Managing Continuous Improvement in Vietnam: Unique Challenges and Recommendations to Overcome Them
Status
Faculty
School
School of Economics and Business Administration
Department
Organizations and Responsible Business
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
1-1-2010
Publication / Conference / Sponsorship
Quality Management Journal
Description/Abstract
As Vietnam emerges into world markets, Vietnamese organizations are facing the predicament of how to avoid the low-cost labor trap and move up the production value-chain by improving quality and productivity. Continuous improvement (CI) practices have proved fundamental to building and sustaining competitive advantage in other Asian countries such as Japan, Singapore, and Malaysia. If Vietnamese organizations are to pursue higher value-added activities, CI will be critical for them, too. Despite the tremendous interest in Vietnam from the international business community, little research on Vietnamese management practices has been done, particularly on the use of CI techniques. The language barrier, lack of reliable business data, and the culture of government and corporate secrecy in Vietnam make it extremely difficult to do management research in that country.
This paper is a report on an ongoing multiyear research project to study the state of CI in Vietnam. It surveys the current management literature relevant to Vietnam. Then, based on fieldwork in five companies and extensive interviews with business leaders and managers, directors of professional and business associations, and other individuals who have extensive knowledge of Vietnam, the authors identify a number of unique challenges to managing CI in that country, and offer approaches to overcome them.
Keywords
continuous improvement, productivity improvement, quality improvement, Vietnam, Vietnamese management
Scholarly
yes
Peer Reviewed
1
DOI
10.1080/10686967.2010.11918268
Volume
17
Issue
2
First Page
27
Last Page
41
Disciplines
Business | Economics
Original Citation
Nguyen, A. (2010). Managing Continuous Improvement in Vietnam: Unique Challenges and Recommendations to Overcome Them. Quality Management Journal 17(2), 27-41. doi:10.1080/10686967.2010.11918268
Repository Citation
Nguyen, Phuong Anh and Robinson, Alan G.. Managing Continuous Improvement in Vietnam: Unique Challenges and Recommendations to Overcome Them (2010). Quality Management Journal. 17 (2), 27-41. 10.1080/10686967.2010.11918268 [article]. https://digitalcommons.stmarys-ca.edu/school-economics-business-faculty-works/268
