About the Research

During my time as a research assistant for the project Digital Platform Capabilities for Sustainable Competitive Advantage: A Moderated Mediation Model of Knowledge Acquisition and Leadership in Emerging Market SMEs, I was immersed in the intersection of digital transformation and strategic business management. My first responsibility was to help build the theoretical framework and develop the research hypotheses. This involved synthesizing insights from over twenty academic papers on digital platforms and sustainable competitive advantage, transforming complex literature into a coherent foundation for the study.

As the project progressed, I moved from theory to practice by participating in the design of the survey questionnaire, and then coordinating the data collection from more than 300 SMEs across Vietnam. I engaged directly with business owners and managers, ensuring the accuracy and consistency of responses while learning about the real challenges SMEs face in leveraging digital capabilities. Back in the office, I handled data cleaning and processing in Excel, preparing the datasets for statistical analysis, and assisted in running basic analyses in SPSS under the guidance of senior researchers.

Beyond the technical tasks, I contributed actively to writing and editing the research report, particularly the literature review and the presentation of survey results. I learned to translate raw data into insights that highlight the relationship between digital platform adoption, knowledge acquisition, leadership, and sustainable competitive advantage. Through this work, I developed skills in research design, quantitative and qualitative data management, and professional reporting, all while gaining a nuanced understanding of how digital strategies drive real business value in emerging markets.