NGUYEN THI NGOC TRANG THE FACTORS INFLUENCING THE SUCCESS OF COST- SAVING OPERATIONAL PROJECT IN VIETNAM: A CASE STUDY OF VIETTEL NETWORK COMPANY Field: Financial Management Code: 8340202. Nguyen Thi Kim Oanh Hanoi, 2025 LETTER OF DECLARATION I hereby declare that the graduate project titled “The factors influencing the success of cost-saving operational projects in Vietnam: A case study of Viettel Network Company” is my original research work. I have followed the principles of research ethics with due diligence, and the conclusions of this study are entirely based on the data collected. The results of this research have not been shared or published elsewhere.
I accept full responsibility for the accuracy and integrity of the numerical data and other elements presented in this academic investigation. 1 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT Firstly, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to Dr. Nguyen Thi Kim Oanh for her invaluable support throughout this project. Her dedication, enthusiasm, and thoughtful feedback played a crucial role in helping me complete the project within the set timeframe.
I look forward to the possibility of working with her again in the future. Additionally, I would also like to express my heartfelt thanks to all the friends, professors, and students at the International School, Vietnam National University Hanoi, for generously offering their time and support during the data collection process. Without their assistance, this study would not have been possible. Lastly, I would like to express my deepest thanks to our families for their unwavering love, resilience, encouragement, and emotional support.
Their presence has been a source of strength throughout this journey, and we are immensely grateful for their unwavering support. 2 ABSTRACT Purpose: This study investigates the factors influencing project success within the context of a cost-saving operational project at Viettel Network Company. Method: An online survey was administered to collect data from project participants. Findings: The results indicate that transformational leadership is a crucial determinant of project success.
Transformational leadership fosters team resilience, which subsequently enhances motivation and contributes to project success. Although transformational leadership promotes organizational innovativeness, the study did not find a positive impact of organizational innovativeness on project success. Implications: The results highlight the important role of transformational leadership in fostering team resilience and achieving project success, especially in initiatives aimed at reducing operational costs. Organizations should prioritize developing transformational leadership capabilities within their project management teams.
However, the relationship between organizational innovativeness and project success warrants further investigation to elucidate the underlying mechanisms and contextual factors. Keywords: Project success. transformational leadership, team resilience, organizational effectiveness 3 LIST OF TABLE Table 1: Questionnaire of the research .33 Table 2: Outer loadings of construct items.39 Table 3: Cronbach’s alpha, Composite reliability, and Average variance extracted .40 Table 4: Discriminant validity among constructs .41 Table 5: Impacts of transformational leadership on project success .42 Table 6: R-square and R-square adjusted of the model .42 Table 7: Model fit .42 4 LIST OF FIGURE Figure 1: Research framework of the study .29 Figure 2: The measurement model.38 Figure 3: The structural model .41 5 TABLE OF CONTENTS LETTER OF DECLARATION. 3 LIST OF TABLE.
4 LIST OF FIGURE. 5 TABLE OF CONTENTS. Project success in the context of Viettel Networks. Scope of Research:.
12 CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW. Project and project success. Prior studies on factors impacting project success .1 Effective leadership and project success .2 Complexity of projects and project success .3 Agile methodologies and project success .4 Project teams and project success .5 Technology on project success .6 Innovation management and project success. Hypothesis development and research framework .1 Transformational Leadership and Project Success .2 Transformational Leadership and Team Resilience .3 Team Resilience and Project Success .4 Transformational leadership and organizational innovativeness .5 Organizational innovativeness and project success.6 Research framework of the study.
29 6 CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHOD .2 Questionnaire design and pilot test .3 Sample and data collection .5 Data analysis with PLS-SEM using Smart PLS (version 4. 36 CHAPTER 4: DATA ANALYSIS AND RESEARCH FINDINGS. Data analysis and finding. 41 CHAPTER 5: DISCUSSION, CONCLUSION, IMPLICATION, AND LIMITATION 43 5.1 Conclusion and discussion .3 Limitations and future research.
Research motivation The success of a project is a widely discussed subject in the field of project management (Ika, 2009). Traditionally, the "iron triangle" of scope, cost, and time has been considered the key components for measuring project success (Rose, 2013). However, contemporary evaluations of project success encompass additional factors, such as product acceptance by customers and stakeholders, commercialization, and future project opportunities (Shenhar & Dvir, 2007) .(Baccarini, 1999) distinguished between project success and project management success, defining project success in terms of the outcomes (e., information systems or research and development products) and project management success in terms of the process and performance related to cost, time, and quality. Project success is crucial for companies as it directly impacts their competitiveness and overall performance.
Empirical studies have demonstrated that variables such as time, quality, and cost performance have a substantial impact on customer satisfaction, which subsequently influences the competitive capacity of a company (Prasetya & Soehari). Understanding critical success factors in projects, including those pertaining to project managers, organizations, and the external environment, is essential for achieving success and improving effectiveness (Arsić, 2018). These efficiency gains translate into improved customer satisfaction, as firms can deliver products or services more effectively and at lower costs, thereby enhancing competitiveness and market positioning (Brown, 2018). Proceeding on to the implications, this distinctive research paper investigates that the cost-saving project in VTNet is considered a success composed of factors.
The concept of project success is complex and influenced by a variety of variables classified as macro (owner-related) and micro (construction-related), as well as project, project manager and team, organization, and external environment (Rai & Ahuja, 2023). Furthermore, project success is inextricably linked to effective leadership (M. Fareed et al., 2022; Mubarak et al., 2023; Ponomaryov et al. Nevertheless, for investigations on a specific project, this study identifies several distinct factors that will drive the success of VTNet's cost-saving project.
These factors include effective leadership (Avolio et al., 2004; Rogo et al., 2020; Turner & Müller, 2005), which highlights the importance of transformational 8 leadership (Ali & Rasheed, 2020); the Complexity of projects (Ciric Lalic et al., 2022; Maqbool et al., 2017; Mariam et al., 2022; Maylor & Turner, 2017); Agile methodologies (Chuku, 2022; Smal & Jõgeva, 2017); Project teams (Olateru- Olagbegi et al., 2020; Radhakrishnan et al., 2022) in which highlight the Effective team builds (Shaukat et al., 2022); Technology (Olateru-Olagbegi et al., 2020; Yang et al., 2006) and Innovation Management (Haefner et al., 2021; Santos-Vijande et al., 2021; Shenhar et al. Plus, the study examines the impact of leadership transformation on team resilience (Imam & Zaheer, 2021) and organizational innovativeness (Zaman et al., 2020), which in turn affects project success. Through numerous accomplishments and hundreds of billions of VND saved, VTNet's 2019 Transportation Cost Optimisation Project has identified contributing factors and gained expertise for future initiatives, is the primary motivation behind this research. Project success in the context of Viettel Networks Viettel Network Corporation (VTNet), a subsidiary of the Military Industry and Telecoms Group, manages the entire process (from network strategy development, research on new technologies/services, sizing planning, design, infrastructure deployment, operation, resource management, quality management, service management, to network optimization) for telecommunications and information technology networks in the Vietnamese market.
This meets the business needs and technical management for Viettel's overseas investment markets through service contracts. Currently, VTNet manages and operates a super broadband network with 360,000 km of fiber optic cables reaching almost all districts and communes; 120,000 broadcasting stations, of which 45,000 are 4G stations covering 97% of the population; 5 internationally standardized data centers, leading the market in data storage and cloud computing. The Viettel telecommunications network serves as the national network for business production and social welfare, providing redundancy for the military communication network during peacetime and ready to transition to military duties during wartime. In recent years, the Vietnamese telecommunications market has been increasingly dynamic, especially with the continuous emergence of new global technologies, including many breakthrough technologies such as 4G, 5G, and AI.
Telecommunications companies are continuously investing in new technologies and 9 network infrastructure to diversify services, enhance customer experience, and provide various telecommunications services and information technology solutions for both individual customers and business organizations. Therefore, a large investment capital is required, averaging 10–15 trillion VND per year, while network operation and exploitation costs continue to increase, averaging 10% annually. The expanding network scale contains multiple cost management loopholes, directly impacting Viettel’s profits. As a result, business efficiency tends to be lower than the global average, with the mobile service profit margin only reaching 75% of the global benchmark.
VTNet's main operating costs continue to rise due to objective factors such as energy costs (including electricity, fuel, and battery expenses), station rental fees, outsourced labor costs for station operations, and Service Level Agreement (SLA) expenses. Therefore, it requires the Network Corporation to review the entire scope of operations and optimize costs, as every dollar saved is a dollar of profit. The cost optimization activities conducted annually by Viettel staff have achieved certain results but have not been groundbreaking. After research and consideration, Viettel has chosen Roland Berger of Germany, a leading global consulting firm providing strategic and management consulting services to businesses worldwide.
This partnership has resulted in numerous successful outcomes, helping companies develop breakthrough solutions to improve business performance and achieve sustainable development. The project is divided into 2 phases: Phase 1: Direct Implementation with Project Teams (12 weeks) Evaluate and analyze the current situation to identify optimization opportunities based on mapping actual data with the contractor's optimization solutions for network and information technology: 4 weeks Detail the optimization solutions, prioritize important issues that need addressing, and determine the necessary resources to implement the project: 5 weeks Sign off on action plans, including quantifying the optimized costs, assigning responsibilities to departments/units/individuals, and establishing key KPIs: 2 weeks Organize implementation: Train and develop PMO tools to ensure control and achievement of signed KPIs: 1 week 10 Phase 2: Viettel implements the approved solutions and evaluates the results (2020, 2021, 2022), specifically: optimize OS costs, plan generators and batteries according to grid quality, optimize energy costs, charge and discharge batteries based on hours, operate based on value, optimize station rental costs, share passive infrastructure, apply e-auction in procurement of materials, opti mize NOC; organization and implementation: tasks are allocated to relevant centers, units, and departments, each solution is assigned to a responsible individual, each group of solutions has specific objectives, action plans, and evaluation KPIs After implementing the 09 cost optimization solutions, VTNet has managed to save 685-760 billion VND per year. Using this method, Viettel has applied these cost optimization solutions to nine of its overseas investment markets. The cost optimization project of VTNet is considered a success, achieving its goals and plans, with an average annual cost saving of nearly 700 billion VND.
The service quality remains unchanged, meeting global standards, and the software tool systems have been completed to meet management and operational requirements. The service quality has been personalized for customers in different regions, with specific priorities for customer groups. In addition to the success of the project, as demonstrated by the figures reported above, Viettel has accumulated some knowledge, experience, and perspectives during the implementation process, including: analyzing issues from the root, personalizing instead of standardizing, continuously improving towards benchmarking regional and global standards 1. Research objective Research objectives: (1) Identity the factors influencing the success of cost-saving operational projects in the context of Viettel Networks.
(2) Measure the extend to which the identified factors impacting the success of cost- saving operational projects in the context of Viettel Networks. Research questions (1) What are factors factors influencing the success of cost-saving operational projects in the context of Viettel Networks?
