Indonesia is irresistible
Foreign investors want to be part of this huge, diverse, youthful and growing nation. Foreign investors bring innovation. These innovations may just disrupt a good many industries in Indonesia.
Indonesian companies can choose to ‘sell out’ or change
The key to controlling your own destiny is to understand yourself, to innovate and adapt to the changing circumstances.
Innovation is often automatically equated to technology. Buying and implementing technology is a quick fix, it is too easy. The real innovation is in changing the way you do things. To change the way you do things, the method, you need to have the right mindset, the right company culture.
As an example probably the two biggest innovations of capitalism were not technological, they were about the way of organizing. Firstly the “division of labour” as described by Adam Smith in the Wealth of Nations is a most fundamental innovation. This allowed us to increase productivity, standardization and throughput.
The second fundamental innovation is the creation of the joint stock company and the issuing of shares or stock. The first shares ever were issued for the Dutch East Indies (VOC) company. This innovation helped fund and launch the technologies that the Netherlands (a tiny country) needed to cross the globe all the way to Indonesia. But don’t be fooled by glamour of innovation or technology, because in reality what lies underneath this layer of chrome, is an exploring, stubborn and courageous mindset.
Indonesian companies also need to work on the mindset of employees in order to foster innovation. That’s what this article is about.
In my opinion there are 5 obstacles to innovation in Indonesian companies:
- The fear of failure
- A lack of critical thinking
- Conflict avoidance
- Superiors rarely say, ‘I don’t know’
- Hearsay
To counter these obstacles requires the willingness to change plus lots of daily practice. This essay provides some guidelines on how to shift the mindset to one that promotes innovation in your company.
Do you have any questions or suggestions for improvement? Email me: thierry.sanders@mekar.id.