Debate Session: Pivot or Defend?
Rebuilding Advantage – A Panel Conversation
HO CHI MINH CITY, VIETNAM, August 23, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ — Held under the main banner “The Inflection Point – Where Global Shifts Fuel Business Reinvention,” InnoEx Forum 2026 gathered experts, corporate leaders, and investors from Vietnam and around the world to tackle a core issue: as the benefits that historically propelled Vietnamese enterprises start to weaken, what will form the basis for the next wave of competitive edge?
The forum took place as Vietnam recorded 8% GDP expansion in 2025—the highest rate across ASEAN. Yet, according to World Bank forecasts, to reach high-income status by 2045, the nation must sustain an average yearly growth of roughly 6% over the next two decades—a task that cannot depend simply on increasing capital and labor or on low-cost advantages as in earlier periods.
𝐅𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐃𝐚𝐭𝐚 𝐭𝐨 𝐓𝐫𝐮𝐬𝐓 𝐈𝐧𝐟𝐫𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐜𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞
The Business Innovation Forum kicked off with the keynote “From Data to Advantage: Building Vietnam’s Trust Infrastructure” delivered by Mr. Nguyen Huy, Head of Data Technology Department at the National Data Association (NDA). He stressed that Vietnamese firms are not lacking data; the real issue is the degree of data trustworthiness needed for it to form the basis of transactions, credit assessments, or cross-border partnerships: “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?
During the “Pivot or Defense?” discussion, three panelists—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)—analyzed the competitive gap facing Vietnamese enterprises through three lenses: computing power, enterprise-level deployment capabilities, and the speed at which policies translate into action.
Ms. Truong Ly Hoang Phi, Head of the InnoEx Organizing Committee, opened the dialogue with two emblematic cases of strategic redirection: Intel exited the memory chip sector to concentrate on processors when it had virtually no alternatives, while Lenovo proactively purchased IBM’s PC division in 2005 while it still had growth opportunities. She remarked: “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 offered his perspective on internal corporate 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 featured Mr. Roy Tavenor (Founding Chairman, Red Design Group & Causeway Global, with nearly 50 years of retail and brand strategy experience), 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 highlighted long-term sustainability over mere 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 own leadership at Saigon Co.op, Mr. Nguyen Anh Duc observed: “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 markets viewpoint, Mr. Douglas Jackson noted: “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 𝐅𝐚𝐓𝐞𝐫”
The Innovation Sector Forum’s practical application dialogues began with two representative transformation showcases. Scommerce applies AI algorithms to tackle the challenge of allocating human resources in logistics. Meanwhile, Alterno introduced a pioneering “Made in Vietnam” green energy infrastructure solution based on sand battery energy storage technology.
In the “Data in Motion – From Data-Rich to Decision-Fast” session, Mr. Leos Gregor (Chief Risk Officer, Home Credit Vietnam), Dr. Ta Anh Phuong (Co-founder & CEO, Seinetime), and Mr. Webb Huang (CSO, Horizon AI) explored the gap between data ownership and the ability to convert data into tangible actions.
Additionally, the “Intelligent Operations” session brought together representatives from SMC Phu My (offering perspectives on manufacturing, quality, and supply chain), Kyanon Digital (sharing experience in implementing AI and data for businesses), and Focus Media (digitizing brand-customer touchpoints). Mr. Xiang Song, CEO of Focus Media Vietnam, shared concrete outcomes: “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
To wrap up the program, Ms. Truong Ly Hoang Phi underscored the importance of recognizing 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 ended not with a call for businesses to overhaul everything, but with a reminder to clearly pinpoint what can no longer stay unchanged—and to start acting before market forces compel them to do so.
CÔNG TY TNHH INNOEX
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