Small businesses' clearinghouse to be established
JAKARTA (JP): Yayasan Palapa Nusantara (YPN), in cooperation with five major private companies and four state-owned firms, is to set up a benchmarking clearinghouse in Indonesia next month.
"For the first stage, this benchmarking clearinghouse will group the nine companies as its core members. Later, we'll include medium and small-scale businesses," Hidayat, YPN's director for small businesses development, said yesterday.
The five private companies are Astra International, Bank Internasional Indonesia, Indocement, Matahari Putra Prima, Raja Garuda Mas International Corporation, while the four state-owned firms are Bank Bumi Daya, Pertamina, the state electricity company PLN and fertilizer manufacturing company PT Pusri.
YPN is a foundation set up by a number of conglomerates to help foster the development of small and medium-scale enterprises.
Speaking after the opening ceremony of the benchmarking training for the nine companies -- organized by YPN from June 3 to June 7 -- Hidayat said that benchmarking is a formal process of identifying, understanding and adapting outstanding practices of other organizations.
"For example, one of our members wants to learn Matahari's retailing skills and adapt them in its company. The member can realize it through a process organized by the clearinghouse," he said.
He noted that the clearinghouse will set up such a learning process within a code of conduct. "This code of conduct will rule, among other things, that the recipient of the important information is not allowed to divulge it, for example in the above case, to the competitors of Matahari," he said.
According to Hidayat, YPN has signed a cooperation agreement with the Asia Pacific Development Network, an Australian benchmarking consultancy company, to facilitate the development of the benchmarking system,.
Sukamdani S. Gitosardjono, a founder of YPN, noted that the benchmarking training is the first step to expand membership.
"In the next three years we will organize benchmarking trainings. And after three years, we'll have 1,000 companies, comprising 50 big firms, 250 medium-scale enterprises and 700 small-scale companies, as members of the benchmarking clearinghouse," he said.
He said that the main goal of the benchmarking system is to sharpen individual members' competitive edge in the run up to the free trade practices of the ASEAN Free Trade Area in 2003 and the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation in 2020.
Last week, a public accounting firm, Prasetio Utomo & Co, in association with the International Benchmarking Clearinghouse of the United States, established another benchmarking clearinghouse.
Its initial members include Astra International, the Bakrie Group, PT Freeport Indonesia, the Hero Group, the Kalbe Group, Bank Lippo and the Sewu Group, which are all private companies.
But a reliable YPN source noted that his foundation and the Prasetio are now trying to unite their clearinghouses so that there will be only one benchmarking clearinghouse in the country.
The Prasetio's clearinghouse has set initial targets of conducting five formal studies on customer satisfaction, the supply chain, new product development, corporate performance measures and team-based rewards and recognition. (13)