COVID-19 and digital innovation: How Indonesia’s listed companies have responded to the global pandemic

Many companies listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange (IDX) struggled to adapt to COVID-19 and global pandemic conditions.
The crisis triggered lockdowns that affected trading, and businesses had to significantly improve digital operations in a short period. In this context, we mapped the response of IDX-listed companies to COVID-19 in terms of their digital footprint and posed the question, ‘are these enterprises able to respond to the pandemic-induced crisis?’ and if so, what was it that made their responses effective? Our research provided further insights on drivers of digital readiness and digital innovation as well as the impact of digitalisation on general performance, particularly in responding to the crisis.
Read the full “COVID-19 and digital innovation: How Indonesia’s listed companies have responded to the global pandemic” report here
The study collected responses from 204 companies out of the general population of IDX-listed businesses, representing 31 percent of a total of 688 companies. This report includes further discussion of how organisations have adapted products, services and internal structures due to COVID-19, as well as analysis of the need to train staff, or ‘human capital’, with skills in digital readiness and digital innovation.
This report identified several key points:
- Large and medium-sized companies display differentiated behaviour when it comes to seeking advice from consultants.
- Businesses with higher connectivity within the top management team (TMT) members are more adaptive to COVID-19 conditions.
- Medium-sized companies are more likely to seek advice from a variety of sources than large enterprises.
- Companies in stable environments are less likely to reach out to industry peers for advice.
- Companies in dynamic or fast-moving environments are more likely to seek advice.
- Those businesses with higher proficiency and willingness to innovate in the digital sphere are better suited to respond to COVID-19.
Photo by Arif Riyanto