Indonesia needs global managers for free trade

JAKARTA (JP): Indonesia needs more global managers to face international free trade, says the rector of IBII School of Economy.

Johannes Prajitno said Saturday that without the help of these competent managers no company could compete amid the free trade.

"A global manager is not only an expert of communication but also a highly skilled negotiator and good motivator," he said in a speech at the school's graduation ceremony.

The school, established in 1987, has qualified 164 undergraduates and 50 postgraduates.

He said global managers had a "a global mind-set" which made them flexible to face change and open to experimental alternatives.

He said local companies must hire global managers to survive fiercer competition in liberalized markets after the year 2000.

He said global managers differed from country to country.

"Japanese managers are not required to hold higher degrees but they are required to be objective and rational policy makers as well as smart strategy makers," he said.

South Korean managers should at least have undergraduate degrees and be willing to work about 60 hours a week, he said: "They are also expected to stay with the company for all their lives."

He said German managers had post graduate degrees in engineering, chemistry and law. They tended to work as "back- stage managers".

Japanese, South Korean and German companies were successful because of the competence and ability of their managers, Prajitno said.

But he said good managers could not guarantee the success of companies that did not improve their production facilities to international standards.

"Domestic enterprises can keep their manufacturing and marketing operations domestic, but they should start getting capital, raw material, technology and personnel from the global market," he said.

He said those most adoptive to global changes and challenges were global enterprises such as Coca Cola, Gillette, McDonald's, Sony and Unilever.

Such enterprises tend to take off their national flags, spread their divisions to any prospective country and utilize the best available international-standard managers to run their businesses, he said. (04)