (Germany as an Economic Partner, 2022, para. 1). Another
fact about Germany is that 44.8 million people were gainfully employed, as of 2020. This
tells me that there could be many parents and families in Germany that are working full-time
and could use a place for their children to go to after school each day. Vietnam has one of the
fastest growing economies in the world right now. “Vietnam recorded 10-year high GDP
growth of 7.1% in 2018 and by 7.02% in 2019. Despite the Covid-19 outbreak in 2020, the
country was one of the few economies that recorded positive growth with 2.91%.” (AFM
Editorial Office, 2022, para. 2). More Vietnamese people are being moved from agricultural
processing to manufacturing. Investments and tourism are increasing, so therefore, so are the
wages and urbanization. If an increased number of parents are starting to make more money
and have better jobs, they might not only need somewhere for their kids to go after school,
but they may seek it out because they’re more likely to afford it with the increased wages
they’re earning.
I believe that I could create many new job opportunities in these two countries and
positively impact their economies. My ideal method of hiring would be the geocentric
approach. This means I would fill positions within my music schools in both countries with
the best possible candidate, regardless of what country they’re from. Whether than means that
I need to arrange for relocation and travel expenses for an American candidate or hire
someone native from either of these two host countries, I want the best possible contender to
fulfil the role as needed. In either scenario, this could assist the workforce and economy.
While this approach can help create a positive bond between American culture and the host
country, by providing job opportunities to local applicants and learning how to integrate with
each other, it can create hurdles for the business owner. There are financial and logistical
obstacles to consider. The cost of hiring the best candidate, while disregarding what country
they’re from, may be more trouble than it’s worth. There may be better options, such as
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exclusively hiring people from the region the business is going to reside in or taking
employees with me to the host countries. All these options have pros and cons but it’s a
decision that must be made when taking a business to the global market.
Social
The typical social structure for a German family is similar to the American family but
averages one to two child(ren) per household. The social “hierarchy” is also similar to
America, where there are lower, middle, and upper classes. Vietnamese culture is tied closely
to religion and ancestry to this day. The social norm is also to adhere to the patriarchy. The
father or the oldest male hold the power. This leads to me to think that if the head of the
household is the father, they would have final say in if their child could attend an afterschool
music program and the spouse would have to accept that decision. Additional social
considerations to acknowledge in Germany and Vietnam are that they both have generations
of music culture and influence that are still integrated into their societies today. For example,
Germans have been incorporating music into their traditional dress, beer, food, and religious
freedom since the Reformation, separating them from Catholicism. In Vietnam, their history
is integrated with music so thoroughly that they have created instruments to express their
culture, feelings, and worship. Not only that, but they have so many different cultures that
celebrate musically. “Vietnam has 54 ethnic groups, which means that there are 54 different
traditional musical backgrounds.” (GoVietnamTours, 2022, para. 4). These factors show how
rich the investment in musical culture is within these two separate countries. While essential
and positive to note this, it’s still intimidating to me and my business plan. I would never
want to invite myself into a foreign country with so much musical culture, and act like I’m
there to teach these amazing people something I know a lot about, from an education
standpoint, but culturally, know nothing about. I can teach them how to write, play, create,
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and appreciate music but I would never want to impose on the knowledge and culture these
two countries offer that I will never fully understand.
Technological
It’s fair to say that technology is advancing every day and there are many countries
growing at substantial rates in the technology sector. Germany is one of those countries. One
of their main goals of research is to combine sectors to collaborate between tech companies.
The endgame being better business models in engineering and other services. If I could find a
way to show some of these developers how important music education is, perhaps we could
form some sort of partnership to create a new software or app that helps kids learn the basics
of music. It could be similar to the apps that teach you a new language or different fitness
exercises. Vietnam is currently one of the fastest-growing Asian countries when it comes to
technological advances. They’re going up against the rest of the world as a leader in AI,
cloud computing, and any other tech you can think of. As a downside, I could see this country
being so advanced in other forms of teaching, learning, and communicating, that they may
find a better way to teach kids than I could offer with my instructors and mentors. The youth
there may also be already learning how to receive information from upper-level tech in a way
that humans just can’t compete.
Legal
The legal considerations regarding my music programs, in either country, come down
to the issue of immigration. Both countries are accepting of extra-curricular learning and they
both seem like they would accommodate a music program very well. As I mentioned earlier,
I would like to hire based on the geocentric approach. This approach requires something
called expats. Expats are citizens from one country working abroad in another country. This
is where things start to become somewhat complicated. In Germany, there are extensive
requirements to acquire a work visa and residency. A work visa is required for any foreigner
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to be employed there and one of the stipulations for granting the visa is if a German could do
the same job instead of someone else entering the country. My employees would also have to
apply for a residence permit to legally stay in the country longer than the 30-day grace period
Germany grants U.S. citizens. In Vietnam, their immigration laws are very thorough. “To get
a working visa, you must first prove you’re over 18 years old, have a job offer in Vietnam,
are in good health, have no criminal record. You must also be able to prove that you have
the necessary professional experience – either an undergraduate degree or equivalent
professional training, or five years’ employment in your industry. A work permit is
typically valid for up to 2 years and must be secured at least 2 weeks before the date
you are expected to start employment. Next comes the temporary residency permit.”
(Holden, 2022. Article 3). The article then goes on to talk about the requirements needed for
the permanent residency permit. The obstacles that I would have to conquer, as the business
owner, in order to provide accommodations and immigration requirements for my music
program may not be profitable enough to justify all of the things mentioned here.
Environmental
Regarding environmental aspects, English is widely spoken throughout Germany, and
as I mentioned earlier, it is like America in population of school-aged kids. This environment
seems to present a nice range of possibilities for my English-speaking instructors, along with
myself, to travel there and create our afterschool music program. The environment in
Vietnam is fast-paced and ever-evolving. One great environmental factor is that, next to
Vietnamese, English is the next most spoken language. “English is the most popular language
in Vietnam after Vietnamese, and in the cities, even when you try to communicate in
Vietnamese, the local younger people will just respond to you in English.” (Vietnam Online,
2022, para. 2). This could mean very promising things for my business.
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Afterschool music education programs in Germany and Vietnam are a great
possibility but I fear that, with all things considered, the cons outweigh the pros. I do believe
that with the right team of educators and the best curriculum available, this idea could go
global and provide youth with a service unlike any other. However, there are too many
obstacles standing in the way for me to recommend moving forward. On one hand, when
considering the political, economic, social, technological, legal, and environmental factors of
these two countries, they could both benefit from what I have to offer. On the other hand,
after some reflection, I do not suggest moving forward. When considering cost-effectiveness,
or lack thereof, and the inconveniences associated with taking or hiring new staff, wage rate
conversion, and cultural differences in music, I believe my plan for afterschool music
education programs would be more successful and profitable by staying local.
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References
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June 7, 2022, from https://www.expatica.com/de/living/gov-law-admin/german-
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(2022). Socialist Republic of Vietnam. Government Structure | Embassy of the Socialist
Republic of Vietnam in the United States. (2022). Retrieved June 7, 2022, from
https://vietnamembassy-usa.org/vietnam/politics/government-structure
Nguyen, H. N. (2021, July 12). Does Vietnam have a good education system? Project
Sprouts. Retrieved June 7, 2022, from https://project-sprouts.com/does-vietnam-have-a-
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globalised%20economy.
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(2022). Can I get by with just English in Vietnam. Vietnamonline.com. (2022). Retrieved
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Stephen. (2022, May 4). Vietnamese traditional music: 100+ years of history & culture. Go
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traditional-music/
Holden, J. (2022, May 9). Expat guide to moving and living in Vietnam in 2022. William
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