Based on Sher and Lee’s study of sectors of the Taiwanese economy, this research examined the use of information technology (IT) in the Vietnamese information and communication technology (ICT) sector and the banking sector. It also examined the role of IT-based knowledge management in enhancing dynamic capabilities in these sectors. This study was used a mixed-method approach with semi-structured interviews of CEOs or CIOs of three banking companies and two ICT firms in the first stage of the study followed by a face-toface survey questionnaire of managers and employees. The questionnaire used by Sher and Lee and information from semi-structured interviews were used to create a preliminary questionnaire. The questionnaire was then adjusted and used to collect data in the quantitative research stage.
This research is the first empirical study investigating the factors affecting the implementation of IT applications in the Vietnamese context where the market is still dominated by public companies in critical sectors like banking and ICT. These factors are classified as business environmental factors and firm resource factors. Both business environment factors and firm resource factors were motives for implementing IT applications in the Vietnamese firms. However, business environment factors did not enhance any IT applications. Firm resource factors did not enhance IT applications in ICT firms but these factors did enhance two IT applications in the banking sector: employee competence database and case-based experience database. These results highlight a contradiction: on the one hand, these factors encouraged managers to implement IT applications, but on the other hand, they only enhance few IT applications.
The findings confirmed that the enhancement of endogenous and knowledge management had an impact on dynamic capabilities. Two IT applications, these being online learning and enterprise portal site, impacted the enhancement effect of the management of endogenous knowledge on dynamic capabilities in t he ICT sector but had no equivalent impact in the banking firms. For the enhancement effect of the management of exogenous knowledge on dynamic capabilities, the controlling role of IT applications only affected “case-based experience database” in both sectors and “online learning’’, “teleconferencing”, and “customer relationship management” in the ICT sector.
In practice, the IT policies of the government and the improvement of the business environment play important role in supporting IT implementation in Vietnamese companies. Managers in both the banking and ICT sectors should build effective “case-based experience database” systems and should exploit “groupware for discussion”, “online learning”, and “teleconferencing” to support their business activities. In addition, the use of “exogenous professional databases” should be considered in Vietnamese firms. Because this study was conducted in Ho Chi Minh City, similar studies could be carried out in Hanoi and other large Vietnamese cities to compare them. In addition, further research should examine the role of owner-managers and company strategy in the implementation of IT applications.