Indonesia needs global managers for free trade
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)