Turning ‘input’ advantages into momentum for private sector
Hai Phong needs to turn its advantages in governance quality and the business environment into businesses’ production efficiency, innovation capacity and competitiveness.
At a conference announcing the 2025 Provincial Competitiveness Index (PCI) in May, the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI) introduced the Business Performance Index (BPI) for the first time to assess private sector performance.
While the PCI reflects local authorities’ economic governance and efforts to improve the investment environment, the BPI focuses on assessing businesses’ production and business performance and the development of the private sector. In other words, the PCI measures the quality of the “input,” while the BPI measures the effectiveness of the “output.”
According to VCCI’s results, Hai Phong ranked among the top five nationwide in the PCI and 12th in the BPI in 2025.
Although Hai Phong ranked highly in the BPI and was assessed as a locality with strong performance in business development and the ability to attract high-tech investment, there is a significant gap compared with its PCI ranking. Therefore, solutions are needed to ensure stable and sustainable development of the city’s business ecosystem.
The city is home to more than 54,000 active enterprises. To create a favorable investment and business environment and become a “destination” for major businesses and corporations, Hai Phong has identified the goal of “Taking decisive action – Devotedly serving businesses.” This includes effectively implementing the “Connecting conditional business licensing procedures” and “Success Together” models, as well as introducing the “Seamless dossier” model to create the most favorable conditions for enterprises and investors. The city aims to increase the number of businesses to 87,000 by 2030, with the private sector growing at an average annual rate of about 14.5 - 15%.
As Hai Phong works to promote the private sector, enterprises, for their part, also need to make use of available mechanisms as a foundation for production and business activities. They must proactively innovate, improve management capacity, apply technology, pursue digital transformation, develop competitive products and gradually participate more deeply in value chains. These are also the factors that directly determine the “output” performance of the private sector.
Hai Phong already has a strong foundation in governance quality. The remaining task is to turn its “input” advantages into tangible results in business operations. When enterprises grow strongly, efficiently and sustainably, the BPI will improve, accurately reflecting the quality of private sector development in the city.
HOANG LINH