These targets, set alongside one another, show that the goal is not merely to have more enterprises in the economy but to build a business sector with greater scale, productivity, technological capacity, and competitiveness. The question, then, is how many enterprises in Viet Nam will truly be competitive, able to survive in the market, and capable of generating high added value for the economy.
Recent statistics clearly illustrate this challenge. In 2025, 297,500 enterprises were newly established or resumed operations nationwide, up 27.4% from the previous year, while 227,200 enterprises withdrew from the market. In the first nine months of 2026, more than 223,900 enterprises entered the market and 172,000 left it, including more than 48,700 that were dissolved, a year-on-year increase of 118.8%.
Although the number of enterprises entering the market has risen sharply, the number leaving it remains very high, highlighting the continuing challenge of ensuring that enterprises can survive and grow.
Economic experts attribute this situation to the fact that 98% of enterprises are small and medium-sized, with most facing weaknesses in scale, technology, productivity, and management capacity. They also struggle to find customers and to access loans without collateral. In addition, difficulties in anticipating policy changes and the continued prevalence of informal costs remain bottlenecks in business operations.
The current challenge is not simply to establish more enterprises. More importantly, it is to ensure that they can survive, accumulate capital, expand production facilities, modernise technology, increase productivity, and enter larger markets.
If enterprises remain small, generate low profits, and struggle to make long-term investments, then an increase in their numbers will still be unlikely to translate into greater economic strength. Furthermore, removing barriers to market entry through policy measures is not enough; support policies need to be designed to address each stage of an enterprise’s development.
More importantly, greater opportunities must be created for private enterprises to participate in sectors with significant spillover potential, ranging from infrastructure, energy, and logistics to digital infrastructure and emerging industries. When enterprises have opportunities to enter larger markets and supply chains, they will have stronger incentives to invest in technology, raise production standards, and build their competitiveness. This should become a key focus of policies for enterprise development in the coming period.
In addition, policy effectiveness should not be measured solely by the number of administrative procedures eliminated or enterprises receiving support. It should be reflected in tangible improvements in business operations, including business expansion, higher productivity, better technology, and an increase in the number of enterprises capable of participating more deeply in global value chains.
More importantly, the way the state interacts with the market must change towards creating conditions that enable enterprises to realise their full potential. Only when the institutional framework is sufficiently transparent, stable, and consistent will enterprises feel confident about investing, maintaining operations, and achieving sustainable development. Only then will the target of two million enterprises operating by 2030 truly become an important foundation for the country’s economic growth.
