At a time when so many foreign investors have been pouring into Mongolia, I have wondered what the Mongolian people must be thinking about it. Turns out, I have not been the only one who is interested in just how the Mongolian people perceive their western “benefactors”.
Recently I came across a posting on the “The Mongolist” blog (
www.themongolist.com
) entitled, “Avoiding the Foreign Investor Stereotype”. Written by Brian White and posted on the site on October 4, 2012, this article offers some pretty sharp insight from Mr. White and it is well illustrated to support the points White makes. While I recommend you read the full article on the blog, here are a few excerpts from it.
“In Mongolia there is a longstanding stereotype of the foreign merchant as swindler of the trusting herdsman rather than seller of a useful product, and this stereotype has developed overtime as a result of countless real world interactions on the steppe. People are intuitively cautious here when it comes to outsiders offering great deals. You can almost hear the collective sigh “we’ve heard this before” each time someone drops in the country to promote the newest and greatest get rich scheme. As such, anyone attempting to do business in Mongolia starts off with the wind in their faces in terms of positive messaging.
Over the last few years this stereotype has been drawn upon with increasing frequency whenever a politician has wanted to turn a policy discussion that effects foreign investment into a discussion of nationalism or populism. The effectiveness of this tactic has been mixed in my opinion, in part because most politicians have their own credibility problems, but the idea that foreign investors are modern day sellers of cheap trinkets here to cheat rather than help is something people are inclined to accept as fact without further evidence.
Avoiding the “foreign investor” stereotype in Mongolia represents a similar challenge for businessmen, and I personally would give the foreign business community in Mongolia a grade of C- in this area. Each time a populist piece of legislation is passed through parliament, whether good or bad for Mongolia, it is shockingly easy to find quotes in local media from foreign investors eager to talk about how the law affects their bottom line with little regard for how it affects Mongolia’s. The latter being infinitely more important to people that live here and vote than the former. Surely, if the business community and the public are partners, the business community should be able to find areas where both partners are negatively impacted by these laws, shouldn’t it? For example, increased costs of doing business due to increased regulation making it more difficult to create local jobs. Neglecting these areas of overlap in interests unfortunately reinforces the stereotype, whether true or not, that investors like merchants of the past are only here to make a quick buck.”
The article goes on to discuss how important the massive Oyu Tolgoi project is to Mongolia and then goes on to describe the many ways that unscrupulous people are attempting to cash in on the name “Oyu Tolgoi”, and it uses the images of 3 advertising posters that were designed to deceive the public. Check out the article and see for yourself. It’s pretty interesting stuff. The link for this article is,
http://www.themongolist.com/blog/business/20-avoiding-the-foreign-investor-stereotype.html
Hawkeye in China
– Lex Smith