نیاز نادیده گرفته شده برای تجدید استراتژیک در بازارهای نوظهور: درسهایی از ویتنام در دوران گذار

Research on strategy in emerging markets is based on overly static representations, paying insufficient attention to the impact of contextual change on the value of firms’ resources. This article examines how a sample of the most successful Vietnamese private companies during the first decade of their country's transition from central planning was affected by the shifting rules of the game in their business environment. I suggest the primary takeaway is that sustained superior performance in an environment with changing keys to success requires dedicated and ongoing strategic renewal. I also suggest the need for both scholars and managers to immerse themselves in emerging markets if they care to fully understand the granular ways in which these settings differ from more familiar advanced economies.

Research on emerging markets has raised critical awareness that strategy and the value of a firm's resources are influenced significantly by the institutional contexts in which they are employed (e.g., Young, Ahlmstrom, Bruton, & Rhubanik, 2011). However, the study of management in emerging markets remains a nascent field within which the most prominent contributions consist mostly of tests of hypotheses originally formulated to answer research questions about business in advanced economies. Another characteristic of the research to date is rather static representations of market conditions, with very limited direct consideration of how firms are affected by the dynamic change that defines emerging markets. In this article, I explore how some of the most successful private companies during Vietnam's first decade of market transition responded to continuing change during the second decade of transition. I draw on a decade of living and working in Vietnam alongside the results from a pair of firm-level surveys spaced by nearly as much time to come to the following three conclusions, which I discuss in terms of their implications for strategy in emerging markets: 1. Improving market conditions in Vietnam increased the relative value of domestically oriented business strategies relative to the export-oriented strategies that dominated early in the country's transition process. 2. Improving market conditions in Vietnam have meant that the most sustainable success stories have belonged to those early entrants willing to engage in substantial strategic renewal, which often involved strategic partnerships with foreigners. 3. While political connections continue to be of substantial value for accessing scarce resources in an institutional environment that remains very challenging even today, politically connected entrepreneurs have not proven themselves more likely than others to exhibit necessary strategic renewal.