Vietnam Decoded is a new series by Vietnam Innovators Digest exploring the business trends, technological advances, and policy changes shaping Vietnam’s future.
In the first episode, host Hao Tran starts with the urgent question of why 80% of scaling Vietnamese companies hit a “growth wall.” The paradox lies in centralized decision-making: the very hands-on leadership that drove early success inevitably becomes the bottleneck that stalls breakthrough growth.
As Resolution 68 accelerates the push for global competitiveness, business leaders now face a challenging pivot from day-to-day firefighting to designing self-sustaining operational systems.
The Root Cause Of “Growth Wall” For Many Vietnamese Enterprises
The Vietnamese economy has witnessed rapid growth over the past decade. Statistics show a remarkable trajectory among many Vietnamese companies, whose workforces have multiplied into the thousands while revenue and market presence continue to climb. Yet, inside the executive office, many CEOs are still solving problems the same way they did when the company was much smaller.
There has been no overhaul of the decision chain to accompany the expansion in structure and size. Senior managers still escalate the same problems, and every arrangement still waits for the CEO’s stamp of approval. When new initiatives struggle to move because every decision depends on one person, growth creates a new set of problems.
This obstacle has become increasingly prevalent in Vietnamese business. The country is estimated to have about one million private enterprises. Notably, 80% of them have fewer than 50 employees, and only 30% plan to grow their business.
These numbers are significant for policymakers. Multiple policy changes in Vietnam call for private enterprises to play a more significant role in the country’s economy. Resolution 68 sets a target of 2 million private enterprises by 2030, with at least 20 of them becoming large corporations that play a major role in global supply chains.
Looking at the big picture, the ambition is not simply to set up more companies. Rather, it is about scope: helping existing companies grow, innovate, and scale globally.
What Does The New CEO Need?
Resolution 68 emphasizes the importance of technology, innovation, and global market access in helping Vietnamese businesses compete on the global stage. These priorities create both opportunities and challenges for the next generation of CEOs in Vietnam.
At a certain point, CEOs have to move from personally managing the business to creating a system that can manage the business for them. This transition may sound straightforward, but it fundamentally changes the CEO’s role, requiring a new mindset and a different set of leadership principles.
First, CEOs need to develop new competencies to navigate the complexities of doing business in Vietnam. This means combining deep industry expertise, systems thinking, and strategic vision to make better decisions in an increasingly uncertain environment.
Second, organizations need the right structures, culture, and governance mechanisms to make good decisions not only possible but also consistent and repeatable. Rather than depending on the CEO’s personal intervention at every turn, the organization must be equipped to make sound decisions and execute them effectively on its own.
Third, technology is changing the game. As AI and other technologies reshape the market, CEOs must take a more active role in leading technological transformation, rather than treating it as a function that can simply be delegated to a specialized department.
The challenge, therefore, is not simply to acquire more management knowledge or become familiar with new theories. It is to develop the practical capabilities to execute change and diagnose what an organization truly needs to grow.
This leads to a central question: what must CEOs develop within themselves and their organizations to make this transformation successful?
These questions provide a starting point for “CEO of the New Era,” a leadership development program designed specifically for senior leaders in Vietnam.
Five Pillars For The CEO Of The New Era
Rather than revisiting management fundamentals, the program focuses on building the capabilities CEOs need to guide their companies into the next stage through five key pillars:
- Strategic intelligence and decision-making: How can leaders make better decisions when information is incomplete, and the stakes are high?
- Digital, data, and AI capability: How can leaders understand how technology works and turn it into a capability rather than a liability?
- Organizational architecture and culture: How can leaders build the structures, teams, and culture needed to scale the business?
- Institutional governance and capital orientation: How can leaders bring together investors, capital, and governance within a framework that supports sustainable growth?
- Self-leadership and learning velocity: How can leaders keep adapting along the way and ensure that their capabilities evolve alongside the business?
Adopting an international framework without adaptation can fall short. A framework developed for a multinational organization operating in a particular market may be useful in some contexts, but Vietnamese businesses face different circumstances and challenges. A more effective approach is to combine a global management perspective with an understanding of Vietnam’s distinctive geopolitical, economic, and legal context.
This is the principle behind “CEO of the New Era.” The program is delivered by the top-tier business school INSEAD, Vietnam National University, Ho Chi Minh City, and VCCI’s partnership. It offers one possible path for leaders seeking to step back from day-to-day problem-solving to lead larger, more complex organizations.
As a company grows, the CEO’s role evolves with it. The central question is no longer simply whether the CEO can make the right decisions, but whether they can build an organization capable of continuing to make the right decisions as the business becomes more complex.
Ultimately, every organization must address three questions: Who leads, who succeeds the current leadership, and who is being developed to grow with the organization? Preparing for a new era is not just about preparing the CEO for greater opportunities and responsibilities. It is about preparing the entire organization to operate at a scale where its success no longer depends on one person alone.
Vietnam Innovators Podcast extends our sincere thanks to A11 Management for their support and for contributing to the growth of Vietnam’s human capital.