Indofood, Golden Agri Resources Rise as Global Challengers: BCG
Jakarta. Indofood Sukses Makmur, the world's largest instant noodle maker, and Golden Agri Resources, the world's second-largest palm oil plantation company, are tipped to follow fellow Indonesian company Wilmar International to become world leaders in their respective business, according to a report from Boston Consulting Group — a global management consulting firm.
The two companies — which for the last few years have been listed among 100 rapidly expanding companies from 18 emerging market countries in Latin America, China, India, the Middle East and Southeast Asia — have managed to expand its overseas market despite sluggish global economic growth and weak commodity prices, the consulting company said in its 2016 BCG Global Challengers report.
"The economies of some emerging markets may have paused, but not their strongest and most global companies," the report said. It also noted that Indofood and Golden Agri, along with the other 98 companies in the above list, "are doing just fine."
Established in 1990, Indofood is Indonesia's largest food processing company and one of the country's global players. The company booked Rp 64 trillion ($4.9 billion) in net sales last year from five business units: consumer branded product — that produces its famous Indomie instant noodles, food seasonings, dairy products and snacks; integrated flour miller Bogasari; agribusiness; distribution and fresh & processed vegetable produce.
Golden Agri, meanwhile, was founded in 1996 as part of the Indonesian conglomerate Sinar Mas Group. The company manages over 460,000 hectares of plantation land and is involved in the cultivation of oil palms, crude palm oil processing and refining it into margarine, cooking oil and shortening products. It booked $6.5 billion in sales last year.
BCG said Indofood and Golden Agri are "in a sort of halfway house between their home markets and the global economy," before making a full transition into a truly global leader like Wilmar International, whose annual sales exceed $10 billion, half of which generated overseas.
Wilmar is the world's main supplier in the palm oil business and as a global leader, it is expected to maintain a global footprint and operations, BCG said.
The consultancy firm said Indofood and Golden Agri need to seek growth overseas, as a new generation of local competitors are entering competition in a domestic market that expands less quickly.
"Given these head-winds, global challengers — and companies that aspire to that status — must focus equally on growth and competitiveness," BCG said.
BCG has been publishing the global challenger report in the past ten years to highlight rapidly globalizing companies in emerging markets that could become potential competitors, customers, partners, or merger and acquisition targets for existing multinational companies.
Other companies in the list include Malaysia's budget carrier AirAsia, Chinese smartphone manufacturer Xiaomi, Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba and Thailand food producer Charoen Pokphand Foods.
Tags: Keywords: