Competition in the 4.0 era - what will it be like?

High technologies have been applied in design and sewing

Travel is an intermediary service which connects customers with hotels, restaurants and transport service providers. In the past, when it was difficult to access information, the service could be easily sold. 

But things are different now. As information has become more transparent, and tourists are self-guided, travel firms feel as if they have been ‘abandoned’.

The world is now witnessing the strong rise of ‘smart tourism’, when travelers meet service and product providers directly without intermediaries. The former can enjoy services at good prices, while the latter can improve their profits and cut costs. But intermediaries, or travel firms, will meet difficulties in the 4.0 era.

Despite this, the 4.0 revolution has brought great advantages to travel firms, especially in marketing. In the past, travel firms advertised their products via television, print newspaper, trade fairs and exhibitions. But now, they can do this through different channels thanks to the development of technology.

Nguyen Tri Hieu, a respected economist, commented that the new industrial revolution has had an impact on all business fields, especially in Vietnam, an emerging economy.

The most clear impact can be seen in finance and banking. The appearance of cryptocurrency, changes in transaction procedures and P2P lending have changed the face of Vietnam’s finance and banking sector.

The only way for enterprises to develop in the 4.0 era is to adapt to new circumstances. It took Uber and Grab just a short time to change consumers’ habits. And the only choice for traditional taxi firms is changing the management model and applying  technology to improve their competitiveness.

In a society where everything and everyone are moving fast thanks to technology, those who stop or go slowly will be losers.

Meanwhile, according to Hieu, many Vietnamese enterprises still use traditional production models.

In agriculture, for example, despite the existence of automation programs which monitor cultivation, farming and production, farmers still follow traditional cultivation methods. This is partially because they have not updated to new technologies, and have also been reluctant to change production habits which have existed for thousands of years.

In the textile and garment industry, high technologies have been utilized in design and sewing, but the production lines in Vietnam still have a low technology level. The problem lies in enterprises’ limited resources, while reform is always costly.