My Diary in Myanmar: A Grounded Theory Researcher's Journey through the Dark

By

Ma Yamona

Research Associate
Institute for Research into International Competitiveness
Curtin Business School, Curtin University of Technology
GPO Box U1987, Perth, Western Australia
E-mail: yamonam@hotmail.com
Telephone +618 9266 3041
Facsimile +618 9266 2872

Paper to be presented at

Association for Qualitative Research Conference
Issues of Rigour in Qualitative Research
6-10 July 1999
The Duxton Hotel Melbourne, Australia

My Diary In Myanmar: A Grounded Theory Researcher's Journey Through the Dark

Abstract

Data collection is often one of the most challenging parts of conducting a qualitative study. The difficulties and the challenges are paramount in this particular study which concerns an analysis of business strategy in Myanmar. This paper reports a "How I did it" account of a doctoral student's fieldwork data collection in the country, where many researchers understandably have doubts about the feasibility of collecting data. The situation in Myanmar is such that many of the potential interviewees (foreign business people) do not generally wish to broadcast their presence in the country because of the risk of suffering a consumer boycott in other markets. The US government imposed a trade sanction on Myanmar in mid-1997 due to the country's alleged human right abuses. Some of my "interesting" fieldwork experiences are recounted in the paper. How I managed to procure interviews is an area of curiosity to many researchers. An account of this is followed by how I struggled to gain trust and reassure the participants that my intentions were genuine, so that the participants would "open up". Next, the story turns to how I dealt with various ethical issues. In terms of the practicality of locating suitable participants, I also discuss how the notion of theoretical sampling is adapted and expanded to suit the peculiarities of the setting. I made use of a variety of sampling strategies to aid my inquiry such as Maximum variation, Confirming and Disconfirming Cases, Snowball or Chain, Politically important cases, and Opportunistic sampling (Kuzel, 1992: Patton, 1990).

Background

Slanted Media Reporting on Myanmar Economic Scene

Following the opening of its doors to the outside world, Myanmar (formerly Burma) has often featured in the western media. This media coverage, has, however, been dominated by the country’s political problems: a tug of war between the socialist regime governing the country and opposition leader, Nobel Prize Winner, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. Media coverage with respect to foreign investment in the country has typically been negative, condemning foreign companies which conduct business in Myanmar. At the time the work described in this paper was undertaken, the most well known event was the withdrawal of Pepsi Cola from Myanmar. Since that time, other international consumer brands have withdrawn from the country.

Local Opinion on the Economic Situation

Stories that I heard from people in Myanmar ranged from new-found employment prospects with foreign companies, to the greater availability of consumer goods. People were also excited by the marketing and promotional activities that were being undertaken. Some of Myanmar population were able to prosper in the new environment. Entertainers were in demand to appear in the marketing activities. Other to profit included those that were able to rent out their houses to foreign companies.

As working for foreign companies offered advantages, such as being better paid and perceived as more prestigious, government employees were leaving their jobs to be employed by a foreign company. In many cases, a long serving government employee would be employed as the second highest person in the company's local operation, below the expatriate boss.

My Curiosity

As a person who knows both sides of the story, I was curious to find out the experiences of companies doing business in Myanmar, and the experiences of the Myanmar consumer. Of particular interest were perceptions of, and attitudes toward, the political-economic situation, for example, the US trade sanction against Myanmar.

Preparing for the trip

Preparations for travelling to Myanmar required a consideration of a number of aspects that might not pose problems in other countries. These included such things as determining the visa class that I would travel to Myanmar with. Other factors to consider were related to my safety, and the need to ensure that I would not be seen by the authorities as promoting any anti-government positions.

Arrival

Travellers have to be prepared for their luggage to be searched at the airport. The search is for items such as weapons, anti-government publications and so on. It is necessary to declare any item that is for re-export, this includes jewellery, computers, electronic devices and so on.

A close check was made of visitors' occupations. As a result of finding pages of a marketing textbook in my luggage, I had to explain to customs that I was there to investigate billboard and television advertising in Myanmar.

The airport itself featured a highly visible range of international brand advertising. Advertising for Phillips was on the Baggage Trolleys, while Tiger Beer and 555 cigarettes were advertised heavily around the airport. Outside the building I saw billboard after billboard advertising goods from 555 cigarettes to Mandalay Beer to Mitsubishi.

The effect of Myanmar's new open-door policy was evident all around. The landscape had changed markedly since my last visit, with a number of new high rise buildings erected. Five star hotels had been developed on areas that had previously been slums. Even a cemetery had been moved to make way for a hotel development.

Approaching Participants

Participants for the study were identified through a number of means. They were approached through my existing family, social and professional networks in Myanmar, together with some cold calling.

In order to contact the highest-ranking person in the local operation, I was able to take advantage of some local peculiarities. In most cases, the initial telephone contact was made by speaking English. This would normally result in the receptionist putting me straight through. This was because speaking English made the call sound important, and in many cases the receptionist did not know enough English to be able to filter the call.

This was in stark contrast to previous experiences, where a request for an interview would require a formal letter of request, follow-up phone calls and so on.

Where attempts were made to determine the purpose of my call, I was asked which company I represented. PhD students doing studies in Myanmar are rare, and I found it necessary to be vague about the purpose of my interview. I also needed to be sure to make it be free of any political overtones.

In some cases, I was also introduced to the marketing or sales manager, and when these cases I interviewed both. On occasion, a managing director (MD) would talk briefly, then hand over to the marketing manager, commenting that the marketing manager was more knowledgable in the area I was researching.

There were instances where the MD was reluctant to be interviewed in a one on one situation, and invited other managers to sit in on the interview. Given the politically sensitive nature of the operations of Multinationals in Myanmar, this behaviour appeared to result from a fear of being misquoted with the potential for problems later on.

Local Managers

In addition to expatriates, I also saw a number of local managers, where a local agent handled the foreign brand. Approaching local managers required a different method than for approaching expatriates. Typically, local managers were less familiar with the concept of research and were somewhat coy about granting an interview. However, once their trust was obtained, they tended to be more revealing than their foreign counterparts.

Middle local managers, however, were much harder to deal with. Unlike the higher level locals, many middle managers have never been out of the country. There was some difficulty in getting them to understand the purpose of what I was doing, and they tended to be more nervous about granting interviews. Indeed, I was asked, on one occasion, to provide a set of questions one week before the interview.

In cases where I interviewed an expatriate and a local at the same time, the expatriate would chat away, with the locals merely nodding. Afterwards, I would try to interview the local in a one-on-one situation. This would normally result in eliciting some insightful comments from them.

Sampling

For my first field trip in June-July 1997, I was unable to pre-arrange any interviews. This was because, at the time, I had no real clear idea of who I wanted to see. Broadly speaking, I wanted to discover the business activities of multinational companies in Myanmar.

It was found that the referral method was the most effective strategy for obtaining interviews. Many interviews were obtained through introductions or leads obtained from previous participants. Sometimes a referral was offered unprompted, but, more often than not, it was necessary to request information about potential interviewees. Usually, I was permitted to use the referrer's name.

The first groups targeted were advertising and research companies. These were approached by cold calling, and were the easiest group to get interviews with. This appeared to be due to their interest in employing me as a researcher, as there is difficulty in Myanmar in finding researchers that have been educated abroad. Such people are in high demand within Myanmar.

An issue that became evident during the initial interviews, is the small, close-knitted nature of the expatriate community. They all seemed to know about one another and it was necessary to become cautious about leaking information gleaned from previous interviews.

The initial interviews were conducted with an open frame, so that as many issues as possible were allowed to emerge. In this way, I was able to get a feel for what there was to know without restricting myself to investigating a few areas in great detail.

Getting Around

An issue that came to the fore in conducting research in Myanmar, is the ability to travel around cheaply. Initially, I hired a car and driver, for about US$15 a day. However, the driver became concerned that I may have been involved in the pro-democracy movement.

While US$15 a day for a car and driver may sound cheap, a different story emerges with respect to obtaining a mobile phone. Due to tight controls over the supply of mobile phones, the price is said to be up to US$7000 per mobile phone.

While the number of cars is nowhere near the level to be found in Bangkok or Jakarta, the number of cars in Myanmar has increased dramatically compared to the late 80’s. This has resulted in a great deal of congestion, making getting around difficult at times.

Locating offices could also be quite difficult. There is no road directory as such, and in any case, addresses are often incomplete. Street signage is also sparse. Detailed directions to find offices, including any nearby landmarks, were often required. These difficulties are compounded by the fact that many international companies find obscure locations in order to avoid the prying eyes of tourists and foreign journalists.

Gift Giving Culture

One feature of the culture of Myanmar is that of gift giving. It is usually necessary when operating in Myanmar to give gifts to the person that you wish to deal with. Foreigners typically did not expect such gifts.

In the case of locals, however, the culture of gift giving is alive and well. With greater economic prosperity, expectations regarding gifts have increased. Prior to opening the doors, a gift of a bottle of Nescafe or a tin of biscuits brought in from Thailand was sufficient. In recent times, more up market luxury goods are required. Regardless of the value, there was an expectation that the gifts were purchased outside of Myanmar. Hence, contrary to Australian practice, the price tag is generally left on the item, to highlight the fact that it was obtained outside Myanmar.

Special Situations

There are a few other aspects unique to dealing with research in Myanmar. The first is in regard to power cuts, as there is insufficient generation capacity to supply all of Yangon with power. While the problem is not as bad as in previous years, in some cases, recording of interviews was not possible, due to generators being too loud to record over.

There is also a great deal more smoking in Myanmar. During interviews, many of the participants smoked continuously. In most cases, they were smoking the 555 brand. This brand has enjoyed a great deal of success in Myanmar, and was at the time, the brand to be seen smoking. Neither the locals, nor the expatriates, enquired as to whether I minded them smoking.

During Interviews

Warm up Chit Chats

The initial stages of the interview consisted of general chat, in many cases about my own background. Participants were keen to know about my personal background, with regard to when I left Myanmar and my relationship with the Myanmar people. As they were not informed of the exact nature of my work while I was seeking interviews, there were also some enquiries about my project.

In a number of cases, I was asked about the potential for me to return to Myanmar. Typically, they gave me a number of reasons why I should return to Myanmar, as people with foreign experiences are rare. There were a number of suggestions that when the country really gets going, that I would easily find employment in Myanmar.

Discussion also turned to my life as an Asian in Australia. At the time, Pauline Hanson and the One Nation Party were continuously in the news, and there was some concern that life would be hard for an Asian living in Australia. The issue of perceived racism was of particular concern.

Gossip Mills

A number of participants enquired about other participants, who they were and what they had contributed to my work. This issue has two sides. On the positive side was the fact that having big names on my list could be useful in landing other interviews. On the downside, however, was the need to ensure that any confidential information was not inadvertently revealed. Due to the close knit nature of the expatriate community, I could easily lose my credibility.

Confusing Information

There are a number of aspects to dealing with Myanmar that can easily cause confusion. Some areas that are prone to possible misinterpretation are:

• Exchange Rate of the time: The local currency, the Kyat, is a highly unstable currency, and the economy suffers from a high level of inflation. Goods are typically priced in the local currency, which makes it hard to maintain a feel for relative prices. It is typically better to determine the exchange rate used at the time, and convert the quoted price to US Dollars, which is used as a de facto currency within Myanmar. When comparing data from year to year, it is generally better to convert to US dollars, using the exchange rate of the time, in order to make sense of many of the published statistics.
• Border Trade Issues: There are a number of ways goods can be brought into Myanmar, some legal and some illegal. This can be a complex and confusing issue, as there is some vagueness in determining what is official and what is not. The only official way is to import goods via the Yangon container port. There are, however, a number of semi-official import channels into Myanmar. These include methods of bringing goods across the border that are subject to some form of quota and taxes. In practise, a certain amount of goods go through the official channels, with the remainder going through undeclared.
• Hondee System: The so-called ‘Hondee’ system refers to a system of foreign exchange, which enables the import/export market to function. Strictly, only exporters are permitted to import, as they are the only companies that can have foreign currency to purchase imports. As this is not always the case, methods for paying for imports are required by non-exporters. This is a sensitive issue among some of the companies, and generally involves a variety of currency exchanges between companies.
• Distributorship: This is an area where many informants were less than revealing. Nevertheless, the types of relationships with the foreign companies in Myanmar include: 1: Sole Distributor (very rare), 2: an exclusive distributor (still rare) 3: an appointed distributor (usually there are more than one distributor per brand), 4: independent distributor (ie. Those who do not necessarily deal directly or even indirectly with the brand-owners). The nature of distribution in Myanmar is such that it can be difficult to determine who the channel participants are and their respective roles.
• Inconsistent Information: Stories reported outside Myanmar do not always square with what is actually happening within the country. For example, when a company declares that it is leaving Myanmar, typically in response to human rights groups, it is rare for the company to actually sever all ties with the country. In practice, they tend to leave something behind. Sometimes, it may only be the ‘name’ that leaves. The existing business continues with the clients, the technology and the expertise.

Interviewee reaction

Confidential issues

The only drawback in eliciting confidential issues such as profit repatriation, bribery, smuggling was that the participant became tense or frustrated and he started to smoke.

Dealing with politics

There are two major political concerns experienced by the participants in the study. One is the external politics, chiefly the US government's trade sanction against Myanmar and its impact on the foreign investors in Myanmar. The other concern was internal politics. Contrary to what was believed outside the country about the US sanction being the biggest problem to the foreign investors in Myanmar, it was revealed when talking to the investors themselves that the biggest concern or impediment was, in fact, internal politics and policies including ever-changing rules and regulations. To put it differently, while the sanction was putting off would-be investors, to those who were already in Myanmar the most severe impediment came from internal politics and policies. As far as the US sanction goes, many distributors played it down by saying, "the sanction is no problem because we do not deal directly with the brand owners (from the US or Europe), we deal with their Thai or Singapore offices".

Irish of Asia

A few participants noted some interesting characteristics of the Myanmar workforce and Myanmar consumers. The problem was not so much when they were talking about them in a positive sense, but when they started complaining. When commenting on their Myanmar employees, I could not help feeling slightly uncomfortable but I had to try not to show it. When the participants mentioned that Myanmar consumers were so hungry for foreign goods that anything advertised on TV was a hit, and how Myanmar consumers were so backward, unsophisticated and of strange taste that they had to use primitive advertising techniques in Myanmar. Indeed, some of these claims were true while some were simply misunderstandings. A few participants made a number of negative remarks about local employees: such as how the Myanmar men were macho and arrogant, how staff just sat around and waited for an order from the boss, while some even said that they were "stupid".

Building rapport

I used the following techniques to develop and sustain a rapport during a conversation and to gain the trust of participants so that they would 'open up' more:

1. Flattery: I started the conversation by saying how I was here to learn from, and listen to, those who knew best. For example, when interviewing one distributor, I said to him that I regarded him as an expert due to his superb understanding of doing business in Myanmar. Therefore, I requested him to comment on particular issues such as government policies, profit expatriation and importing and exporting into Myanmar. He was delighted and was more than happy to converse with me. His contributions were indeed invaluable.
2. Body language: this aspect is doubly important in the context of my study because some of the issues being talked about are sensitive, controversial and confidential. For example, even when the participant was talking down in regard to my own fellow Burmese, I still had to look neutral and allow them to express their opinion. Another example was when some people were defensive about their seemingly unethical behaviour, I had to maintain their sympathy. While many foreign expatriates condemn Sui Kyi's opposition party, I also came across a couple who condemned the current regime. My only concern, in this case, was the possibility of the government gaining access to the tapes. On one occasion, it was myself, not the participant, who offered to switch off the recording when the expatriate was talking about how the "3-ps system" works in the country - Patience, Persistence and Pay. In doing this I was demonstrating my sincerity and honest interest in protecting my informants.
3. Take advice: Quite often the foreign participants gave me advice as to how I should come back to Yangon and help my fellow countrymen rebuild the country. I listened and agreed with them. However, local participants advised against returning to Myanmar to work. They all wanted to swap positions with me.

Recording interviews

When talking to other researchers about my thesis the first question I was asked was how I managed to get interviews, let alone how I managed to tape the interviews. I encouraged my interview participants by giving an assurance that the recording can be switched off when negative things are said. I showed them a switch on the lapel microphone which can be switched on and off at their will. Most of the time this approach seemed to work so long as I made sure the microphone was switched back on when it was okay to record again.

When the taping was off because negative or confidential things were being said, I found that I could not immediately switch to note-taking because I did not want to alarm the interviewee. Instead, especially in the beginning, I had to rely on my memory and if possible, I jotted down a few things while keeping eye contact with the interviewee. Moreover, in some cases, the interviewees left sensitive issues including the importation of goods and troubles caused by the government until the recording was finished. In cases such as this, I again had to rely on my memory. Things such as these tended to come up more during informal conversations rather than during formal interviews. Therefore, if time permits and opportunity grants, taking the interviewees out to lunch was a good idea.

Less than a third of my interviews were note-taken because of reasons such as: 1. The interviewee simply did not allow me to tape, 2. When the interview setting is too informal to tape (eg. walking around the shop floor, in a busy store or market or a retail shop), 3. Senior Government interviews and so on. One good thing about note-taking is that it makes the participant feel important, which is positive as this makes the participant perform.

Obtaining additional information

In addition to warm-up and farewell conversations, there are other strategies to obtain more information.

• While waiting: there are two venues for waiting. One is the common waiting room, normally located adjacent to the reception or to the secretary. While waiting to be "served", I took note of the things on display because quite often the company displays their product range in the lounge. I noted down the brand names. Another venue to do this is the meeting/board room itself, which is an alternate place to display products. This information was useful, especially when the interviewee decided to speak elsewhere. I used this information as prompt points when he/she did not talk about them. Quite often, some product/brand lines which are still on display either have gone to some other distributors, are out of stock, or have been put on hold for a political reason. Therefore, it allowed us a chance to discuss these product lines.

• Personal observation: an example of the usefulness of personal observations was one occasion when a bank representative was yelling on the phone because his e-mail was not working properly. He complained that that is the only way he is informed of the company's activities back home. He was clearly frustrated! On another occasion, a retailer was talking the secretary into letting him see the distributor. The retailer was begging because the distributor did not sell him enough stocks. This was a case where retailers have to beg the supplier to sell them some stocks (eg. many cigarette retailers). When I was waiting to see the senior manager of an Electronics Service Centre, there was a middle-aged Burmese woman customer complaining of a faulty television set purchased recently from the Centre. The manager, who was also local, was patiently listening to her and was treating her well. It was pleasing for me, as an ex-Burmese, to witness an invasion of customer service into our newly opened country. The time has come! When I was called in to see the manager afterwards, he started off the conversation telling me what had just happened and how he aimed to maximise the customer satisfaction.

• Another strategy was that while waiting I sometimes had a chance to chat with the ladies minding the reception. In my case, they were very keen to chat with me because I was from overseas and they were keen to hear about my life in Australia.

Reasons for giving interviews

The following describes some of the reasons participants granted me an interview. The reasons, which are in a random order, are as follows:

• Frustrated: there are many expatriates in Yangon who are frustrated with everything that is happening in their jobs. Many in consumer fast food businesses, for example, have been let down by the government's frequent policy changes regarding the types and quota allowed to import. In addition, they are constantly worrying about the ever-increasing exchange rates.

• Had nothing to do: due to the government ban on importation of luxury goods into the country, many companies had no stock to sell. For example, one company said they only had enough stock for another month or so and had nothing to sell after that. Another example of this is the bank representatives because they are there seemingly doing nothing. Quite often interviewees asked what the bank representatives said they were doing. Many know that they are sitting around and feeling bored.

• Ambassador to the outside world: many wanted me to hear their views on what it is like to do business in Myanmar since so many negative aspects have been reported by foreign media. Many hoped to demystify this biased reporting. For example, many hoteliers wanted to encourage people outside Myanmar to come to the country and judge for themselves. Many foreigners who are working in the country exhibit genuine interest in Myanmar and its people so they are keen to tell their side of the story. In this regard, they saw me as a sympathetic ear and also, possibly, as someone who could relay the message.

• Want to help out a student: this is because they all felt that this is not an off-the-shelf kind of thesis. They probably felt like rewarding me for the courage to take on such a difficult task. In addition, because this was for the doctoral work, they do not mind contributing. Had the situation been for different purposes other than academic work, I suspect that I would not have got such a degree of co-operation.

• Life in Australia: many are curious about life in Australia. This is particularly true with the Asian participants. Specifically, they asked me about Pauline Hanson and if she was likely to rule Australia and also if I have experienced any racism in Australia. Many have close ties with Australia in a sense that they either own houses there (Perth seems to be a popular place for that), they come to Australia for their golfing holidays, some send their children to Australia to study, their wives visit Perth to do shopping. I even met a couple of expatriates who wanted to migrate to Australia.

• An initial non-threatening approach: when I rang up and was asked about my topic, I said it was about marketing strategies. This triggered interest from many people.

My relationship with the participants

I have a slightly different relationship with the local participants. It is more like a personal relationship/comradeship/kinship, rather than a professional relationship. They have a different perspective and experience as to what it is really like to, for example, deal with the authorities, because they themselves are the ones who deal with the government offices. On the contrary, the expatriates are not normally involved in day-to-day communications with the government authorities. Quite often even for things such as entry visas back to Myanmar the expatriates had to ask the local managers to chase it up. In this light, it is quite understandable that the local managers suffer enormous stress while the expatriates sit back and love the smell of rain and flowers.

But this case does not hold true at all times. Sometimes it is the expatriate who cannot handle the volatile working environment and have gone crazy whereas the Myanmar people are more seasoned to cope with local working life.

One of the things I noticed about my foreign participants is that many are either very young for their positions such as General Managers or Managing Director or are those who are approaching the end of their careers.

When going to interviews, what to wear is a decision I had to make on an individual basis. Two choices are to dress in the local style (in Sarong) or in the western style (in skirt, dress etc.). Myanmar is unique in a sense that every female, regardless of their social status, wear Sarongs. Therefore, any woman not wearing a Sarong is instantly regarded as a foreigner. In this regard, I had a choice of whether I wanted to look foreign or local. This was guided by whom I was seeing. As a general rule, I would wear Burmese to interview Burmese, in part, as a sign of respect, while I would wear Western clothing to interview non-Burmese. This is, in fact, a strategic reason because first and foremost what I was undertaking is not a norm for locals. The consequences of this was that if I was wearing Burmese and asking for an appointment with an foreign MD (whom the office regarded too high for any local to see), it is unlikely that I would have been accepted quickly or without many questions. Therefore, when approaching offices, I often spoke English to the secretary so that I would get good treatment. I did not use this approach all the time, though, because sometimes to be a local is an advantage.

Follow up

I found that I needed to follow up on some issues after I returned to Australia. While this is not recommended for a grounded theorist, in my case, I was unable to transcribe all the tapes before I left the field. Therefore, in my case, the need to follow up was greater. With follow-up, the restraint lies in the obvious limitation of resources but my strength is that I have family and friends to communicate with me in a very cost-effective way. The only thing I had to be careful of is not to touch sensitive political issues. That would be too dangerous for everyone especially those who are within the country. From Australia, the only way to follow up is by phone, which would be far too expensive. Fax is a less expensive option, but in reality who would bother to sit and write to me, except those very close to me. I managed to tie up with a couple of my interviewees in order to gather additional information. The methods I used were:

• Hook up with those who are on e-mail, only businesses (foreign companies, mainly) have e-mail access in Myanmar. I would have to be lucky if only a few reply to my e-mail. Among the participants, the market research and advertising agencies are the most likely.
• In rare cases, one might be lucky enough to have some participants living back in the same country.
• Frequent short trips are ideal if one can fund it and the local situation is favourable.

• Communication with local key informants is likely to yield a better response rate than the foreign ones.

• My main source of follow up is my family and friends.

By mail is the best method from a cost point of view. For most participants, it will be very rare that they will have e-mail access. With only one of my participants, was I able to communicate by e-mail. After establishing such communications with various individual and groups, what is important to remember now is to bring lots of gifts and throw lavish lunches when I next return home.