This document analyzes strategic opportunities for Google in Vietnam. It identifies several opportunities including a large growing population and market, potential to use Vietnam as a base for other Southeast Asian markets, weak competition from Yahoo, and a loose regulatory environment. It recommends strategies for Google such as focusing on search and video dominance, partnering with local agencies, and customizing products for the Vietnamese market while establishing relationships with the government.

1. Google Strategic Opportunities
in Vietnam
Tai Tran
25 May 2009

2. External Criticism
• Google has been criticized to invest in
developing countries
• But what opportunities await them in the
rapidly developing country named Vietnam?

3. OPPORTUNITIES

4. Market
• High population: 84 million and growing
• Internet population as of 2008: 20 million and
growing
• Mobile population as of 2008: 21 million and
growing
• Young population
• A highly unsaturated market

5. Regional position
• Vietnam as a base to enter other South-East
Asia markets

6. High rate of Software Piracy
• Software Piracy devalues Microsoft’s and
Adobe’s products
• Google Business Model is immune to piracy

7. Language
• Vietnamese is Latin-based which probes much
less technical issue for Google than other
writing systems

8. Guanxi
• Google success in over-sea (out of US) markets
depend on their policies to comply with
respective local markets
• Google can act early to establish guanxi with
the government, agencies and publishers

9. Legal infrastructure for online markets
• Regulatory environment for online markets is
very loose
• Google can act early to (help) set the rules of
the game to benefit themselves

10. Yahoo! has weakened itself
• Yahoo! 360 fails
• Yahoo! 360plus struggles
• Yahoo! Search never took off
• Yahoo! Mail becomes too heavy
• Everlasting promises

11. Local forces are growing
• But still no Baidu, Tencent & Alibaba Vietnam
yet

12. Social Attitude
• Vietnamese might view Google products as:
– Channels for education & knowledge
– A cure for digital divide

13. Cost-saving vs. Opportunity

14. STRATEGIES

15. Product-driven
• Value chain: invest in infrastructure
• Economy of scope
• Minimal investment for (unnecessary?) local
products
• Customization & localization: Google
News, Gmail

16. Lock users in
• Dominate search
• Dominate videos

17. Distribution channel
• Partner with local ad agencies
• The partnership is flexible & reversible for
Google

18. A novelty look into the future
• Googlization
• Gmail
• Digitalize entertainment i.e. music
• GPhone
• Brand itself as an agent of open-source in Vietnam
• Google API
• Grab social graphs (can be hard considering current
progress of Gtalk & Orkut)
• Semantic search
• Enterprise 2.0
• e-Government / Government 2.0 (highly competitive)

19. Choices for locals players
Collaborate
Build Go vertical Compete
/ Establish
ecosystems / niché head-on
Partnership
Level of Risk

21. Thank You!
Tai Tran
25 May 2009
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