Vietnamese businesses are facing growing pressure to accelerate digital transformation and comply with green standards as multinational companies reshape global supply chains, experts said at a conference on Monday.
Speaking at a seminar on global supply chains organized by the Trade Promotion Agency on May 26, experts said Vietnamese companies are facing major opportunities but also mounting pressure from digital transformation and green standards.
According to Nguyen Cao Duc, Deputy Director of the Institute for European and American Studies, multinational corporations are accelerating “China+1”, friend-shoring and near-shoring strategies to diversify supply sources, reduce geopolitical risks and optimize logistics costs.
Vietnam is viewed as a promising destination thanks to its strategic location, production costs and broad network of free trade agreements.
However, the supply chain shift is also bringing higher requirements on ESG standards, traceability and digital data governance. This raises the risk of Vietnamese firms being excluded from supply chains if they fail to upgrade governance capacity and digital transformation efforts.
Vuong Thi Oanh, a representative of the Import-Export Agency, said companies previously could join supply chains mainly through low costs and processing capabilities. But international corporations now require firms to simultaneously meet standards on quality, on-time delivery, carbon emissions, data transparency and digital connectivity.
In reality, the capability gap between Vietnamese companies and foreign-invested enterprises remains significant. Localization rates in the electronics sector are currently only around 10 percent -15 percent, while the rate for automobiles with fewer than nine seats stands at roughly 15 percent - 18 percent.
Most domestic enterprises still focus on basic stages such as packaging, cables and simple components, while core technologies and high-value components continue to rely on imports.
Against that backdrop, experts said Vietnamese businesses can no longer continue developing under isolated models and traditional supply chains.
Head Tran Chi Dung of the Technology and Innovation Board at the Vietnam Logistics Service Enterprises Association said the current solution is to develop digital supply networks connecting data across production, warehousing, transportation, finance and distribution on a unified digital platform.
Chairman Nguyen Trung Kien of OriginX Digital Asset Development Company said data is becoming the “soft infrastructure” of global supply chains.
As a result, companies seeking deeper participation in international production networks must standardize data, improve traceability and accelerate the application of artificial intelligence, blockchain and automation in operational management.
Experts also said that alongside technology investment, Vietnamese firms need to change management thinking and strengthen linkages to form supply clusters large enough to participate in major orders.
This is considered an important solution to improve competitiveness and help Vietnamese businesses integrate more deeply into global value chains.
