What’s wrong about big business in Da Nang?

Almost nothing.

This is truly the case, with the exception of a small minority that have either gotten extremely complacent over time or actively engage in corrupt practices to artificially maintain a competitive advantage; very little is wrong about the presence of big businesses in Da Nang, or indeed anywhere in the world. Big business is a good thing and we should all be proud of it.

I wanted to keep this short but sweet, but as expected it developed into an elongated rant as this is one of the unplanned posts that came straight off the cuff, with no real defined structure. Or as some will inevitably call it, ‘a shitty piece of writing.’ As some people who disagree with my views were going to say that regardless; little attention shall be paid to such criticism.

That’s the disclaimer out of the way and done with. In truth, this topic has been on my mind for a while yet I could not bring myself to research the topic as conducting research would no doubt lead to something that reads more like an academic paper. Da Nang has a tendency to attract those from the West that have for some reason or another, decided to opt out of the Western world; I may count myself as one of those people, although my personal reasons for wishing to return to the West may conflict with those of the average Westerner moving here right now.

One thing is that confuses me about many of the millennials (and indeed some older, middle aged hipsters) moving to Da Nang is the sheer hatred of big business that one can often spot in the context of social media posts, especially chain stores. There is a common desire amongst them to support the little man, this is something that is actually rather admirable. However, this should in my opinion, not be as part of a progressive ideology where the weak and unsuccessful are idolised, while the strong and successful are considered to be their oppressors. Rather than this, I believe that we should love both the little man and in most cases, the big corporation alike.

The entrepreneurial spirit is something that should be congratulated and actively encouraged among all. Those that choose not to rely on a paycheque from a boss or a welfare cheque from the government rather than being a parasite or another cog in a machine should be admired; as they more often than not chose to create or provide value to others and also took huge risks in doing so.

On many an occasion I have witnessed foreign users on social media express a belief in supporting small local business, supporting the local economy etc. Chain fast-food restaurants, convenience stores or supermarkets are often feared, they may believe that although their arrival in a local neighbourhood may be representative of success; it will destroy their precious neighbourhood by forcing up the cost of rent, taking trade away from small competitors etc. This is quite hypocritical as in many cases, these hipsters have often already gentrified that particular neighbourhood, making it trendy and fashionable and eventually forcing local people out as they will either feel that they cannot afford to live there or worse yet; feel like they no longer belong there, no matter how wealthy they are.

This situation has been played out many times in several parts of the Western world and it seems that some are intent on doing the same elsewhere in the world. Although these people may commonly share rather progressive ideologies, many of those invading other locales do tend to possess an entrepreneurial spirit as a result of a burning desire to rebel against ‘the Man.’ One cannot be sure if that bogeyman is physically represented by Donald Trump these days, or even Theresa May who happens to actually be a woman, but lets not be bigots and start assuming her gender either.

When some of those expat entrepreneurs do become successful and therefore bigger (or at least medium sized); they face an identity crisis as they have transformed into the supposed monster that they once wanted to fight against. They may struggle to maintain their identity as a small upstart business by engaging in CSR campaigns and the like, but new competitors will arrive to continue the vicious cycle where they all eventually end up eating themselves when competing for expat entrepreneur cool status. Usually, the former upstarts will accept their position as an established player in the local market or do what they had always claimed that they would never do; sell out. They get bought out by a local investor and things continue from there; for better or worse.

When we see people feeling a sense of anger because a large multi-national has moved into their neighbourhood and can offer what local people may believe to be a superior product at lower prices; we should all stop and pause for a moment. In most cases, these businesses had to start from a position of disadvantage, they were also small once. They became big and successful by creating value for others. They inject money into local economies by paying taxes and creating jobs for local people. What’s more, they often force elitist, arrogant, hipster run incumbents to step up their game.

As for the little men entrepreneurs out there, I sincerely hope that they can become successful and become the corporate monsters that hipsters constantly cry about. Success comes about through good work and often cares little for emotional sentiment.
If you’re going to do all that CSR stuff, it had better to be a marketing exercise because if the focus deviates from creating value for your customers, your customers will know about it.

Let’s look at a common example. While your average ‘gourmet’ burger combo meal may cost around 150k VND, I’ll usually be happy to settle for the 63k VND combo that a certain large multi-national fast-food giant can offer, because after I’ve just had 7 beers, I am going to care very little for your ‘locally sourced’ fancy ingredients or lack of plastic straws. I just want something to fulfil my basic needs to a reasonable standard, at the best possible price. I don’t care about your photos of community work with rural people, because as long as that bigger corporate place can employ more people that the average small expat run business, it is doing more to help local people than a few do-gooder virtue signallers ever will.

To end this rant, I shall say one more thing. Don’t let my comments deter the entrepreneurial amongst you. If you can be genuinely innovative or even just do something that already been done, better; then it is your purpose in life to keep things fresh and bite at the heels of the big boys, to ensure that things keep progressing, moving forward and not going stale. What you do can make a difference, create value, put a smile of people’s face and best of all, possibly make yourself some good money. That is nothing to be ashamed of, no matter what those hipster losers out there would like you to believe.