Vietnamese Businesses Face a 'Strategic Inflection Point' as Traditional Competitive Advantages Gradually Run Out

HO CHI MINH CITY, VIETNAM, August 23, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ -- InnoEx Forum 2026 under the overarching theme “The Inflection Point – Where Global Shifts Fuel Business Reinvention”, brought together experts, business leaders, and investors from Vietnam and abroad to discuss a central question: as the advantages that once drove the growth of Vietnamese businesses gradually lose their strength, what will become the foundation for the next generation of competitive advantage?

The event took place against the backdrop of Vietnam achieving 8% GDP growth in 2025 - the highest in ASEAN. However, according to World Bank estimates, to become a high-income economy by 2045, Vietnam needs to maintain an average growth rate of approximately 6% per year over the next two decades – a journey that cannot rely solely on expanding capital and labor or on cost advantages as it did in the past.

𝐅𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐃𝐚𝐭𝐚 𝐭𝐨 𝐓𝐫𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐈𝐧𝐟𝐫𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐜𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞
Opening the Business Innovation Forum was the keynote “From Data to Advantage: Building Vietnam’s Trust Infrastructure” by Mr. Nguyen Huy, Head of Data Technology Department, National Data Association (NDA). He emphasized that Vietnamese businesses are not short of data; the challenge lies in the level of data reliability required for it to become the basis for transactions, credit decisions, or cross-border cooperation: “No matter how much data there is, it will become an operational burden; this asset only truly creates competitive advantage when it can be well authenticated, seamlessly interconnected, and highly reusable in value.”

𝐒𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐠𝐢𝐜 𝐏𝐢𝐯𝐨𝐭 𝐨𝐫 𝐒𝐚𝐟𝐞 𝐃𝐞𝐟𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐞?
At the “Pivot or Defense?” discussion, three speakers – Mr. Phung Viet Thang (Country Manager, Intel Vietnam), Mr. Nguyen Van Giap (Country General Manager, Lenovo Vietnam), and Mr. Albert Antoine (Chief Strategy Officer and Co-founder, Taipy) – examined the competitive gap of Vietnamese businesses from three perspectives: computing capabilities, enterprise-level deployment capacity, and the speed at which policies can be translated into execution.

Ms. Truong Ly Hoang Phi, Head of the InnoEx Organizing Committee, opened the discussion with two symbolic stories of strategic shifts: Intel withdrew from the memory chip business to focus on processors when it had almost no other choice, while Lenovo proactively acquired IBM’s PC business in 2005 when there was still room for growth. She shared: “Strategic pivoting driven by ambition is much more interesting, because it serves a new vision with a newer strategy; therefore, it is no longer about survival, but about creating the next advantage.” Mr. Phung Viet Thang added his perspective on corporate internal capabilities: “Any business, regardless of its situation or scale, must always turn its antenna on to receive meaningful signals amid an enormous amount of noise. What matters is that we must understand who we are and what we have before we change.”

𝐑𝐞𝐛𝐮𝐢𝐥𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐀𝐝𝐯𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐠𝐞: 𝐃𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐮𝐢𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐥 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 “𝐒𝐮𝐫𝐟𝐚𝐜𝐞-𝐋𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐥 𝐑𝐞𝐟𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐡”
The “Rebuilding Advantage” session brought together Mr. Roy Tavenor (Founding Chairman, Red Design Group & Causeway Global, with nearly 50 years of experience in retail and brand strategy), Mr. Douglas Jackson (Founder & Managing Director, Indissoluble Partners), and Mr. Jorge Martin Martinez (Founder & Managing Director, Bull Management Consulting), moderated by Mr. Nguyen Anh Duc – former CEO of Saigon Co.op.

Mr. Roy Tavenor emphasized sustainability rather than simply pursuing speed: “If you have not built the right business model – like what we saw after the COVID pandemic – all the companies that grew at an astonishing speed did not have time to think about whether their model was sustainable.” Drawing from his practical experience leading Saigon Co.op, Mr. Nguyen Anh Duc noted: “A common mistake businesses make when facing difficulties is to immediately rush into execution. The real rebuilding process must begin with the courage to have an honest dialogue about the company’s ‘blind spots’ before limited resources are poured into the wrong places.” From a capital market perspective, Mr. Douglas Jackson shared: “Speed is a key factor, but I want to highlight one important point: Act with urgency on reversible decisions such as testing new processes, adjusting prices, or trying new distribution channels. If they do not work, you can return to the old way. But be extremely cautious and carefully consider decisions that cannot be reversed.”

𝐅𝐫𝐨𝐦 “𝐇𝐚𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐃𝐚𝐭𝐚” 𝐭𝐨 “𝐌𝐚𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐃𝐞𝐜𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐅𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫”
Opening the series of dialogues on practical applications at the Innovation Sector Forum were two representative transformation stories (showcases). Scommerce applies AI algorithms to solve the challenge of allocating human resources in logistics operations. Meanwhile, Alterno brought a breakthrough “Made in Vietnam” solution for green energy infrastructure through sand battery energy storage technology.

At the “Data in Motion – From Data-Rich to Decision-Fast” session, Mr. Leos Gregor (Chief Risk Officer of Home Credit Vietnam), Dr. Ta Anh Phuong (Co-founder & CEO, Seinetime), and Mr. Webb Huang (CSO, Horizon AI) examined the gap between owning data and the ability to turn data into action.
Additionally, the “Intelligent Operations” session brought together representatives from SMC Phu My (perspectives from manufacturing, quality, and supply chain), Kyanon Digital (experience in implementing AI and data for businesses), and Focus Media (digitizing touchpoints between brands and customers). Mr. Xiang Song, CEO of Focus Media Vietnam, shared concrete results: “After we used 5G wireless transmission technology, it helped our customers’ management. Advertising deployment time was reduced from two days of manual posting in the past to one hour. Previously, we had a team of more than 60 people; after applying 5G technology, we only needed a small number of technical staff.”

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐅𝐨𝐫𝐮𝐦’𝐬 𝐂𝐥𝐨𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐌𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐚𝐠𝐞
Closing the program, Ms. Truong Ly Hoang Phi emphasized the importance of identifying strategic inflection points early: “The further in advance a business can anticipate, the greater its ability to proactively adjust its direction right at the strategic inflection point; conversely, if it delays until pressure closes in from competitors, internal challenges, and financial burdens, making the pivot will become extremely difficult.”

InnoEx Forum 2026 concluded not with a call for businesses to change everything, but with a reminder to clearly identify what can no longer remain unchanged - and begin taking action before the market forces them to act.

CÔNG TY TNHH INNOEX
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