Abstract

The collapse of the socialist regimes in Soviet Union and Eastern European socialist countries in the late 20th century was that of an inappropriate socialist model. In Vietnam after the unification of the nation, coping with the requirements posed by the socio-economic context of the country, the Communist Party of Vietnam worked out the leading path for the innovation mission in a comprehensive manner, which was firstly the economic innovation focusing on the transformation from the centrally planned economy into the socialist-oriented market economy; along with the “open-door” policy and the international integration policy. The foundation of the innovation was a process summed up from the reality of the then socio-economic life, from costly lessons from the socialist model as well as reforms and reshuffling in socialist countries. This paper presents the process of formation and development of ways of thinking, paths of economic innovation in Vietnam from the perspective of successes and lessons learned.