Vietnam: B2B
Information and Communication Technology In Vietnam
 
 

B2B or Business-To-Business e-commerce describes transactions that occur between two business entities. An example of electronic B2B is a clothing designer linking up electronically to a fabric supplier whereby the designer specifies his/her fabric needs, pays for the order, and then the supplier initiates the fulfillment of that order by computer. B2B technologies like that of E-Gov and B2C usually take some time to develop as they are fairly complex and require a certain mastery of the technology used.

Vietnam's B2B solutions at the moment are few and far between. Much like the other B2C and e-gov websites mentioned, Vietnamese B2B sites tend to be more informational than interactive. For example, the sites MekongSources.Com, VietVentures.Com, and VietnamE-Commerce.Com attempt to link Vietnamese businesses with foreign businesses while also giving viewers an overall sense of the business/legal environments in Vietnam. Where the sites succeed is in their presentation of information. Where they fail however is in their attempt to link Vietnamese companies with foreign companies, mainly by way of search engines and the presentation of contact information. A number of other websites including MeetVietnam.com, which heralded infinite hype in early 2001 as a government sponsored website to promote B2B activities, have not materialized as well.

At the moment Vietnamese companies are still not ready for international B2B usage, mostly because they are still getting used to the Internet's technologies, and because there does not yet exist a solid legal framework by which to regulate e-commerce transactions. As with any revolutionary technology, the Vietnamese are still learning how to control and utilize B2B technologies and in the near future many B2B sites will develop.