JBIC-LPEM Workshop on Competitiveness in Indonesian Manufacturing: Issues and Prospects

JBIC held a workshop titled “Competitiveness in Indonesian Manufacturing: Issues and Prospects” jointly with the Institute for Economic and Social Research at Faculty of Economics, University of Indonesia (LPEM) , on November 3, 2008, in Jakarta, Indonesia. The workshop, which has been held jointly by JBIC and LPEM since 2004, is part of the JBIC Partnership Forum in Asia knowledge-sharing program.  The forum this year had two components: the workshop and an international seminar titled “Green Management and Corporate Competitiveness—Tradeoff or Opportunities?” which was held on November 4, 2008.  

The workshop was organized in collaboration with the International Center for the Study of East Asian Development (ICSEAD; headquartered in Kitakyushu City), the Manufacturing Management Research Center, University of Tokyo, and the Japan Automobile Research Institute (JARI; headquartered in Tsukuba City). The presenters and discussants invited from Japan included: Professor Fukunari Kimura, Graduate School of Economics, Keio University; Associate Professor Tomofumi Amano, Manufacturing Management Research Center, University of Tokyo; Research Professor Eric D. Ramstetter and Research Associate Professor Sadayuki Takii, ICSEAD; Dr. Toshihiro Uchida, Takasaki City University of Economics; and Dr. Kiyoyuki Minato, Chief Researcher of JARI. Around 50 participants from business, academia and government attended the workshop.

Following opening remarks by Dr. Chatib Basri, Director of LPEM, and a welcome address by Mr. Takashi Marugami, Head of the International Research Office, Corporate Planning Department, JBIC, JFC, the workshop was broken into the following four sessions:

• Session I and II: “Status of Indonesian Manufacturing Industries from the Global and Regional Perspectives”
• Session III: “Comparative Performance Assessment from Management Perspectives”
• Session IV: “Green Management and Industrial Competitiveness”

Focusing on the automobile and electrical industries in Indonesia, Japanese and Indonesian participants in these sessions engaged in vigorous discussion on how to expand the industrial base for local manufacturers by comparing the situation in Indonesia with that in other countries, and from the perspective of business management. 

In summing up the session, Dr. Arianto Patunru, Research Director of LPEM, and Mr. Toshiro Nishizawa, Senior Advisor of JBIC, JFC, confirmed the shared view among participants that, in order to achieve such medium- and long-term policy objectives as maintaining and enhancing the competitiveness of the Indonesian manufacturing sector and thus creating local employment, it was crucial to avoid dysfunction in the financial system in Indonesia amid the global financial crisis.  Furthermore, a common understanding was reached that introduction and practice of ‘green’ management was necessary for the development of sustainable and internationally competitive industries, as it will become increasingly important to address challenges in the environment and natural resources constraints over the longer term. 

Through workshops such as this, JBIC is making continual efforts to choose and address a variety of issues important to developing countries and Japan; draw policy proposals from concrete discussions with participants from business, academia and government; and obtain suggestions for its future activities.

Source: http://www.jbic.go.jp/en/about/topics/2009/0423-02/