Competition
Do you feel that people in Malaysia tend to fear competition?
I used to work with this gentleman in the US and he taught me a very useful idea of seeing competition. He used to say that "competition should focus you. You shouldn't be afraid of it. It's a fact of life. It's only what you choose to do that sets you apart."
We live in an open society (well sort of). And competition of any sort in business especially is a fact of life. I think people are always quite surprised that we make friends with other people who are in our industry.
And why not?
I have friends who come to me to buy cakes. And they also buy cakes from other bakers. And why not? I'm glad they do. There's some stuff we do very well and there's some stuff that other bakers do very well.
Besides, we've found that business comes from the most unlikely of sources. We've had business passed on to us from our so called "competitors." And sometimes we pass business on to them.
But most importantly of all is that we enjoy the passion that they bring to the industry. The love for what they do. That passion is infectious. It makes us want to be better people and better in what we do.
