STRATEGIC CONSULTING FOR TECHNOLOGY INNOVATION

In production and business, businesses always need technology solutions to increase productivity and operate effectively at all stages. In today's competitive and globalized environment, businesses that do not promptly grasp technology to innovate and still choose traditional business methods will be at risk of leaving the market. In particular, in the face of rapid changes from the 4.0 Industrial Revolution, if businesses do not adapt quickly and take advantage of modern technology platforms to innovate and optimize production, they will face challenges. with the risk of falling behind and finding it difficult to survive.

The role of technological innovation on production capacity

In production and business, businesses always need technological solutions to increase productivity and efficiency at all stages, from supply, production organization, quality control, and product promotion. products, distribution to human resource management, finance, investment activities... Normally, technology consists of 4 basic components: Tools, machinery, equipment, materials (also known as hardware of technology); Information, methods, process know-how; Organize, coordinate, and manage; People (The following three parts are called technology software). Any production process must ensure the above 4 components.

Technology innovation activities include the following two basic contents:

- Product innovation: is the creation of a completely new product, or improvement of your company's traditional products. Creating a new product is very difficult. It often takes a large amount of money to create facilities to serve this activity; has a team of officials and technical workers capable of implementing activities...

- Manufacturing process innovation: Technological advances for developing countries are focused mainly on improving technological process efficiency. This improvement allows to increase worker productivity. This is shown by the result of improving the production process shifting the supply curve to the right, reflecting the ability to improve production capacity.

Practice shows that technological innovation is very important for every business. Scientific and technological progress and technological innovation will allow improving product quality, creating many new products, diversifying products, increasing output, increasing labor productivity, and rational and economical use of raw materials. materials... Thanks to that, it will increase competitiveness, expand markets, promote rapid growth and improve production and business efficiency. Businesses that do not promptly grasp technology to innovate and do business in traditional ways will be at great risk of being eliminated from the market.

In recent years, along with the development of science and technology, especially with the outbreak of the 4.0 Industrial Revolution, many new business methods have appeared based on online development platforms such as: Internet of things, big data, cloud computing, automation technology in production and quality control... These business methods not only help businesses apply to increase productivity and control quality. but can also combine together to innovate business activities from analyzing customer behavior, creating new products, promoting products, online consulting, automatic production and quality control. , financial management, remote working... Through innovation in production technology and management technology, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) can use resources more effectively through optimizing Optimize production processes, improve labor productivity, improve product quality, improve product consumption quality and after-sales policy. However, it should also be noted that there are many factors that affect an enterprise's ability to innovate technology such as: Type of enterprise; Financial potential of the enterprise; Age, gender of employees in the enterprise... Characteristics of the enterprise such as capital scale, labor scale, operating time, relationships with enterprises in the same industry/state-owned enterprises all have an impact on enterprise's decision to innovate technology.

Current status of technological innovation of Vietnamese enterprises

Recently, the Ministry of Science and Technology has built a legal corridor and launched programs to support scientific and technological innovation activities of businesses. Specifically, it has connected many technology supply and demand sources, helping to improve the competitiveness of businesses. During the process of negotiating technology transfer, there have been many activities to support businesses such as: Technology consulting, legal issues, connecting financial resources for businesses. Many technologies, after being transferred, have been effective, serving production and business activities of enterprises, increasing profits and competitiveness of goods products. However, the results of enterprises' technological innovation still have many issues of concern.

A recent survey by the Institute of Scientific Evaluation and Technology Valuation (Ministry of Science and Technology) showed that only 23% of surveyed enterprises had technology innovation and improvement activities. The reason is that investment capital is still limited, while the financial mechanism to support businesses with loans, loan guarantees and other supports has not created favorable conditions for businesses to innovate technology. for businesses. This survey also shows that organizations serving as brokers and services in the technology market to connect technology supply and demand are limited. This helps explain why scientists have not been able to convince many businesses to commercialize research results... Meanwhile, according to a survey by the United Nations Development Program and the Research Institute According to the Central Economic Management, Vietnam's technology import rate is currently only 10% (much lower than the average figure of 40% in developing countries). Many of the technologies belong to the 80s and 90s of the last century and 75% of the machines have been depreciated. This result partly reflects the slow technological innovation of Vietnamese enterprises, especially SMEs with weak financial potential. The weakness in technological innovation of SMEs stems from factors that influence the innovation ability of enterprises such as the scale of enterprise resources, characteristics of enterprise owners, and policy mechanisms for innovation.

Currently, the number of Vietnamese enterprises is large and increasing continuously, but of which up to 97% are SMEs and micro enterprises. The production capacity of Vietnamese enterprises is limited due to lack of updates on market and technology changes. The general situation of these enterprises is that they use outdated technology, labor productivity is too low compared to other countries in the region, they often face financial difficulties, and their human resources are weak and have not accepted new information and technology. in production, as well as State support policies. The process of technological innovation of enterprises also always faces obstacles, especially technology that has been invested with great value but is outdated when capital has not been recovered, knowledge and skills of human resources are not adapted to the current situation. new context. Currently, businesses may be aware of the benefits from innovation and technological improvement, but when facing difficulties in production and business activities, technology is an issue that has not been prioritized for investment by SMEs. . With technology not being considered a priority area when starting a business, businesses lack methodical and vision in technology development and lack synchronous investment, leading to costly and time-consuming activities. Time to convert technology, difficult to increase production scale. The situation where businesses lack initiative in accessing new technology and are not interested in investing in technology in production not only reduces the business's own production and business efficiency, but also leads to negative consequences. to the environment for the area where the enterprise is located.

Some proposals to support businesses in technological innovation

Most Vietnamese businesses today are small and medium sized, with limited resources, especially financial resources, so technological innovation activities have not really taken place strongly. Therefore, the question is that it is necessary to promote technological innovation to increase the competitiveness of goods and services in the context of competition and the 4.0 Industrial Revolution which is affecting the production methods of enterprises. This is a vital requirement for businesses in the current global competitive context. To solve these problems, in the coming time, it is necessary to focus on a number of issues such as:

On the management side

- Improve the effectiveness of mechanisms and policies to support the development of science and technology for businesses, especially SMEs. For example, effective implementation must be ensured from the issuance of the policy to the person reviewing the application; At the same time, cutting down unnecessary procedures and paperwork, creating conditions for businesses to access capital and supporting technology as quickly as possible. Research more specific policies on new technology issues like venture capital funds accepting risks in the field of new technology, creating conditions for businesses to access capital.

- Build a database of new technology, advanced technology and a force of technology experts, to create favorable conditions for SMEs to exploit and use for technological innovation. Support businesses in applying information technology, building information systems to manage business resources and advertise products.

- Support businesses in research, trial production, application of advanced technology, training, hiring experts to design and produce new products and change technological processes. Along with that, closely implement the regulations stated in the Law on Support for SMEs and Decree No. 39/2018/ND-CP dated March 11, 2018 of the Government detailing a number of articles of the Law. Support SMEs, especially supporting the formation of science and technology business incubators for research, application and production of new products.

On the business side

- Improve the financial potential of businesses through loans from banks and support capital from the State to research and invest in appropriate technologies to serve the production and business process. Strengthen the expansion of cooperation and relationships with businesses in the same industry and credit institutions to not only help businesses gain more business information but also help expand accessible capital sources.

- Enterprises, especially SMEs, should consider applying technological innovation in stages. Accordingly, businesses can break down the investment process according to the business cycle or consider improving each step to reduce pressure on investment capital.

- Strengthen links and good cooperation with foreign-invested enterprises to make it easier to grasp new standards, techniques, and access new knowledge and technology. At the same time, businesses need to prepare human resources capable of absorbing the fruits of global technological progress...