Nyonya Meneer: A not so happy family firm

Nyonya Meneer: A not so happy family firm

Lie Hua, Contributor, Jakarta

Perjalanan Panjang Usaha Nyonya Meneer;
(Long Journey of Nyonya Meneer Business);
By Asih Sumardono, et al;
Grasindo, Jakarta, 2002;
xxi + 255 pp

The movement back to nature in medicine means making more
intensive use of medicinal herbs, a great number of which are
found in this country.

The use of medicinal herbs here is found in jamu (Indonesian
traditional medicine), which many people still turn to when they
fall sick. Of the great many brands of jamu, Nyonya Meneer is at
the forefront of the public's mind. The company's packets are
unique in that they bear the picture of Nyonya Meneer, who
founded the business in 1919.

Nyonya Meneer was born Lauw Ping Nio in Sidoarjo, East Java,
in 1895, the third of five children. When her mother was pregnant
with her, she had a craving for menir, finely ground grains of
rice taken from the leftovers from rice pounding. So when Ping
Nio was born, her mother nicknamed her Menir, later written as
Meneer in the Dutch writing style.

Ping Nio was married at age 17 and lived with her husband, Ong
Bian Wan, a merchant, in Semarang. One day, he experienced
stomach problems and doctors could not cure this illness.
Luckily, Ping Nio remembered what her mother used to tell her
about how to treat illnesses in the traditional way, by using
certain medicinal herbs. She made the medicine herself and to her
surprise her husband was cured of his belly trouble.

It later occurred to Ping Nio to make herbal medicine to help
people living around her. By then Ping Nio had three children,
Nonnie, Hans and Lucy. When she was still pregnant with her
fourth child, Marie, her husband died.

Ping Nio started to concentrate on producing her herbal
medicine on a wider scales from the home-made production of her
jamu. Each packet of her herbal concoction bore her picture as a
symbol that she herself came to the customers with the product.
(Later Ping Nio married again and had another child, Hans
Pangemanan).

The book gives a vivid description how, after the death of
Ping Nio in 1978, a power struggle occurred in this family
business for the top position. Three major internal conflicts
occurred among Ping Nio's children and grandchildren.

The business, already legalized as a statutory body, was first
rocked with an internal rife in 1981, which was settled in 1986.
A second blow came to the company when there was again a major
conflict between the shareholders in 1990; after a long-winded
process a way out was found in 1994. Unfortunately, another big
dispute jolted the company in 1995 and the conflict was not
settled until 2000.

The book describes how some family members preferred to stick
to the old ways of doing business, while others, from their
higher studies in the West, were impatient to apply their
knowledge to ensure that the company would not be left behind in
the competitive business.

Prominence is lent throughout the book to Charles Saerang, the
son of the late Hans, Ping Nio's son from her first marriage.
Hans laid the foundation for modern management in the company and
sent his son to the United States to study business. When Charles
came back and took part in controlling the company, he faced
opposition from his uncle, aunts and cousins because he wanted to
modernize the way the company was run.

The book shows how Charles went through the three major
conflicts, sometimes resorting to the mediation from a cousin but
at other times through the intervention of high-ranking
government officials, to emerge as the party fully in control of
the company today.

It is interesting to note how forward-looking Charles, with
his business acumen and foreign training, has taken the helm of
the company and turned it into a well-developed firm producing
herbal medicines that are used even in modern hospitals. Through
his visionary outlook, he established cooperation with medical
and pharmaceutical authorities to ensure that Nyonya Meneer
products are safe to consume.

He has also forged cooperation with medicinal herb growers to
ensure that the supplies of the herbs meet the high standards set
by the company.

While the book gives a lengthy description of the internal
conflicts in the company, it is regrettable that it is not
provided with a family tree of Nyonya Meneer, which would help
readers see the positions of the second and third generations of
Nyonya Meneer in the conflicts.

Also lacking is a comparison between Nyonya Meneer and other
brands. Last but not least, the title should have read something
like "Charles Saerang and His Role in Nyonya Meneer". If you read
the entire book, you will be left with an impression that this is
a book about Charles's struggle to ascend to the top and realize
his business vision, rather than the survival of the business
itself in the market. Or, perhaps, in a family business, trying
to outdo your family members and relatives within the company
management eventually usurps doing the same to your business
competitors.