Astra moves back to the top of Review 200 rankings

JAKARTA (JP): After sliding to second place last year, Astra International reclaims its customary position at the top of the Review 200: Asia's Leading Companies listings for Indonesia, the Far Eastern Economic Review reports in its December 28 edition.

The survey, in association with AT&T and Concert (the global venture of AT&T and BT) and conducted by AC Nielsen International Research (Hong Kong), reflects this time around the perceived performances of 208 multinational companies in Asia and between 23 and 34 local companies in each of 11 countries.

Each was judged according to the REVIEW's readers' sense of product or service quality, long-term management vision, innovation in responding to customer needs, financial soundness, and whether others try to emulate it.

Industrial conglomerate Astra International has been helped by a sharp recovery in its core business -- cars. The size of Indonesia's total vehicle market more than tripled to 300,000 units in 2000. Astra makes the popular Kijang minivan in collaboration with Japan's Toyota.

Astra President Theodore Rachmat also attributes the company's improved performance to debt restructuring in 1999 and the sale in March of a 23 percent stake to Singapore's Cycle and Carriage.

But prospects for next year are still uncertain. Analysts do not expect the buoyancy in sales to last.

Rising a notch to second place is Indofood, the world's largest noodle maker by volume. The company is using its economy of scale from its dominance in Indonesia's noodle market to launch forays into the region.

Cigarette maker Sampoerna vaulted up three places to third. Two other tobacco companies, last year's top-ranking company Gudang Garam (fourth) and Djarum (eight) are keeping their position. All three benefit from relatively inelastic demand among Indonesia's roughly 100 million smokers, which allows the companies to protect margins by passing on higher costs to consumers.

Rounding off the top five is telephone company Indosat. The state-owned firm benefits from its virtual monopoly on both incoming and outgoing IDD calls. In addition, it has branched off into providing cellular phone services and has another quality that makes it something of a rarity in Indonesia's scarred corporate landscape -- it is debt-free. Indosat also owns a 30 percent stake in cellular service provider Telkomsel, which debuts this year in ninth place.

Another newcomer to the list is pharmaceutical company Tempo Scan Pacific. By sourcing its raw materials from low-cost countries, Tempo has been able to keep prices lower than its multinational rivals such as Hoechst and Bayer. Its top-selling drug, Bodrex, is used by millions of Indonesians to treat fevers, headaches, and the common cold.

Completing the list are two more newcomers, Sosro (seventh) and SCTV (tenth). Sosro is often called "the Coca-Cola of the bottled tea business." The unlisted company has an extensive marketing network that delivers its familiar Teh Botol bottles to virtually every part of Indonesia. But it is also saddled with a large amount of debt. SCTV's debut reflects the return to profitability of television channels. Many see it as particularly good at offering viewers quality news programming.

REVIEW 200's top 10 Indonesian companies this year are, in ranking order: Astra International, Indofood, Sampoerna, Gudang Garam, Indosat, Tempo, Sosro, Djarum, Telkomsel, and SCTV.(03)