Hanoi between Washington and Beijing. Vietnamese Industrial Development Through Export-led Growth and Selective Planning

The paper aims at highlighting the crucial features of the Vietnamese industrialization pattern as well as at analysing the literature concerning industrial development in Vietnam. Specifically, it focuses on the role played by industrial policies in the transition period followed to the Doi Moi reforms (1986). Moreover, it displays a review of the recent planning strategies undertaken by the Vietnamese government emphasizing the function taken on by the adoption of selectivity as an instrument to upgrade the competitiveness of the Vietnamese production system. The evolution of the Vietnamese planning approach over the last 15 years shows, at the same time, a twofold influence: on a side, the Washington International financial authorities push towards the adoption of a market-friendly and export-led growth model, on the other side the Vietnamese policy makers seem to take as a reference point the Asian developmental model and, in particular, the Chinese upgrading experience whose impressive growth performance have been fueled also by the implementation of selective interventions. In this regard, the paper explores the weaknesses characterizing Vietnamese planning strategies and put some policy implication forward in order to mitigate the structural limits which distinguish the Vietnamese industrial development pattern.