PT Astra forms partnership with small businesses

PT Astra forms partnership with small businesses

MATARAM, West Nusa Tenggara (JP): Publicly-listed car maker PT
Astra International is to form partnerships with small businesses
and cooperatives in Lombok in the spirit of the so-called
Jimbaran Declaration.

The partnerships have been initiated by an agreement signed
yesterday by Astra's social foundation, Yayasan Dharma Bhakti
Astra, and the West Nusa Tenggara provincial office of the
Ministry of Cooperatives and Small Enterprises.

"I hope that Astra's move will be followed by other
conglomerates involved in the Jimbaran Declaration, so we may
expect that in a few years to come we will see more small
businesses in West Nusa Tenggara become stronger," the chief of
the ministry's office, Maman Suparman, said before the signing
ceremony.

Early this year, executives of almost 100 Indonesian
conglomerates including Astra met at Jimbaran in Bali and
declared that they would help narrow the gap between the rich and
the poor by strengthening partnerships with small businesses.
This was especially meant to aid technology transfer.

The Minister of Cooperatives and Small Enterprises, Subiakto
Tjakrawerdaya, said in his speech that he expected that Astra's
move would help solve social problems.

"Under the agreement, Astra is committed to helping improve
the managerial skills of the executives of the training center
for cooperatives and small businesses in the province, focusing
on the transfer of technology," the foundation's general manager,
Krisni Murti, said.

Astra, according to Krisni, would provide assistance within
two years to train professionals from different areas who would
then lead around 50 small businesses and cooperatives in Lombok.

"We also provide office equipment in the training center," she
said. "We hope that we can do something to help cooperatives and
small businesses increase the value of their products."

She said that a similar program was established in Padang last
month and another would be launched in Lampung in September.

Long-term vision

In an interview with The Jakarta Post, Krisni disclosed that
Astra had established partnerships with small businesses long
before the Jimbaran meeting. It had established its own social
foundation in 1980.

"In dealing with the executives of small businesses, we have
to understand their way of thinking and cultural background
because that will allow us to select an appropriate approach,"
she said.

"Moreover, any partnership should be based on a long term
vision to make them survive by their own ability. Therefore,
although we have strong financial back-up, we should avoid
establishing partnerships based merely on mercy," she said.

"In the long run, we expect to see that they have a
competitive edge."

Krisni said that by late 1995, the foundation had set up
partnerships with 239 small businesses as sub-contractors: they
included 53 vendors and 177 suppliers of car components. All of
them were in Java.

In agribusiness and timber industries, Astra has partnerships
with 8,172 small businesses in East Kalimantan, Lampung and
Jambi.

"Meanwhile, for small businesses which do not operate in
Astra's line of business, we have established 285 partnerships in
the industrial sector, 164 partnerships in the service sector and
46 partnerships with cooperatives, with 25,626 members in eight
provinces." (alo)