Resilience Is the New Currency of Competitiveness
By Teguh Anantawikrama - Vice Chairman for Technology and Digital Transformation, Kadin Indonesia
INVESTORTRUST - For much of the past few decades, businesses measured competitiveness through efficiency: lower costs, faster production and higher returns. Governments competed to attract investment with infrastructure, incentives and access to markets. These priorities remain relevant, but I believe another measure deserves equal attention: the capacity to continue delivering when conditions change. Resilience is becoming a new currency of competitiveness because it determines how much confidence people can place in an enterprise, an institution or a country.
As Indonesia reflects on two years of the Prabowo–Gibran administration, I believe we should assess progress through this wider lens. Growth matters, as do investment, employment and household purchasing power. Yet the durability of those gains depends on whether our economy can absorb disruption, adapt its institutions and maintain the trust of businesses and citizens. Ambitious targets become more credible when the systems supporting them can function under pressure.
My perspective is shaped by the intersection of business development, technology and public policy. Across these fields, a strategy can appear convincing while remaining vulnerable in execution. A business may have strong demand but depend on one supplier. A public programme may have adequate funding but lack reliable data. A digital service may be convenient until an outage exposes the absence of a recovery plan. Resilience begins with recognising these dependencies and making deliberate choices about them.
The government’s economic presentation offers a useful starting point by describing complementary roles for the state budget and Danantara. Public expenditure supports essential services, human development and economic stability, while investment mobilisation is expected to expand productive capacity. In my view, the practical test is whether this combination enables more private enterprises to invest with confidence. Public capital creates lasting value when it helps bring viable projects into operation and strengthens the capabilities around them.
That requires commercial discipline and clarity. Investors need to understand how partners are selected, how risks are allocated, how decisions are made and how disagreements are resolved. Domestic entrepreneurs need fair access to opportunities alongside larger institutions and international investors. Predictable arrangements allow businesses to commit capital for the long term. Uncertainty over the rules can weaken even a project with substantial market potential.
Resilience also changes how we should evaluate public spending. Nutrition, education and healthcare can strengthen the productive capacity of the population over time. Their wider economic contribution depends on programme quality and the supply systems supporting delivery. Food procurement, for example, can help local producers build dependable demand, improve standards and invest in logistics. Those benefits require realistic contracts, timely payments and consistent quality control. A programme becomes more durable when its suppliers can remain financially healthy while meeting their obligations.
This is particularly important for micro, small and medium enterprises. A small supplier experiences an economic shock through immediate pressures: a delayed payment, a higher input price or a customer who suddenly reduces orders. Its capacity to adapt is constrained by working capital and bargaining power. For KADIN, strengthening resilience should therefore include practical support for payment certainty, market access, appropriate financing and supplier development. Participation in a national programme should help a smaller business acquire capabilities that remain valuable beyond a single contract.
Digital transformation offers another opportunity to build those capabilities. I believe its value should be measured by how reliably it helps people and businesses complete essential tasks. The number of applications launched tells us little about whether services work together, whether information is accurate or whether users can obtain help when something fails. Interoperable systems, clear responsibilities for data and tested recovery procedures deserve a central place in the transformation agenda.
Artificial intelligence should be approached with the same discipline. It can support better decisions and improve productivity, but organisations must understand the consequences of errors and establish appropriate human oversight. Adoption should include the ability to monitor performance, protect sensitive information and continue operating when a system is unavailable. Technology strengthens resilience when people can use it with confidence and understand its limits.
At the national level, resilience also requires openness and a considered approach to dependency. Indonesia should deepen relationships across markets, sources of capital and technology partners while developing domestic capabilities in areas where disruption would carry substantial costs. The appropriate balance will differ by sector. A critical health supply, an energy system and a consumer product do not require identical strategies. What matters is that these choices follow a clear assessment of risk, capability and economic value.
There are costs involved. Alternative suppliers, stronger cybersecurity, workforce training and contingency arrangements require resources that could otherwise support immediate expansion. Businesses and governments must weigh those costs carefully. The objective should be proportionate protection for functions whose failure would cause serious harm. Resilience becomes an economic advantage when it preserves essential operations and allows adaptation without imposing unnecessary complexity.
I see an important role for KADIN in turning this perspective into action. We can help identify the obstacles that repeatedly weaken business continuity, connect smaller enterprises with stronger production networks and bring evidence from the private sector into policy discussions. We should also encourage our members to examine their own vulnerabilities. Advocacy carries greater weight when it is accompanied by improvements in governance, investment readiness and operational discipline.
Indonesia’s opportunity is to make dependable delivery part of its competitive identity. Investors should be able to see how projects will proceed through changing conditions. Businesses should be able to plan around credible rules. Citizens should be able to rely on essential services when pressure rises. That confidence must be earned through performance over time. In an uncertain world, the ability to sustain it is why I believe resilience is the new currency.
