Large construction projects in developing countries: a case study from Vietnam Nguyen Duy Long a , Stephen Ogunlana b, * , Truong Quang c , Ka Chi Lam a a Department of Building and Construction, City University of Hong Kong, 83 Tat Chee Avenue, Kowloon, Hong Kong b School of Civil Engineering, Asian Institute of Technology, P.O. Box 4, Klong Luang, Pathumthani 12120, Thailand c School of Management, Asian Institute of Technology, P.O. Box 4, Klong Luang, Pathumthani 12120, Thailand Received 29 April 2003; received in revised form 3 September 2003; accepted 12 March 2004 Abstract Although various studies have been undertaken into the factors affecting delays, cost overruns, quality, safety, and productivity, etc. and other problems in specific types of projects, these studies seldom discuss common and general problems of construction projects. Thus, comprehensive studies on these problems are essential. Since the problems are rather contextual, the studies need to focus on a specific geographical area, country or region. This paper presents problems of large construction projects in Vietnam. Data analysis revealed that the problems could be grouped under five major factors: (1) incompetent designers/contractors, (2) poor estimation and change management, (3) social and technological issues, (4) site related issues, and (5) improper techniques and tools. Ó 2004 Elsevier Ltd and IPMA. All rights reserved. Keywords: Problems; Large construction projects; Construction management; Vietnam 1. Introduction It is widely accepted that a project is successful when it is finished on time, within budget, in accordance with specifications and to stakeholders’ satisfaction. Unfor- tunately, due to many reasons, high project performance and project success are not commonplace in the con- struction industry, especially in developing countries. Therefore, professionals and scholars have been moti- vated to take extensive efforts to meet this challenge. As a result, several studies have been undertaken on factors affecting delays [1–11], cost overruns [4,9], quality [12], safety [13–15], and productivity [14,16], etc. and prob- lems in specific types of projects [17,18]. These studies usually focus on one or some certain specific aspects of project performance. Although the focuses are very often necessary, com- prehensive studies on common problems of construction projects seem much more urgent. The reason is that a project cannot be successful if all key project performance indicators and project targets do not reach certain levels and that there are intricate interrelations among these indicators as well as the targets. Thus, practitioners must develop the capacity to foresee potential problems likely to confront their current and future projects. Identifica- tion of common problems experienced on past projects in their construction business environment is a good option. As the common Asian saying goes ‘‘a problem well de- fined is a problem half solved’’. Project parties must be proactive in managing their projects in which potential problems are fully anticipated. Vietnam is currently among countries with high gross domestic product (GDP) growth rates. For example, GDP growth hit 7% and recorded the fastest economic growth in Southeast Asia in 2002 [19]. Construction investment in Vietnam has been increasing to meet the needs for the socioeconomic development. Management of construction projects in Vietnam, however, has faced various problems due to many causes, controllable and otherwise. Gaining insight into the problems is neces- sary to help professionals to be active in dealing with the problems and their consequences. The objective of this paper is to provide insight into problems experienced in large construction projects in Vietnam. The research defines a large * Corresponding author. Tel.: +66-2-524-5534; fax: +66-2-524-6059. E-mail address: ogunlana@ait.ac.th (S. Ogunlana). 0263-7863/$30.00 Ó 2004 Elsevier Ltd and IPMA. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.ijproman.2004.03.004 International Journal of Project Management 22 (2004) 553–561 INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF PROJECT MANAGEMENT www.elsevier.com/locate/ijproman