ABOVE: Before photo showing Soi 38 when both sides of the street were active.
BELOW: After, this evening shows a crowded but active eating street.
Know the saying about keeping your firneds close and your enemies even closer? Would that apply to your business rivals too? And what would that look like?
In highly competitive industries — think research-heavy sectors like pharmaceuticals and technology — the imagination might stretch beyond non-compete employment contracts to industrial espionage. But what happens when you flip this 180 collaborative degrees? Coopetition may seem counterintuitive to the conventional competitive business mindset, but innovating on tradition is an opportunity too good to miss.
Examples of Coopetition are not that easy to find, but by unique circumstance, I tripped over this one on my doorstep.
Thailand finds itself in an enviable position, with a 1 per cent unemployment rate it enjoys full employment. This is largely due to a thriving informal sector and micro enterprises, such as motorcycle taxis, purveyors of flowers for your household spirit house, and street food vendors.
Soi 38 Sukhumvit Road is an especially notable node in Bangkok’s vibrant street food culture. Some food carts here are multi-generational and the street has been known as the city’s “Eating Street” for the last 40 years. (Yes, it’s in your guidebook.)
As much as street food is a ubiquitous feature of this city of almost 9 million people, so is rapid redevelopment. High-rise luxury condominium developments grow at time-lapse speed and no well-located property is immune.
So it was inevitable that half of Soi 38’s eating street is about to become a construction zone. From a traditional competitive trade mindset it would be tempting to think that having half your trading rivals removed in one fell swoop would be great for business.
After all, while there is a wide variety of stalls specializing in specific dishes, diners can choose between two mango sticky rice purveyors, two pad Thai stir fryers, three sources of fried chicken and rice, and no less than four places supplying roast pork.
Demonstrating a canny counterintuitive ability, the community realizes that this unnatural selection isn’t good for business. Diversity is part of the unique selling point of Soi 38. So thinking differently, and coopetitively, vendors on the unaffected side of the street have taken in their across-street rivals.
This week, diners had to learn a new street food geography, as mangos ringed roast ducks, and a garage was converted into additional off-street spaces.
Sometimes more is… more, and happily, variety remains the Thai spice of life.
No responses yet