Implementation is more flexible than in a legislative political structure because officials are expected to act according to local situations rather than to implement general laws. Hence much policy innovation begins as local experiments prove to be successful and are generalized (Heilmann, 2008). On the other side of the coin, crises often force awareness of previously ignored problems of governance (the SARS crisis of 2003 is the best example) (Kraus, 2004). Popular disturbances play an interesting and important role in drawing the attention of higher leadership to dissatisfaction with local leaders and conditions. Such disturbances are outside the system but rarely against the system. In Mao Zedong’s terminology, such problems are evidence of “contradictions among the people” that can become hostile if they are mishandled (Mao, 1971). Labour strikes are a special category of contradictions since they are primarily against foreign firms. In Vietnam, 68 per cent of strikes occurred in foreign-invested firms, primarily Taiwanese and South Korean, while less than ten per cent occurred in state-owned enterprises (Kerkvliet, 2010a). The strikes were mostly brief and non-violent, and were preceded by unsuccessful presentations of grievances.