Views from Indonesia:
Irma Malibari,
Managing Director, Deka Marketing Research,
Working as a Researcher in Indonesia can be interesting, yet challenging. As the 4th most populated country in the world, with its over 231 million population, Indonesia is an attractive place for foreign and local investors. The country's abundant resources and fast growing economy - the third in Asia - make it a potential market for many industries. The strong economics foundation and political stability have brought Indonesia surviving the global's financial crisis in 2008.
Because of Indonesian's landscape of more than 13.000 islands under 33 provinces, Indonesia is diverse in languages, cultures, religions and beliefs. A Marketing Researcher should acknowledge these diversities into his or her insights besides their knowledge of the eating habit, lifestyle, local culture and also the social economic status.
Handling varied clients is also a unique experience. Multinational clients are usually more advanced in the knowledge and application of marketing research and always look for, and sometimes demand, new approaches and methodologies, while the local clients need more advice and guidance.
Vivek Thomas,
Managing Director , Kadence Indonesia,
Having worked in Indonesia for six years, I have noticed a definite shift in attitudes towards work and the culture of the workplace. It seems that Indonesians have developed fervent ambition and are increasingly becoming ‘go getters’, having realized that there are real rewards to be gained from aiming higher and reaching further. I think this can be attributed to increased competition as Indonesia becomes even more accessible and more commercially astute, not just in the market research industry, but in business in general.
In terms of how the Indonesian market research industry differs from elsewhere in the world, whatever differences exist, they are subtle. Market research is essentially a service industry and, as such, it retains the same qualities regardless of geography. Moreover, whether its interviewers or participants, people are central to market research rather than location. The main difference between Indonesia and the rest of the world relates to people and, specifically, the history of high staff turnover in the region. Although this trend is slowing, the difficulty for companies in the area is maintaining a consistent base of employees in order to build expertise, insight and passion for their job. This is one of the areas in which Kadence has excelled by adopting a straight-forward approach to its operation, and the Indonesian office benefits from good levels of staff consistency.
Another interesting challenge in Indonesia is that the general public doesn’t like to criticize anything, even if they have strong negative feelings about the product or service they are being questioned on. This is a challenge for researchers as they have to dig far deeper to find out the respondent’s true feelings. People generally don’t want their opinions to offend. This is reflected in high customer satisfaction scores. A recent study showed that, on a scale of one to seven, the average satisfaction score was 5.6 – much higher than figures typically seen in the Western World. The term ‘filtering the noise’ truly applies to research in Indonesia.
As it is an archipelago with over 17,000 islands, the cultural diversity in Indonesia is vast. What people like in Sumatra might differ drastically from opinions in Java, for example. As a result, you need to be mindful of gaining the most accurate results possible, while also considering cultural nuances. Thankfully, over 90 per cent of the population lives in one of the nation’s four biggest islands and, for cost and time factors, research studies are usually undertaken in the eight major cities on these islands (Java, Sumatra, Sulawesi and Kalimantan.
In terms of future development, the market research industry in Indonesia is growing rapidly. Kadence has seen 40 to 50 per cent growth each year and the recent global recession had almost no effect on the industry whatsoever as local consumption drives the economy. Research is becoming increasingly popular in Indonesia’s growing business community, both among large locally incorporated organizations and MNCs, with FMCG research being of particular interest. Clients are on the lookout for insight and ‘white spaces’; however few agencies are able to generate insight and deliver meaningful and actionable analysis.
As a native of India, life in Indonesia is fantastic. The area seems to garner occasional negative press for instances of natural disasters and poverty and this is largely unjustified. It’s a hidden jewel and a wonderful country to work in. With changes in working culture, Indonesia is an exciting place to be and although the culture may be becoming more ‘westernized’, it never feels as though you’re in a rat race.
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