Tracking the jungle of Indonesian business info<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Foreign businesses intending to enter the
\nIndonesian market or seek local partners for joint ventures have
\noften discovered how extremely difficult it is to get reliable
\ninformation on local companies.<\/p>\n
There are several main causes of the problems which are
\ninherent in developing countries like Indonesia: The absence of
\nfull-fledged credit information agencies and a company registry
\noffice as well as the small number of publicly-listed companies
\nthat have to fulfill disclosure requirements.<\/p>\n
Occasional media reports on alleged collusions between
\naccountants and companies to manipulate financial reports only
\nadd to the apprehension that the system of business information
\nin this country is still very much a jungle with numerous traps.<\/p>\n
Several business data centers do have operations here. The
\nbiggest and most popular are the CIC Consulting Group, which has
\nprofiled almost all of the major industrial, trading and
\nfinancial companies in the country, and Pusat Data Bisnis
\nIndonesia (Indonesian Business Data Center).<\/p>\n
But they have yet to gain the reputation that is acceptable to
\nbig international companies.<\/p>\n
Several domestic banks have set up the credit rating agency PT
\nPefindo. But Pefindo only rates the credit worthiness of the
\ncompanies which intend to float bonds.<\/p>\n
But the need for business information on Indonesian companies
\nhas grown as quickly as the country's international trade. More
\nand more foreign companies are interested in entering the
\ndomestic market or setting up joint ventures with local
\nbusinesses.<\/p>\n
\"That is precisely the market need we want to meet,\" says
\nRustam Kocher, the chief representative of Dun & Bradstreet
\nInformation Services (DBIS) which recently opened an office in
\nthe Wisma Dharmala building here.<\/p>\n
DBIS is a unit of the multinational Dun & Bradstreet
\nCorporation, a provider of business information, software and
\nservices of the United States which last year posted total
\noperating revenues of US$4.89 billion.<\/p>\n
Kocher says around 9,000 Indonesian companies have been
\nentered into the DBIS Worldbase data bank, which also has over 38
\nmillion individual company records and details.<\/p>\n
Individual company records stored in the data base cover basic
\nfacts such as net worth, sales, types of operations, balance
\nsheets, payment and banking history, subsidiaries\/affiliates,
\nbranch networks, loans, debentures, shareholders, names of
\ndirectors and the experience and background of key executives.<\/p>\n
Information<\/p>\n
Indonesian companies, he says, can also use the DBIS
\ninformation service to assess potential customers overseas.<\/p>\n
\"We collect our information through trained business analysts,
\nelectronic on-line sources, bulk data loads and publicly
\navailable records,\" Kocher adds.<\/p>\n
But all data are always subject to quality editing and
\nreviews, he says.<\/p>\n
According to him, data collection, processing and verification
\nfor the DBIS data bank can be done efficiently because the Dun &
\nBradstreet Corp. also has many other information-related
\ndivisions, including IMS International, Nielsen, Survey Research
\nGroup and Moody's Investors Service (rating agency), Dataquest,
\nPilot Software and the Gartner Group.<\/p>\n
Dun & Bradstreet, he says, has offices in 31 countries and
\ndata-gathering capabilities spanning nearly 200 nations.<\/p>\n
\"Many companies also voluntarily and regularly file their
\ncorporate data to us either in light of applying for a credit
\nrating or because they are fully aware of the benefits of being
\nincluded in our data bank,\" Kocher says.<\/p>\n
Moreover, he adds, many major global customers demand that
\ntheir suppliers carry a DUNS (Data Universal Number System)
\nnumber as a unique identifier for global linkages.<\/p>\n
A DUNS number is a nine-digit code assigned by Dun &
\nBradstreet to each business entity in its information base.<\/p>\n
Business information reports are delivered to customers either
\nover a fax machine or on-line through a computer.<\/p>\n
Kocher says customers usually use the DBIS information reports
\nto make intelligent risk management decisions regarding their
\ncustomers and suppliers.<\/p>\n
Such management decisions may relate to approval of orders,
\nsetting of credit lines, evaluations of accounts, verification of
\nvendors, identification of financial behavior patterns, assessing
\nloan applications and insurance risks.<\/p>\n
Wilson Nababan, Chairman of the CIC Consulting Group, however
\nis not worried by Dun & Bradtsreet's operations here.<\/p>\n
\"The business of information services is not mainly a matter
\nof technology but more of access to reliable sources of
\ninformation. That is where our advantage lies,\" Wilson says.<\/p>\n
Moreover, Wilson adds, in so far as the present system of
\ninformation in Indonesia is concerned, the information business
\ndepends mainly on the capability to interpret, analyze and
\nprocess data.<\/p>\n
Its latest annual report put the operating revenue of the Dun
\n& Bradstreet Corp. at US$4.89 billion with a net income of $629.5
\nmillion in 1994.<\/p>\n
Users of the DBIS information system are charged fees at
\ndifferent rates, depending on the volume and types of information
\nrequired. (vin)<\/p>",
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