The Vietnam's reform policy (Doimoi) adopted in 1986 is evaluated as a successful case of transforming the country from a centrally planned economy into a socialist-oriented market one. Throughout the reforming process, the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) has always been playing the critical role in creating significant developmental outcomes. There have been many ways used to analyze Vietnam's development model based on Doimoi's outcomes. They could be developmental state model, flying geese model and so on. However, seeing the Vietnamese state under a 'hard state' prism is the first time done through this study. This approach which provides deep analyses about nature of the Vietnamese state focuses on Vietnamese leadership, the socio-political system and an insight about various elements of not only economics but also the country's distinctive long course of history and culture. Findings suggest that the Vietnamese state is characterized as a 'hard state', but has also borne most basic features of a developmental state since Doimoi. This implies that 'hard' nature of the CPV's leadership is the key determinant of the successful Doimoi policy. Besides, geopolitical strategy of Vietnam has always played a critical role in the country's policy implementations and development process. Therefore, consideration of both nature of the Vietnamese state and its continuously changing geopolitical strategy may provide a more insightful approach to the Vietnam's development process.