3 min read –
Stop Ruining Your Export Strategy –
7 costly mistakes we keep seeing –
And how to avoid them –
Over the years, we have witnessed many foreign companies make the same mistakes when trying to enter the Indonesian market.
Different companies. Different industries. Different products.
But surprisingly similar mistakes.
Here are 7 of the most common ones.
Mistake #1 — Putting someone in charge who is neither Indonesian nor based in Indonesia
In the last five years alone, we have worked with three companies for 6, 12 and even 18 months, only to see them eventually put a non-Indonesian, non-resident person in charge of the market.
Despite our repeated advice to do otherwise.
The outcome was the same in all three cases: failure.
This is one of the paradoxes of consulting: companies hire consultants for their local expertise, pay for their advice… and sometimes decide they know better.
Then they are surprised when things go wrong.
Mistake #2 — Hiring locally, but managing remotely
Hiring someone in Indonesia and managing them from Europe or America, with limited supervision, guidance or local leadership, is another recipe for disappointment.
We have seen this twice in the last three years.
People need objectives, strategy, management and accountability.
Of course, you can hire someone capable of building everything independently from day one.
But then you are looking for a senior leader, and that comes with a very different price tag.
Mistake #3 — Hiring a key manager or agent through word of mouth
At first, it feels smart.
Someone knows someone. You avoid recruitment costs. You save time.
Six months later, nothing has happened.
No sales. No pipeline. No measurable progress. Only explanations about why “market conditions are difficult.”
Selecting a country manager, salesperson, distributor or agent requires method, due diligence and experience.
Random hiring followed by passive waiting is not a strategy.
Mistake #4 — Assuming customers are waiting for you
Your technology is excellent.
Your prices are competitive.
Your references are impressive.
So surely customers will want to meet you?
Not necessarily.
We watched one company lose 18 months because of this assumption.
Customers don’t know you. They don’t owe you a meeting. And they certainly won’t line up simply because you have a superior product.
Quality and price are important. But they are not a market-entry strategy.
Mistake #5 — Treating Indonesia like the Wild West
This one still surprises me.
Some foreign executives arrive imagining Indonesia as some kind of American Wild West of the late 19th century: regulations are flexible, contracts are optional, relationships solve everything, and million-dollar deals can be closed over dinner, Cognac or karaoke.
Sometimes they even assume that questionable shortcuts are simply “how business is done here.”
Then reality catches up.
The deal doesn’t materialize. Compliance issues appear. Relationships break down. Money is lost.
And somehow, Indonesia gets blamed.
Indonesia is a major economy with regulations, sophisticated corporations, state-owned enterprises, international competitors and increasingly demanding compliance requirements.
Respect the market if you expect the market to respect you.
Mistake #6 — Assuming Indonesia is a low-end market
For certain non-critical consumer products, price can indeed dominate.
But when it comes to technology, industrial equipment and critical processes, the opposite can be true.
Look at mining, energy, infrastructure or industrial processing.
Leading Indonesian players routinely purchase expensive equipment from leading global brands when reliability, productivity, safety and lifecycle costs matter.
“Indonesia = cheap products” is an outdated and potentially expensive assumption.
Mistake #7 — Confusing VIP business cards with market access
You attend a prestigious cocktail reception organized by a chamber of commerce or embassy.
Beautiful hotel. Senior executives. Diplomats. CEOs of state-owned enterprises.
You go home with a pocket full of impressive business cards.
It feels like progress.
Three to six months later, you may discover that none of those cards have generated a single opportunity.
Networking matters. But access is not the same as traction.
A business card is not a relationship.
A relationship is not an opportunity.
And an opportunity is not an order.
Export strategy is exactly that: a strategy.
There is an interesting parallel with chess.
You don’t always win by making spectacular moves. Sometimes, simply avoiding serious mistakes puts you in a very strong position.
Market expansion works the same way.
Before asking “What brilliant move should we make?”, perhaps ask: “What costly mistakes can we avoid?”
These lessons are not unique to Indonesia. Many apply to international expansion anywhere.
And they are not theoretical. They come from years of observation, client feedback, successes, failures, and real-life business cases.
We are Cintasia, and we help technology and industrial companies develop their sales and operations successfully in Indonesia. Explore. Sell. Operate.
PS: If you enjoyed this article, we have published 200 more insights on doing business in Indonesia on the Cintasia website.
Picture: The Queen’s Gambit, Netflix, 2020.