Panel Discussion: Pivot or Defense?
Panel Discussion – Rebuilding Advantage
HO CHI MINH CITY, VIETNAM, August 23, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ — Under the banner “The Inflection Point – Where Global Shifts Fuel Business Reinvention,” the InnoEx Forum 2026 convened experts, corporate leaders, and investors from Vietnam and abroad to tackle a pivotal question: as the strengths that previously fueled the expansion of Vietnamese companies steadily erode, what will serve as the bedrock for the next era of competitive edge?
The gathering occurred as Vietnam posted 8% GDP growth in 2025—the top figure across ASEAN. Yet World Bank projections indicate that to reach high-income status by 2045, the country must sustain an average annual growth rate of roughly 6% over the next two decades—a path that cannot depend on expanding capital and labor or on cost advantages as before.
𝐅𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐃𝐚𝐭𝐚 𝐭𝐨 𝐓𝐫𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐈𝐧𝐟𝐫𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐜𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞
The Business Innovation Forum kicked off with a keynote titled “From Data to Advantage: Building Vietnam’s Trust Infrastructure,” delivered by Mr. Nguyen Huy, Head of the Data Technology Department at the National Data Association (NDA). He stressed that Vietnamese enterprises do not lack data; the real issue is the degree of data reliability needed for it to underpin transactions, credit choices, or cross-border collaboration: “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?” debate, 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 faced by Vietnamese businesses from three angles: computing power, enterprise deployment ability, and the pace at which policy translates into action.
Ms. Truong Ly Hoang Phi, Head of the InnoEx Organizing Committee, opened the conversation with two emblematic cases of strategic shifts: Intel exited the memory chip sector to concentrate on processors when few alternatives remained, while Lenovo proactively purchased IBM’s PC division in 2005 when it still had growth headroom. 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 added his view on internal organizational 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 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 underscored the importance of durability 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 on his hands-on 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 standpoint, Mr. Douglas Jackson offered: “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”
Kicking off a series of dialogues on real-world applications at the Innovation Sector Forum were two representative transformation showcases. Scommerce uses AI algorithms to address the challenge of allocating human resources within logistics operations. Meanwhile, Alterno introduced a breakthrough “Made in Vietnam” solution for green energy infrastructure through sand battery energy storage technology.
During 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) explored the disconnect between possessing data and the capacity to convert it into action.
Additionally, the “Intelligent Operations” session gathered representatives from SMC Phu My (offering insights on manufacturing, quality, and supply chain), Kyanon Digital (sharing experience in implementing AI and data for enterprises), 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
Concluding the program, Ms. Truong Ly Hoang Phi underscored the critical need to spot 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 companies to overhaul everything, but with a prompt to clearly identify what can no longer remain unchanged—and to start acting before the market forces their hand.
CÔNG TY TNHH INNOEX
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