Foreign Investment, Love and Hates Collides

A large oil field project started by Exxon Mobil in Cepu, East Java, Indonesia, last week. This project was became a major controversy, when several government officials stated that completing the project was a priority in developing country’s economy and attracting foreign direct investment (FDI).

Another story, US-based mining companies in Indonesia such as Exxon Mobil, Freeport and Newmont have been the main target of critics, peaceful and bloody protest across the state.

Freeport holds more than 90% shares in the largest copper mining in the world located in Papua, I could understand. But Exxon with only 45% shares in the giant Cepu oil field and Newmont with the same 45% shares in Batu Hijau, Sumbawa gold and copper mining also feels the heat.

Ideally, foreign investment should create more benefits for the host country. However, the benefits will become a fact if the host country has well-defined investment policies, and of course applying the policies transparently and properly.

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Stimulate, Innovate, Create and Communicate

The safest thing you can do is be risky.

Conversely, the riskiest strategy is to play it safe. We live in a world of fashion. Fashion is about getting people to talk about what you've done. To spread the word. If you're boring, you're invisible.

Given that all that matters is your ability to spread the word, then the single worst way to grow your company is to do something safe, something tried and true, something that's sure to work. Because it won't work. It'll fail. It'll fail because it's not worth talking about. It'll fail because you did something beyond reproach, something not worth buzzing about.

Before every business and every organisation lie two simple paths. The first is the bureaucratic one, the one that can't possibly fail. That's the dangerous route. The other path, the path less taken, is the one filled with innovation and risk. But the risk isn't risky anymore.


-Seth Godin-
-Marketing Communication Assignment-Brand Portfolio Management- March 10, 2006-

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