How about "Think[ing] Big, Act[ing] Small" for a nation and a SME ? (march 2019)

What is the relationship between Open Innovation and the motto "Think Big, Act Small" ?

According to Jason Jennings, it is "how America's best performing companies keep the start-up spirit alive" [1].

To explore the reach of "Think Big, Act Small", here are two cases, the first about a nation, the second about a small enterprise.


Case 1 : a nation
Context : Vietnam, a nation who wants to accelerate its journey into Industry 4.0 by inviting its diaspora to contribute [2a].

"Think Big, Act Small" was pronounced by a leader of the Vietnamese government delegation in a key note speech on day one of the Vietnam Global Leaders Forum held in Paris on March 30-31, 2019 [2b][2c].

Would you agree or dispute ?

As a start, you might make a Google Images search [Vietnam 4.0].

9 June 2019 update
and then watch the video introducing to "Vietnam Today First report of the Vietnam’s Future Digital Economy Project" [2d], published in 2018 by Australia’s research agency Data61|CSIRO  [2e].

"Team of Ministry of Science and Technology of Vietnam : to know where we are, how we can speed up, even leapfrog [2f] our economy into being an integrated part of the global economy"

10 July 2019 update
and contemplate the vision of the National Innovation Center (NIC), Hanoi. that was shared by Mr. Nguyen Chi Dung, Vietnam Minister of Planning and Investment, on an official visit end of June 2019 to France.
At stakes :

• co-invest into building current and future Vietnam NICs
• establish operations in NIC or in Hoa Lac Hi-tech Park
• join NIC’s partners network to support and develop Vietnam innovative ecosystem  

The National Innovation Center will be the "nucleus for promoting innovation and technology to strengthen economic development". The NIC will "collaborate with science institutions, universities, corporates, investors and other key players in innovation ecosystem to deploy ideas into practice”.

Coming soon

Photo of the model of theVietnam National Innovation Center, Hanoi

Case 2 : a small enterprise
Context : consulting company that franchises Agile games [3a][3b] and attending at this forum in view to nurture links between Vietnam and your company and explore investment opportunities.

You are in the shoes of the CEO.

As Act Small, how about bringing the next day a few packs of Agile games and offering them to the delegation of the Vietnam government and the representatives of the  Vietnamese flagship companies attending to the forum (Viettel, VNPT, MinhLong, Thai Binh Seeds,...) [4]?

Elements of case solving
Agile games are innovative tools to enable soft skills and, as such, they are a key element of an efficient workplace [5].

Packs of soft skills designed in France

These soft skills would be dramatically needed by the Vietnamese diaspora experts when collaborating on projects ;
if these experts share some Vietnamese background, they would bring also with them their respectives country cultures, which include different working styles and behaviors [6] ; and as a matter of fact, over 20 countries were represented at the Forum.

From a marketing perspective, the use case for Agile games is clear.

But from a commercial perspective, the move is a little bit less.

Why ?

Because Agile games bear innovative components that need to be protected from unfair competitors.

Of course, as a savvy CEO, you have defined and put in place a strategy to protect and share the intellectual property assets that your company has developped over time [7a][7b].

But finally, when you meet a member of the Vietnam government delegation or a representative of one of the vietnamese flagship companies at a side meeting to explore cooperation/business opportunities, the key mover is guts feeling and trust.


Now, suppose that

• your ông bà nội (grands parents father side) et ông bà ngoài (grand parents mother side) sent your bố (father) and mẹ (mother) in France to make their middle and higher study
• you were born and have always been living in France
• you were graduated from École Polytechnique [8a][8b], a world class French institution for higher education and research, and you attended to VGLF as president and founder of X-Propriété-Intellectuelle and founder of X-Open-Innovation [2b], two think tanks accredited by Ecole Polytechnique alumni association.

What then would you feel and do ?




[1] "Think Big, Act Small: How America's Best Performing Companies Keep the Start-up Spirit Alive", Jason Jennings, 2012
[2a]  Diversity brought together for excellence, X-Diversité, 3 avril 2019
[2b] Vietnam Global Leaders Forum, Paris, 2019, agenda, site officiel
[2c] Open innovation above borders , X-Open-Innovation, 24 mars 2019 (post in French) 
[2d] Cameron A, Pham T, Atherton J (2018) Vietnam Today – first report of the Vietnam’s FutureDigital Economy Project. CSIRO, Brisbane
[2e] CSIRO : Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation, wikipedia
[2f] "leapfrog" : DSI du Maroc : se repositionner pour le numérique en sautant les étapes, Gouvernance numérique de l'entreprise créative, 27 mars 2015
[3a] Agile games: what are we talking about ?, Gouvernance numérique d'entreprise, 12 mai 2018
[3b] Agile games from around the world, L'entreprise numérique créative, 4 mars 2018
[4]Sites officiels :   Viettel, VNPT, MinhLong, Thai Binh Seeds
[5]  A three layers digital and physical workplace model , L'entreprise numérique créative, 31 mars 2019
[6] What is diversity ?, X-Diversité,1er avril 2019
[7a] Protect IP / Share IP innovation management model renditions, L'entreprise numérique créative, 25 mars 2018
[7b] IP assets from Vietnam and France, X-Propriété-Intellectuelle, 1er avril 2019
[8a] École Polytechnique, official site
[8b] L’X represented at the first Vietnam Global Leaders Forum, Ecole Polytechnique, April 24. 2019



Update 23 october 2019
Agile games packs to accelerate solft skills, [in French Gouvernance numérique de l'enteprise créative, 22 octobre 2019




Notes :
The two cases support training experiences on Open Innovation management provided by Do-Khac Decision, a management consulting SME. Contact

The case 2 is the result of the imagination of the author; any resemblance to existing or past characters would be pure coincidence.