PwC’s Global Family Business Survey 2025 is an international market survey of family businesses aiming to understand how family business leaders see their companies and the business environment. The survey was conducted online in collaboration with the John L. Ward Center for Family Enterprises at Northwestern University on behalf of its Kellogg School of Management.
The survey conducted 1,325 online interviews in 62 territories including 32 representatives from Vietnam between 1 April and 17 June 2025.
In today’s pivotal moment, the long-term resilience of family enterprises depends on a strategic imperative: integrating their strengths of purpose, patient capital, and reputation with a modern focus on agility and governance. By mastering this combination, they will not only safeguard their legacy but also expand their influence in the Vietnam economy and beyond.
Leading in a Fragmented World
As global disruptions-from generative AI to climate volatility-reshape the rules of business, new sources of value are rapidly emerging. Vietnam’s resilient economy creates a unique window of opportunity for family businesses to align with national priorities and lead the next phase of growth in a hyper-dynamic market.
To translate bold ambitions into sustainable growth, family businesses must move beyond their operational playbook. The path forward requires a fundamental shift: from leaning on past strengths to proactively building the capabilities for future resilience.
Exceptional performance
75% of Vietnamese family businesses reported sales growth last year (Global: 57%), with 41% achieving double-digit growth.
Surging Ambition
31% set ambition for ‘quick and aggressive’ growth - double last year’s level and nearly twice the global average.
Intensifying market dynamics
97% say changes are continuous in Vietnam (Global: 89%). Top global megatrends impacting them include Economic volatility, Technological innovation, Changing consumer expectations, Geopolitical risks, and Tax challenges.
Setting a clear aspiration for transformation
Looking ahead five years, leaders share a clear strategic vision with three priorities: long-term business resilience (91%), innovation (72%), and digital transformation (69%).
The Strategic Levers for Sustainable Growth
Strategic areas that top family businesses do differently
The real differentiator isn’t ambition-it’s execution. High-performing family businesses are proving that bold strategies, when executed with precision, drive lasting impact.
In this section, we’ll explore how you can harness these unique advantages-across purpose, structure, capital, and reputation-to lead with confidence.
- Scaling purpose
- Embracing structural agility
- Putting your long-term capital to work
- Protecting and activating reputation
Scaling purpose
Clear and codified purpose is behind a range of capabilities that power growth. Vietnamese family businesses possess a strong foundation of purpose.
- 84% have a clear company purpose
- 91% have codified family values and expectations for family members.
However, this purpose is a silent asset.
- 41% communicate purpose internally
- 22% communicate purpose externally or link it to customer orientation
Actionable ideas: Activate Purpose for Strategic Gain
Activate Externally
Embed your purpose in marketing and external communications. This transforms it from a private value into a public differentiator that strengthens your brand and builds trust with customers.
Connect Internally to Value
Link purpose directly to your customer value proposition and employee engagement programmes. This ensures it guides commercial decisions and helps to attract and retain top talent. This transforms purpose from a statement on a page into a living asset that drives performance.
Embracing structural agility
High-performing family businesses are leaning into centralised decision-making.
The Agility Paradox
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A Polarised Structure
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The Governance Gap
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A Lack of Diverse Voices
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Actionable ideas: Build Agility through intentional governance
Formalise the Framework
Establish a family constitution and a clear shareholders’ agreement. This provides a stable framework for decision-making, clarifies roles, and empowers leadership to execute strategy with confidence and speed.
Professionalise Leadership
To enable true agility, boards must be professionalised. Appoint at least two independent, non-family directors with diverse industry experience. They’ll inject fresh perspectives.
This will inject fresh perspectives, challenge conventional thinking, and provide the expertise needed to turn caution into calculated, strategic action.
Putting your long-term capital to work
In an era of macroeconomic uncertainty and geopolitical volatility, patient capital is proving to be a growth engine.
Move from capital preservation to strategic value creation
- 59% of family businesses prioritise immediate returns, while only 9% focus on long-term sustainability.
- 72% rely heavily on internal profits to fund innovation.
- Despite digital transformation being a top priority for 59%, only 6% are early adopters of new technology.
- 63% follow industry leaders by investing selectively in proven innovations.
The strategic disconnect
- 47% of family businesses are advanced in their use of family offices.
- 53% favor the professional Single Family Office (SFO) structure.
- Despite a preference for impact investing (38%), 50% of leaders remain neutral on ESG as a strategic priority—indicating a disconnect between tools and long-term value creation.
Actionable ideas
Leverage ‘Patient Capital’ as a competitive weapon
The prevailing short-term, conservative mindset is a strategic risk. The true advantage of patient capital lies not in avoiding risk, but in the unique ability to take on the long-term, strategic risks that competitors cannot.
Leverage Family Office as a strategic growth engine
Mandate the Family Office to drive long-term innovation and codify an investment philosophy that ensures multigenerational alignment and sustained competitive advantage.
Protecting and activating reputation
For family businesses, reputation is both a legacy to protect and a lever to activate growth.
Reputation is not prioritised as highly in Vietnam as it is globally (62% vs. 78% see it as ‘very important’). This directly corresponds with a more cautious view of their own trust advantage.
Actionable ideas
Focused Anxiety on Operational Risk
Their single greatest fear is ethical concerns within the supply chain, cited by 50% of responses—more than double the global figure. This highlights a tangible, operational anxiety.
Hesitation at the Sustainability Crossroads
The community holds two distinct views on the matter. While 41% see an opportunity to lead in sustainability, an equal number believe they should play a supporting role, revealing a reluctance to fully embrace ESG as a core brand driver.
Turn Supply Chain Risk into a Competitive Advantage
The intense focus on supply chain risk is a strategic opportunity. Invest in transparent local sourcing and elevate local talent. This turns a perceived risk into a demonstrable source of trust and a powerful competitive advantage
Actively Manage Reputation to Enable Growth
The historic trust advantage must now be earned. Move beyond ESG hesitation and systematically build reputation through a clear purpose and demonstrable actions. This transforms reputation from a defensive asset into an essential lever for attracting talent and driving growth.
The Path to Growth: Strategic Levers for Value Creation
Your family-centric purpose is a powerful asset
Vietnamese family businesses have strong long-term goals focused on family continuity, but success depends on bridging generational gaps.
From Informal Discussion to Intentional Design
Strengthening family-centric governance
Vietnamese family businesses experience a high frequency of family conflict, which signals a governance deficit. There is a significant lack of formal governance tools such as shareholders’ agreements and family constitutions, making leadership transitions more vulnerable.
The Next-Gen Leadership Challenge
This governance deficit directly hinders the preparation of the next generation. Key challenges include the need for specialised skills, perceived lack of interest from next-gen members, and fundamental differences in values and vision.
Actionable ideas
Download full report here
PwC’s 12th Family Business Survey 2025: Leading Vietnam’s Family Businesses into a New Era
Get in touch
Luong Thi Anh Tuyet
Partner, Markets Leader | Private Leader, PwC Vietnam
Tel: +84 28 3823 0796
Johnathan Ooi Siew Loke
Partner, Deals and Consulting Services Leader, PwC Vietnam
Tel: +84 28 3823 0796