An Analysis of Vietnam's ICT and Software Services Sector

Abstract

ABSTRACT:This paper presents an analysis of Vietnam's position in the global ICT and Software services industry. Vietnam entry in this increasingly competitive sector is built on a foundation of positive macroeconomic changes and investments from government and multi-lateral organizations. Using an analytical framework that includes nine significant factors for newly competitive countries, this paper suggests that Vietnam's competitive strengths include cost effective workforce, improving infrastructure, linkages with key markets and an ambitious national vision. The country has benefited by attracting investment and established local presence of industry leaders. However Vietnam is a late entrant to the market and has weaknesses in key areas such as finance and international benchmarking.

Exploratory Study of Agile Methods in the Vietnamese Software Industry

“…A wage comparison reported in [11] 2003, indicates software wages in Vietnam range from 1,400-6,000 USD per year while the USA average was 65,000 USD per year. While wages have increased over time, a large differential remains according to an industry survey conducted in 2008 [12], in which Vietnam reported the lowest software wages from over 80 countries.…”

“…In addition to strengthening IT infrastructure and human resource capabilities, the directive delineated developing IT as an industry in its own right that would significantly contribute growth in Gross Domestic Product (GDP). An important component of the strategy was to commitment to creating a software industry for internal supply as well as export [13] [11].…”

Considering the growth of the software services industry in Mexico

“…However, this development is a complex problem, as shown by the variety of models published by various researchers who have studied the success factors of software exporting countries (Abbot, 2004;Bardhan & Kroll, 2006;Carmel, 2003b;Chidamber, 2002;Coward, 2003;Ethiraj, Kale, Krishnan & Singh, 2003;Garry, 1999;Heeks & Nicholson, 2002).…”

Implementing Software Process Improvement Initiatives: An Analysis of Vietnamese Practitioners' Views

“…However, the nature of SPI implementation issues may change in the context of GSD. Moreover, our study has been conducted in a country that is increasingly becoming an attractive destination for software development outsourcing from Western and Asian countries alike [17]. Hence, studying different aspects of SPI programs in one of those countries, which are becoming significant players in software development industry in the context of GSD, is another important motivator of this research as described in the following paragraph.…”

“…However, in recent years, other countries like Israel, Russia, China, Philippines, Taiwan, Singapore and Vietnam are gaining a reputation for offshore outsourcing [19]. Vietnam, although still listed as a tier-4 nation amongst the software exporting countries classification [20], has recently become more attractive for outsourcing work due to "positive macroeconomic changes and investments from government and multi-lateral organisations, a cost-effective workforce, improving infrastructure, linkages with key markets and an ambitious national vision" [17]. Due to an increasing interest in getting software developed in Vietnam, SPI initiatives are gaining attention in these countries [21].…”