INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF

PROJECT
MANAGEMENT
International Journal of Project Management 22 (2004) 553–561
www.elsevier.com/locate/ijproman

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 and that there are intricate interrelations among these

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
*
Corresponding author. Tel.: +66-2-524-5534; fax: +66-2-524-6059.
E-mail address: ogunlana@ait.ac.th (S. Ogunlana).
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

0263-7863/$30.00 Ó 2004 Elsevier Ltd and IPMA. All rights reserved.

doi:10.1016/j.ijproman.2004.03.004
554 N.D. Long et al. / International Journal of Project Management 22 (2004) 553–561
construction project as a project with a total budget
more than $1 million. It is intended that findings of
the paper are useful not only for Vietnamese con-
struction participants but also for those in other de-
veloping countries.
2. Previous research
The major problems faced by contractors in devel-
oping countries have been classified as: (1) problems
imposed by the industry’s infrastructure, (2) problems of
inaccurate information and frequent changes in in-
structions and failure to meet obligations on the part of
clients and consultants, and (3) problems imposed by
their own shortcomings [20]. Research into the delays
experienced in high-rise building construction projects in
Thailand supports this classification. Specifically,
Ogunlana et al. [6] confirmed that construction industry
problems in developing economies can be nested in three
layers: problems of shortages or inadequacies in indus-
try infrastructure, problems caused by clients and con-
sultants, and problems caused by contractor’s
incompetence/inadequacies. A recent study on East Asia
cross-border construction [21], identified five groupings
of obstacles as business environment risk, regulatory
restrictions, contractual arrangement, and differences in
standards and culture. If the problems and/or obstacles
are not solved swiftly, they can cause delays and cost
overruns in projects, harm cooperative relationships,
reduce efficiency, lead to claims and disputes, and
probably invoke litigation proceedings [22].
Other studies relating to industry problems concern
causes of time delays and/or cost overruns. Such studies
have been conducted worldwide from developed coun-
tries such USA [1] and UK [3] to developing countries
such as Turkey [2], Nigeria [4], Saudi Arabia [5], Thai-
land [6], Hong Kong [7–9,23], Malaysia [24] and Jordan
[10,11]. Causes and factors pertinent to time and cost
overruns and other project performance indicators in
these studies are generally termed ‘‘adverse factors’’ in
this paper. A set of the adverse factors is a compre-
hensive foundation for identifying common problems of
large construction projects in this research. By probing
the underlying relationships, the adverse factors can be
classified into groups of problems within the purview of
financiers, owners, contractors, consultants (including
designers), project attributes, coordination and envi-
ronment. The problems or adverse factors are listed in
the respective groups as follows:
Financier-related problems are problems in the fi-
nancing domain. High cost of financing [1] and difficulty
in getting loans [2] are adverse factors identified in
previous work. Furthermore, interference in owner’s
decisions and funding shortages are other common
problems attributed to financiers.
Owner-related problems are the problems for which
clients or employers are responsible. Finance and pay-
ments for completed work [1,2,4,5,11], excessive change
orders [1,5,8], slow owner’s decision-making process
[2,5,6,11,18], owner interference [11], and ill-defined
duties and responsibilities [2] are adverse factors fre-
quently cited in previous studies.
Contractor-related problems concern problems or
adverse factors caused by contractors. They include in-
adequate experience [11,24], construction errors [1,4,11],
poor site management and supervision [1,6,8,11],
equipment failures or allocation problems [1,6,11], in-
adequate labor skills [1,5], site manager lacking au-
thority [2], improper planning and scheduling
[1,2,6,11,24], inaccurate estimation [4,5], and poor con-
tract management [1,4,11].
Consultant-related problems are problems or adverse
factors attributable to designers/consultants. Prepara-
tion and approval of drawings [11,12], design errors,
delays in work approval [4,6,11], uncompromising atti-
tude [6] are common problems for which consultants are
held responsible in literature.
Project attributes-related problems are problems or
adverse factors that derive from the characteristics of
the project and/or are difficult to classify into other
problem categories when the project delivery system and
other project information are not taken into account.
For example, in some research [11], an adverse factor,
namely improper quality assurance/control was consid-
ered to be within the purview of consultants. Except for
traditional procurement, this classification may be in-
appropriate in other project delivery systems. In the
other project delivery systems such as design and build,
contractors have to establish systematic quality assur-
ance/control or face the consequences of low quality
otherwise. This research therefore considers improper
quality assurance/control as a project attributes-related
problem. Unforeseen site conditions [1,4,8,11,24], con-
fined site [6], problems with neighbors such as pollution
[6,11,25], unrealistic imposed contract duration [4,11],
inaccuracy of project information [18] are other adverse
factors in this category.
Coordination-related problems are problems or ad-
verse factors such as poor communication [1,3,11,18],
excessive use of subcontractors and nominated sup-
pliers [1,4,11], excessive bureaucracy [2,5,25], fraudu-
lent practices and kickbacks [4,25], misalignment of
client’s expectations [18], and jurisdictional disputes
[1,22].
Environmental problems are external problems or
adverse factors. They may be caused by natural condi-
tions, for example inclement weather [1,3,4,11] or so-
cioeconomic conditions such as material shortage or late
delivery [1,3,4,6,11,24], labor shortage [1,2,5,11], price
fluctuations [4,11]. In addition, problems or adverse
factors perceived to be responsible by external project
 N.D. Long et al. / International Journal of Project Management 22 (2004) 553–561
stakeholders are also grouped into this category. Ex-
amples are inconsistent policies [11,25] and slow gov-
ernment permits [6,11].
A major observation is that most of the problems are
human and management related problems [4,24]. These
problems or adverse factors are included in a list of
problems that were investigated to ascertain the extent
of their occurrence in, and influence on, large con-
struction projects in Vietnam.
3. Research methodology
A questionnaire (in Vietnamese) was designed based
upon literature and current construction practice in
Vietnam to obtain information on the problems known
to participants in large projects. Although the ques-
tionnaire survey investigated several issues relating to
large construction projects, this paper focuses only on
problems experienced. To fit into the Vietnam con-
struction conditions, the preliminary questionnaire was
pilot tested. Six experienced professionals in the Viet-
nam construction industry were involved in the pilot
test. Test participants included a city government officer
in the Department of Construction, a public owner, a
designer, a contractor, and two university senior lec-
turers actively involved in industry practice. Their
comments were used to revise the research question-
naire. The final questionnaire was distributed to pro-
fessionals involved in large projects in Hochiminh City,
the biggest city in Vietnam, and its surroundings at the
end of the year 2002. Since the professionals may be
experienced in many large projects with different degrees
of success or failure, this research does not attempt to
differentiate between successful and problematic or
failed projects. Several means were employed to deliver
the questionnaires to potential respondents. However,
direct (face-to-face) delivery was preferred to motivate
respondents and to ensure the accuracy of answers and
improve response rate.
Responses to the questionnaire were then collected
and analyzed. The analysis included ranking the prob-
lems in terms of degree of occurrence and level of in-
fluence. The analysis also examined whether or not
perceptions of different respondent groups affect the
rankings. The Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient
was used to test the strength of associations between the
rankings of the respondent groups. Finally, factor
analysis was employed to derive interrelationships
among the problems.
4. Respondent’s characteristics
The respondents were grouped into owners, design-
ers/consultants and contractors/subcontractors. It is
555
Table 1
Questionnaire return rate
Party Questionnaires Responses Response Propor-
distributed received rate (%) tion (%)
Owners 82 36 43.9 33.0
Designers/ 85 27 31.8 24.8
consultants
Contractors/ 120 46 38.3 42.2
subcontractors
Total 287 109 38.0 100.0
impractical to separate construction managers from
designers/consultants in Vietnam since there are no
specialized construction management firms. The re-
sponse rates from the different groups are 33% from
owners, 24.8% from consultants and 42% from con-
tractors (Table 1).
More than half (57%) of the respondents were line
managers and engineers, followed by functional/project
managers (28%) and top management (15%). It would
have been better if the proportion of the respondents
who were top management and functional/project
managers could be increased. Due to several reasons,
however, the data collection faced difficulties in involv-
ing more respondents from these categories. Research in
Indonesia [26] suggests that very senior managers may
have different focus from line executives. The propor-
tions of the respondents in terms of number of years
involved in construction were: less than or equal to 5
years (39%), between 5 and 10 years (42%), and 10 years
or more (19%).
Among the respondents, two-thirds were mostly ex-
perienced in public projects while one-third were expe-
rienced in private projects. The respondents were
involved in building projects (44%), industrial con-
struction projects (40%), road projects (11%), bridge
projects (2%) and others (3%). This implies that the re-
search is scoped in building, industrial and road con-
struction sectors.
5. Findings and analysis
5.1. Achievements of project objectives
To elicit the extent of the occurrence of unexpected
status on project objectives, the survey respondents were
asked to rate against the five-point scale, from ‘‘not
significant’’ (1) to ‘‘extremely significant’’ (5). This nu-
merical equivalence scale was also applied for questions
regarding degrees of occurrence and influence of prob-
lems. Project delays and cost overruns were rated as
having very high occurrence. The considerable occur-
rence of labor accidents, low quality and disputes were
also perceived (Table 2). It can be explained that large
556 N.D. Long et al. / International Journal of Project Management 22 (2004) 553–561

Table 2 Table 3
Failure to meet project objectives Problems and problem categories
Rank Project performance Mean SD (CV)a Categories Problems
1 Project delays 3.73 1.11 (29.76) Financier Unreasonable constraints to owner
2 Cost overruns 2.98 1.17 (39.26) High interest rate
3 Labor accidents 2.46 1.36 (55.28) Interference in owner’s decisions
4 Low quality 2.34 1.17 (50.00) Funding shortage
5 Disputes between parties 2.21 1.17 (52.94)
a
Owner Lack of strategic management
SD – standard deviation; CV – coefficient of variance. Confusing requirements
Improper project feasibility study
Lack of clear bidding process
projects are being poorly managed in Vietnam. Effective Excessive change orders
construction management at corporate, process, project, Unclear responsibility
and activity levels. . . should be introduced to profes- Lack of capable representatives
sionals to enhance construction industry performance in Owner’s financial difficulties
Owner’s poor contract management
Vietnam.
Slow decision making

5.2. Rankings of problems’ occurrence and influence Contractor Improper planning and scheduling
Inadequate experience (c)
From literature and interviews with professionals in Inadequate modern equipment
Inaccurate time estimating
the Vietnam construction industry, 62 problems were Inaccurate cost estimating
identified (Table 3). They were subjectively divided into Poor site management
organizational, project attributes-related, coordination- Improper monitoring and control
related and environmental problems. Organizational Poor labor and management relations
problems were also subdivided into problems that are Inappropriate construction methods
Contractor’s financial difficulties
under the purview of financiers, owners, designers/con- Incompetent project team
sultants and contractors. The following are discussions Poor contract management
about degrees of occurrence and influence of the prob- Severe overtime
lems in large construction projects in Vietnam. Material waste
The full rankings of the degree of occurrence and Lack of necessary skills
Inadequacy of site inspection
degree of influence of the 62 problems rated by the dif- Lack of competent subcontractors/suppliers
ferent respondent groups are available from the authors
on request. Table 4 shows the top 20 problems perceived Consultant Inadequate experience (d)
as having high degrees of occurrence and influence. Lack of standardization in design
Lack of responsibility
From these rankings, many problems had high ranks for
Impractical design
both their degrees of occurrence and influence. Examples Inadequate project management assistance
are inaccurate time estimating, slow site clearance, slow Slow response
government permits, lack of capable owner’s represen- Lack of involvement through project life
tatives, obsolete technology and unsatisfactory site Project attributes Ambiguous project scope
compensation. It can be said that these problems oc- Lack of constructability
curred under a wide range of causes: owners, designers, Inaccurate site investigation
contractors, project attributes and environment. How- Pollution during construction
Non-value-added works
ever, several problems had high occurrence but low in-
Improper quality assurance/control
fluence and vice versa. Although severe overtime and Unrealistic imposed contract duration
inadequate modern equipment were identified as having Obsolete technology
high occurrence, their influences were low. Severe over-
Coordination Excessive contractors/subcontractors
time is a common management policy to accelerate Lack of communication among parties
project progress. Some unintended side effects of severe Lack of comprehensive dispute resolution
overtime have been widely recognized in the industry, yet Inappropriate type of contracts used
it does not usually have strong impact on project per- Fraudulent practices and kickbacks
Unreasonable risk allocation
formance. In Vietnam, since construction is still labor-
Bureaucracy
intensive work, it is logical that inadequate modern
equipment was not rated as very high impact. Improper Environment Unforeseen ground conditions
Inclement weather
planning and scheduling and contractor’s financial dif-
Unsatisfactory site compensation
ficulties were given high ratings in degree of influence. Slow site clearance
These accords with previous studies [2,6,11] conducted in Price fluctuations
developing countries. Material shortage
 N.D. Long et al. / International Journal of Project Management 22 (2004) 553–561 557

Table 3 (continued) esis testing at the 1% significance level. The Spearman’s

Categories Problems
Unreasonable regulatory framework
Unstable regulatory framework
Slow government permits
To deeply investigate which parties and groups were
responsible for these problems, problem categories were
ranked in terms of their degree of occurrence and degree
of influence as shown in Tables 5 and 6, respectively.
Consultants, contractors, and coordination were iden-
tified as the progenitors of problems. Regarding the
degree of influence, problems associated with the con-
sultants, owners and environment highly impacted
projects. Owners and consultants obviously have high
influences on whether or not projects are successful since
they are involved in the early stages of project life. In-
terestingly, external problems were also ranked highly.
This differs from previous research elsewhere (Jordan
[11] for example). A possible explanation is that though
price fluctuations, unforeseen ground conditions were
not serious, yet slow government permits, unstable
regulatory framework, slow site clearance and unsatis-
factory site compensation were strongly influential
problems. These imply that the legal and institutional
framework for the construction industry is problematic
in Vietnam.
Concerning the attitudes of different parties towards
these problems, there were strong agreements on the
ranking based on degree of occurrence. These associa-
tions among ranking of parties are verified by hypoth-
correlation coefficients for ranking of the occurrence of
problems between owners and consultants, owners and
contractors and consultants and contractors are 0.681,
0.810, and 0.796, respectively. Similarly, the Spearman’s
correlation coefficients for ranking of the influence of
problems between owners and consultants, owners and
contractors and consultants and contractors are some-
what high values: 0.700, 0.769, and 0.733, respectively. It
implies a high degree of agreement between the three
groups on the level of occurrence and degree of influence
of the problems. Therefore, further attempt to analyze
the problems faced by the different groups of respon-
dents is not necessary.
5.3. Factor analysis of problems’ occurrence
To capture any multivariate interrelationships exist-
ing among the problems in terms of degree of occur-
rence, factor analysis was applied. Factor analysis
addresses the problem of analyzing the structure of the
correlations among a large number of variables by de-
fining a set of common underlying dimensions, known
as factors or components [27]. Several tests are required
to determine the appropriateness of factor analysis for
factor extraction. They include anti-image correlation –
indicating the negative value of the partial correlation,
the Bartlett test of sphericity – a statistical test for the
presence of correlations among the variables, the
Kaiser–Meyer–Olkin (KMO) – the measure of sampling
adequacy (MSA). Details of the factor analysis process
and these tests can be found in Hair et al. [27].

Table 4
Problems having high occurrence and high influence
Rank Problems as high occurrence Mean SD Rank Problems as high influence Mean SD
1 Inaccurate time estimating 3.64 1.04 1 Slow site clearance 3.77 1.40
2 Slow site clearance 3.47 1.43 2 Slow government permits 3.63 1.21
3 Excessive change orders 3.42 1.15 3 Inaccurate time estimating 3.56 1.07
4 Slow government permits 3.38 1.17 4 Lack of capable representatives 3.54 1.28
5 Severe overtime 3.33 1.41 5 Contractor’s financial difficulties 3.49 1.16
6 Inadequate modern equipment 3.29 1.12 6 Improper planning and scheduling 3.45 1.16
7 Lack of capable representatives 3.28 1.18 7 Unsatisfactory site compensation 3.43 1.33
8 Bureaucracy 3.26 1.43 8 Inadequate experience (d) 3.40 1.22
9 Obsolete technology 3.26 1.23 9 Obsolete technology 3.40 1.22
10 Unsatisfactory site compensation 3.22 1.31 10 Lack of responsibility 3.40 1.30
11 Fraudulent practices and kickbacks 3.18 1.26 11 Impractical design 3.38 1.21
12 Inaccurate cost estimating 3.17 1.13 12 Incompetence project team 3.32 1.25
13 Improper planning and scheduling 3.16 1.17 13 Excessive change orders 3.32 1.15
14 Contractor’s financial difficulties 3.14 1.10 14 Bureaucracy 3.29 1.27
15 Inadequate project management assistance 3.11 1.08 15 Inaccurate cost estimating 3.29 1.16
16 Lack of involvement through project life 3.05 1.32 16 Inaccurate site investigation 3.28 1.29
17 Poor site management 3.02 1.13 17 Inadequate modern equipment 3.21 1.14
18 Excessive contractors and/or subcontractors 2.99 1.31 18 Unrealistic imposed contract duration 3.20 1.27
19 Impractical design 2.97 1.12 19 Lack of involvement through project 3.15 1.31
life
20 Incompetence project team 2.94 1.16 20 Inadequate project management 3.14 1.18
assistance
558 N.D. Long et al. / International Journal of Project Management 22 (2004) 553–561

Table 5
Ranking of degree of occurrence of problem categories
Problem category Overall Owners Consultants Contractors
Mean Rank Mean Rank Mean Rank Mean Rank
Financier 2.24 7 2.41 7 2.14 7 2.15 7
Owner 2.75 5 2.88 4 2.71 4 2.68 5
Contractor 2.88 2 3.08 1 2.75 2 2.80 2
Consultant 2.96 1 3.05 2 2.74 3 3.02 1
Project attributes 2.60 6 2.60 6 2.56 6 2.61 6
Coordination 2.79 3 2.82 5 2.86 1 2.72 3
Environment 2.78 4 2.96 3 2.69 5 2.70 4

Table 6
Ranking of degree of influence of problem categories
Problem category Overall Owners Consultants Contractors
Mean Rank Mean Rank Mean Rank Mean Rank
Financier 2.67 7 2.81 7 2.68 7 2.57 7
Owner 3.00 3 3.29 3 3.04 5 2.77 6
Contractor 2.98 4 3.11 4 3.10 2 2.82 5
Consultant 3.22 1 3.42 1 3.07 3 3.15 1
Project attributes 2.96 5 3.03 5 3.05 4 2.85 3
Coordination 2.92 6 2.97 6 2.96 6 2.85 4
Environment 3.13 2 3.34 2 3.12 1 3.00 2

The top-twenty highly-ranked problems regarding
their degrees of occurrence were selected for factor
analysis since their occurrences were perceived from
‘moderate’ to ‘extremely’ significant. That is, their
means approximate to or are more than 3 on a scale of
1–5. However, three of the problems – severe overtime,
obsolete technology and lack of capable owner’s repre-
sentatives – were ignored since they did not pass the tests
mentioned above. In this case, either the communalities
or their factor loadings of all components were not
equal or greater than 0.5 and 0.525, respectively. Each
variable’s communality, representing the amount of
variance accounted for the factor solution for the vari-
able, should be equal to, or greater than, 0.5 to have
sufficient explanation [27]. As recommended in Hair
et al. [27], with sample size around 110 – this research
had 109 – factor loading for each factor should exceed
0.525.
The remaining 17 problems were appropriate for
factor analysis. The value of Bartlett test of sphericity is

Table 7
Results of the factor analysis using varimax orthogonal rotation
Factors Factor labels Eigenvalue Percentage Problems Factor loading
of variance
1 Incompetent designer/contractor 6.395 37.620 Inadequate project management assistance 0.851
Impractical design 0.842
Lack of involvement through project life 0.700
Contractor’s financial difficulties 0.597
Incompetent project team 0.578
Poor site management 0.527
2 Poor estimation and change 2.086 12.271 Excessive contractors and/or 0.796
management subcontractors
Inaccurate time estimating 0.634
Inaccurate cost estimating 0.628
Excessive change orders 0.563
3 Social and technological issues 1.758 10.339 Obsolete technology 0.887
Bureaucracy 0.824
Fraudulent practices and kickbacks 0.758
4 Site related issues 1.196 7.036 Slow site clearance 0.880
Unsatisfactory site compensation 0.860
5 Improper techniques/tools 1.048 6.162 Inadequate modern equipment 0.715
Improper planning and scheduling 0.636
 N.D. Long et al. / International Journal of Project Management 22 (2004) 553–561
878.186 and associated significance level is small
(p ¼ 0:000). These suggest that the population correla-
tion matrix is not an identity matrix [27]. The correla-
tion matrix shows that all variables have significant
correlation at the 5% level. It implies that the deletion of
any other problems is unnecessary. The value of the
KMO MSA is 0.794, which is satisfactory for factor
analysis [27].
Principle component analysis carried out produced a
five-factor solution with eigenvalues greater than one
(Table 7). The varimax orthogonal rotation of principle
component analysis was used to interpret these factors.
The factor grouping based on varimax is displayed in
Table 7. The factors and associated variables are readily
interpretable as: factor 1 concerns incompetent design/
contractor, factor 2 concerns poor estimation and
change management, factor 3 is social and technological
issues, factor 4 concerns site related issues and factor 5 is
improper techniques and tools. The factors are elabo-
rated further in the following section.
6. Discussion of factor analysis results
6.1. Incompetent designers/contractors
This factor consists of inadequate project manage-
ment assistance, impractical design, lack of involvement
through project life, contractor’s financial difficulties,
incompetent project team, and poor site management.
These problems were clearly caused by designers and
contractors. Designers are responsible for inadequate
project management assistance, impractical design and
lack of involvement through project life while contrac-
tors are responsible for their financial difficulties, in-
competent project team and poor site management. Two
root causes are the fact that procurement and project
delivery system have not been applied properly and that
lack or inadequacy of capable consultants and con-
tractors for handling large projects are common phe-
nomena in Vietnam. Bidding processes, for example,
have been blamed publicly as being unfair and un-
healthy (bid shopping, e.g.) in the country’s media. This
has led to contracts being awarded to incapable de-
signers and contractors. Moreover, open competitive
bidding sometimes proves to be more costly due to ex-
cessive time delays and claims from the contractor who
has put in a low bid in the hope of obtaining extra
claims to compensate for the low price [28]. Therefore,
although pre-qualification of tenders and selective bid-
ding may be a better alternative to open competitive
bidding to ensure awarding the bids to the right de-
signers/contractors [28], both the public and private
sectors in Vietnam have yet to take full advantage of this
practice.
559
6.2. Poor estimation and change management
The factor grouping is made up of excessive number
of contractors and/or subcontractors, inaccurate time
estimating, inaccurate cost estimating, and excessive
change orders. Most of the parties involved are re-
sponsible for these problems. Inadequate and ineffective
coordination among parties is a major cause of the
problems. In recent times, the amount of subcontracting
in construction procurement has increased through the
use of specialist works and offsite production [29]. As
more contractors, subcontractors and, especially nomi-
nated subcontractors/suppliers, are involved in a pro-
ject, relationships and information flows among the
project parties become more complicated. Such intricate
relationships often cause conflict between them as well
as causing other coordination problems [28]. Accurate
estimations need accurate project information in terms
of the quality of information and information flow,
availability and supply of resources, and the expertise of
the consultants involved [29]. Time and cost estimates
involve and/or are prepared by many parties. Although
contractors were perceived to cause these inaccurate
estimates in this research since they are the ultimate
party who produce estimates, owners and consultants
were also responsible. For example, designs are often
not clear or detailed enough to ensure accurate estima-
tion by contractors. Besides, excessive change orders are
issued for many reasons such as unclear project objec-
tives and scope from the owners, problems of con-
structability of designs, use changes, etc. Excessive
change orders can cause significant disruption to con-
struction projects and, consequently, cause changes in
the planned schedules, increase costs through rework
and decrease labor efficiency [30,31]. Unclear project
objectives and scope from the owners cause unexpected
design changes while issues of constructability of designs
lead to many changes during the construction stage.
Broadly speaking, poor estimation and change man-
agement reflect lack of efficient and effective project
management procedures resulting in project parties not
being proactive in their roles to ensure that projects run
smoothly.
6.3. Social and technological issues
Included in this factor are obsolete technology, bu-
reaucracy, and fraudulent practices and kickbacks.
Technology is indispensable in any large construction
project. Possession of modern technology is one of the
most critical factors to succeed and sustain in today’s
business environment and construction is not an ex-
ception. When access to technological knowledge and/or
timely and relevant information is not available,
construction projects invariably use obsolete technol-
ogy. A serious challenge to construction industries in
560 N.D. Long et al. / International Journal of Project Management 22 (2004) 553–561
developing countries is their inability to adopt or adapt
established best practices already working in other
countries [32]. Although public-sector clients in devel-
oping countries and some donor agencies support con-
struction technology transfer, there are several problems
associated with the transfer [33,34]. Large construction
projects in Vietnam, as a developing country, usually
purchase and obtain technologies from other countries.
However, knowledge on whether or not the technologies
are suitable to the country’s conditions is missing. In
addition, bureaucracy and fraudulent practices and
kickbacks have been publicly blamed in Vietnam. It has
been estimated elsewhere [35] that 20–40 percent of
capital investment in construction is lost due to poor
management for which bureaucracy and briberies are
mainly responsible. Therefore, professionals executing
large construction projects need to be prepared to face
this problem.
6.4. Site related issues
Slow site clearance and unsatisfactory site compen-
sation constitute the fourth factor grouping, namely site
related issues. Project site clearance usually faces many
conflicts – internal and interface conflicts [36], between
project teams and communities. This is a major cause of
interruptions in large construction projects. Compre-
hensive site investigation such as topographical surveys
and geotechnical investigations have visible and con-
siderable benefits [28]. It is, however, inadequate that
site issues of a large scale construction project are lim-
ited to those tasks but they include considerations of
other natural, cultural and socioeconomic factors sur-
rounding the project site. Therefore, it is recommended
that the project site should be well prepared before
commencing construction or mobilizing facilities and
equipment. The affected people near the project site
should be well informed about projects and satisfactory
compensation offered for their properties. Environ-
mental and social impact assessments should be fairly
carried out when necessary. These will ensure that pro-
jects run smoothly and without interruptions during the
construction phases.
6.5. Improper techniques and tools
This factor consisting of inadequate modern equip-
ment and improper planning and scheduling is consid-
ered in terms of the two domains of engineering and
management. Inadequate modern equipment can incur
problems in engineering, construction methods, e.g. the
possibility to accelerate the project work is limited.
Vietnamese contractors do not have enough modern
equipment and plant to implement large and complex
projects. Additionally, improper project planning and
scheduling is another problem. Planning is the essence of
project management, the aim of which is to achieve a
defined objective within defined temporal and financial
constraints [37]. Thus, project outcomes are likely to be
low if planning and scheduling is not well done. Like
other developing countries, Vietnam does not have ad-
equate trained professionals in project management.
Current managerial skills are not being fully utilized for
construction management. The finding in this research
accords with other reports on the situation in Vietnam
[38].
7. Conclusions
The major objective of this paper was to identify
problems, together with the extent to which they occur
and influence performance on large construction pro-
jects in Vietnam. Sixty-two problems were identified as a
result of a comprehensive literature survey and extensive
contributions of industry professionals in Vietnam. The
construction participants accorded inaccurate time es-
timating, slow site clearance, slow government permits,
lack of capable owner’s representatives, obsolete tech-
nology and unsatisfactory site compensation, high rat-
ings in terms of degree of occurrence and level of
influence. There was strong agreement towards these
rankings of problems among the different respondent
groups.
In order to uncover their root causes, the problems
were classified into seven categories. It was found that
problems under the purview of consultants, contractors
and coordination were highly ranked in terms of degree
of occurrence. Problems attributable to owners and the
environment were perceived not to be as important in
occurrence as their influence on performance is. In ad-
dition, problems attributed to financiers and project
attributes were rated low both for occurrence and
influence.
Deeper analysis revealed that there were certain in-
terrelationships among the problems. The top-ranked
problems in terms of occurrence were grouped under
five major factors: (1) incompetent designers and con-
tractors, (2) poor estimation and change management,
(3) social and technological issues, (4) site related issues,
and (5) improper techniques and tools. Again, it is noted
that the findings confirmed previous studies that most of
problems in construction projects are human and man-
agement problems, not technical in nature [4,24].
By foreseeing the common problems identified in this
paper and maybe others in future projects, the authors
hope that construction participants in Vietnam can both
avoid problems for which they are responsible and
mitigate severe effects of the other problems. The simi-
larity of several findings in this research to previous
research finding from other developing countries
 N.D. Long et al. / International Journal of Project Management 22 (2004) 553–561
confirmed that project stakeholders in developing
countries face similar problems in spite of different
natural, economic, political and social backgrounds. As
such, they should benefit from learning from each
other’s experiences.
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