5 Mengniu the follower
A case of intertwined identity
This chapter not only follows the previous one in the physical sense, its
theme also links up with that of the previous chapter. The case of Chapter
4 illustrated how Chinese companies in the same type of business, located
in the same geographical region, but linked to different administrative
levels were operated in such a way that they appeared as competitors in
some contexts, but in others seemed to be confining themselves to their
own ‘space’. Although both companies were part of the sense-making of
the other, this influence was extremely subtle and could only be revealed
by a certain research effort. Foreigners co-operating with one of the com-
panies had hardly noticed the relation between the two.
The case matter of this chapter may strike the reader as more of the
same: two companies operating in the same region, but in spite of their
fierce competition, one appears to be making up an essential part of the
identity construction of the other. However, the differences between the
two enterprises are considerably more complicated than was the case in
the previous chapter. Moreover, the incident in this chapter is the way
these two companies re-enacted their competition in another region in
China. To facilitate the comparison between this case and the previous
one, I have once more selected two dairy companies.
The company that constitutes the focus of this chapter is Mengniu (lit-
erally: Mongolian Cow) situated in Huhhot, the capital of the Inner Mon-
golia Autonomous Region. Inner Mongolia, the Chinese section of the
Mongolian territory, is one of China’s few regions where the production
and consumption of milk is part of an age-old local tradition. I will first
present a section on the region in general and its dairy industry in particu-
lar and then introduce the story of Mengniu’s founder and CEO.
The region – a bit Chinese and a bit Mongolian
Inner Mongolia, or officially: Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, is an
administrative region of northern Chi