Acer CEO says Indonesia must find its own competence

Acer CEO says Indonesia must find its own competence

By Zatni Arbi

JAKARTA (JP): Hong Kong has its Cyberport project. Malaysia
has its Multimedia Super Corridor program. Singapore has its plan
for an intelligent island. What about Indonesia?

"I think Indonesia should never try to compete," said Stan
Shih, chairman and CEO of Acer Computer. He was here last weekend
to officially announce the establishment of PT Acer Indonesia, a
wholly owned subsidiary of Acer Computer.

Along with a couple of other journalists, I was quite lucky to
be invited for an interview with him in his suite at the Shangri-
La hotel. As he is also on the advisory board of the Multimedia
Super Corridor, the first question I asked him was what advice he
would give us as a country that has been left so far behind in
the IT industry. And that was the beginning of his comments.

"I think Indonesia should identify its own opportunities,"
Shih said. "I believe that, for Indonesia, the need to improve
education is very fundamental. Although it may take 10, 15 or 20
years to see the real result, you should make a decision quickly
and then make the right move to build up the quality of your
education, especially in software competence. Just go ahead, and
you'll never go wrong.

"On the other hand, if with such a limited budget you still
decide to join the crowd, build a techno-park and try to attract
multinational companies as well as other foreign investors, you
may have a hard time because there is already so much competition
out there in the industry."

Shih's emphasis on education should not come as a surprise.
This 53-year-old man who reads very fast (he spends most of his
air travel time reading) has long had an obsession for education.
Back home in Taiwan, based on his idea, Acer established an
Aspire Academy, an executive education institution where
executives can learn the experience of Acer as it faces and
overcomes challenges in its 23 years of existence. At the
institution, senior as well as middle-level managers can learn
how to "enhance their leadership and organizational
effectiveness".

And his advice that Indonesia should not try to compete on the
same turf with its neighbors could not be more consistent with
his own principles, which he put in writing in a book he wrote a
couple of years ago: Me-too is not my style. In fact, the other
item on his agenda for Jakarta last weekend was to launch the
Indonesian version of the book, which is published by Gramedia in
cooperation with MarkPlus Publication.

I commented to Shih that the title Me-too is not my style hit
the nail right on the head. Here in Indonesia so many
entrepreneurs quickly copycat other people's successful business
endeavors in the hope of repeating the success or sharing the
pie.

Take, for instance, the speed at which kafe tenda (streetside
cafes) mushroomed all over Jakarta after the crisis started. And
look also at the number of online news sites that are trying to
replicate the tremendous success of Detik.com. Sometimes
replication can still work, but more often it does not because
the market cannot absorb too many of the same offerings.

As fresh, original ideas are very rare, a book like this one
will help challenge our minds and inspire us to work harder to
invent them rather than simply repeat what earlier entrepreneurs
did.

"The message of the book," Shih said, "is that you have to
find your own ways, because the time is different, the
environment is different, the condition is different and even the
people's styles are also different."

Shih sees a lot of opportunities in the Internet application
software and service industries. "In the future software and
Internet services will have to be local and culture-related," he
said. It follows that it will create a huge opportunity if we
have trained our next generation properly and equipped them with
the right set of skills and knowledge.

"Take educational appliances, for instance. These are
information appliances that run educational software. They'll
have to be developed locally. I think this will be a good
opportunity to develop some of the local IT industry," he
explained.

What about investing in Indonesia?

"I don't see any possibility for Acer to build another
hardware manufacturing plant in Indonesia now or in the future.
Hardware is already oversupplied, and Acer already has many
manufacturing facilities in Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and
China. But I'll be glad to explore the possibility of setting up
a software venture in this country. Software development and
education are the two areas for the future."

He foresees Acer's shift from a mostly hardware company today
into a company with two thirds of revenues coming from its
software arms in 20 years.

Twenty years? That long? Yes, because, as he admits, he always
takes a long-term view in his approach to business decisions.

"Think long term, but you have to set yourself an intermediate
milestones so that from time to time you can check whether you
are still on the right track," he explained.

Before I went to last Friday's interview, I had browsed the
Internet to find some background information about this longest
serving CEO in the computer industry today. Several articles
described him as a visionary who is subtle in his way of
expressing his views and opinion.

As they said about him on the Internet, when I met him
personally I found this man -- who last month became the first
Asian CEO to be inducted in the CRN Industry Hall of Fame -- to
be simple and modest, particularly if one considers the fact that
he was the founder of the third biggest PC manufacturer in the
world today.

Shih is looking forward to his retirement in five years, as
afterwards he thinks he'll have more time to "do things for
others". Given his commitment to education, that will certainly
include teaching at various business schools around the region.
As for the evening of Dec. 31, he plans to invite a couple of
friends and have a small party.