PT Astra International has added one more award to its collection after Hong Kong-based magazine FinanceAsia named the widely diversified business group the best non-financial company in Indonesia for the past two decades.
The magazine’s publisher, Jonathan Hirst, presented the award to Astra International president director Prijono Sugiarto at a ceremony in Hong Kong on Thursday evening.
The award was based on polls conducted annually on the company’s performance over the past 20 years. As many as 115 financial and non-financial companies in Asia received such awards this year.
Other large corporations named as best non-financial companies in their respective countries include Samsung Electronics of South Korea, China Telecom of China, PTT of Thailand and SingTel of Singapore.
Meanwhile, in the Indonesian financial sector, five companies won similar awards. They include Bank Mandiri, which was named the best domestic bank, Mandiri Sekuritas as the best domestic investment bank and as the best domestic bond house, Danareksa Sekuritas as the best domestic equity house, HSBC as the best foreign bank and Credit Suisse as the best foreign investment bank.
“On behalf of the Astra management, we thank all the stakeholders who have participated in the survey for their support for Astra during its 59 years of operations,” Prijono said after receiving the award.
“Obviously, we hope that this achievement also brings pride to the Indonesian people, “ he added.
According Prijono, as a national asset, Astra wants to continue to contribute to economic and social development for the Indonesian people through its 202 subsidiaries and affiliated companies, which employed more than 200,000 people. The business group was working with at least 2,500 vendors employing more than one million employees, he said.
Astra is engaged in six business lines, namely automotive, financial services, heavy equipment and mining, agribusiness, infrastructure, logistics and IT.
Astra was listed on the Indonesian Stock Exchange in April 1990 and has become a blue chip stock with a market capitalization of about Rp 337 trillion (US$25.8 billion) as of Oct. 12.
FinanceAsia has presented awards to leading Asian companies every year since its establishment 20 years ago. Winners are determined by surveys among investors and analysts in Asia on a range of criteria, such as corporate performance, corporate governance, investor relations, corporate social responsibility (CSR) and leadership.
Astra has received at least 13 awards from the magazine, in addition to numerous awards from other organizations. Unlike in previous years, this year’s award was given for the achievement over a 20-year period.
In 2010, Astra management under the leadership of Prijono adopted a comprehensive business strategy it calls the Triple P Roadmap, according to which the company’s portfolio, people and public contribution should all ensure sustainable growth.
Prijono attributed the success of the business group in maintaining sustainable growth to the company’s long-term business concept.
Based on that concept, Astra had implemented concrete programs that clearly highlight the position of Astra in the long-term, including by creating new opportunities to diversify sources of revenue, to improve the competency of human resources and to expand the reach of the company’s corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities.
Prijono explained that Astra carried out CSR activities through all of its subsidiaries and nine foundations, which include the foundation of Toyota and Astra, the foundation of Dharma Bhakti Astra, the foundation of Astra Bina Science, the foundation of Astra Honda Motor, the foundation of Amaliah Astra, the educational foundation of Michael D. Ruslim, the foundation of Karya Bhakti UT, the foundation of Astra Agro Lestari and the foundation of Insan Mulia Pama.
