Chung, Leanne  ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9916-1602, Tan, Kim Hua and Nguyen, Thi Thu Thuy
2023.
Is that innovation? Unlocking Vietnamese MedTech SMEs innovation pathways.
Presented at: 26th International Conference on Production Research,
Online / Tunghai, Taiwan,
31 July 2021.
Intelligent and Transformative Production in Pandemic Times: Proceedings of the 26th International Conference on Production Research.
Lecture Notes in Production Engineering
Springer,
pp. 705-715.
10.1007/978-3-031-18641-7_65
|
Preview |
PDF
- Accepted Post-Print Version
Download (283kB) | Preview |
Abstract
In the 24th ICPR, we unraveled the unique Chinese innovation pathways and clearly explained its distinctiveness from the Japanese and South Korean. In this paper, we examine SMEs innovation pathways using empirical data gathered in Vietnam. Under current America’s ‘decoupling’ strategy, Vietnam will benefit greatly from manufacturing firms moving out of China. Vietnam is now a major destination of foreign direct investment in research and development and an attractive knowledge-based location for leading MNCs. Many MNCs (such as GE Healthcare, Philips, Siemen, Hitachi, Mindray) have set up their R&D units in Hanoi and/or Ho-Chi-Minh. Hence, a better understanding of Vietnamese innovation in the context of Vietnam’s emerging economy, evolving institution, and growing firm capabilities is beneficial to practitioners, policy makers and academia. We explore the unique innovation pathways from the perspective of Vietnamese medical equipment manufacturers (MedTech) and provide insight from managers on how international firms could galvanized the uniqueness to their product development advantage. The results provided interesting insights into how MedTech (a high growth sector in Vietnam) SMEs cultivated their data analytics, collective and target innovation, digitalization skills and know how in various innovation phases. Vietnam is not a paragon of innovation at all, but it certainly has learned how to invent sustainably with less, and that is something other emerging and Asian economies can learn from. We believe the findings from our empirical case studies can contribute towards a better understanding of how Vietnam has been able to evolve from a position of technology borrower to technology innovator. Moreover, findings from this research help to shed light on existing Asian innovation development debates.
| Item Type: | Conference or Workshop Item - published (Paper) |
|---|---|
| Date Type: | Published Online |
| Status: | Published |
| Schools: | Schools > Business (Including Economics) |
| Publisher: | Springer |
| ISBN: | 9783031186400 |
| ISSN: | 2194-0525 |
| Date of First Compliant Deposit: | 14 April 2026 |
| Date of Acceptance: | 3 February 2023 |
| Last Modified: | 28 May 2026 01:30 |
| URI: | https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/186385 |
Actions (repository staff only)
 |
Edit Item |
Dimensions
Dimensions