His tweet prompted a public backlash against him and the e-commerce platform he cofounded, especially from the incumbent’s supporters among Bukalapak’s consumer base, who are actively urging others to abandon the platform.

Since then, Zaky has apologized directly to President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo, who invited Zaky to the palace on Saturday for talks and later asked consumers to stop uninstalling Bukalapak. This should put Zaky’s worries to rest while providing both him and other tech leaders a valuable lesson.

In the midst of changing consumer behavior, a company’s values — or in this case, its CEO’s values — are playing an increasingly larger role in deciding consumer preferences. Traditionally, CEOs needed only to focus on the performance of their businesses, but today they have also effectively become “CEO-activists” in whatever social cause they voice their views.

In all fairness to Zaky, it would (and should) be OK for a business leader to give voice to any opinion he has, through any means at his disposal. In fact, this may very well be unavoidable. Our country is a democracy, and as one of its citizens, a business leader is free to support or criticize any matter.

At the same time, any country’s economic engine is powered by the market. The prevalence of social platforms have enabled consumers to be directly connected to the companies they purchase from. This level of engagement has led to consumer decisions being increasingly shaped by the affinity between a consumer’s individual position on certain social issues and the positions of companies and CEOs.

In a market like this, CEOs should be prepared to accept the market reaction — intentional or otherwise — to their opinions. This is the context of the harsh about-face in public opinion against Bukalapak.

As the recent case has shown, Zaky’s CEO-activism resulted in a negative public opinion as well as a sharp increase in negative reviews on both Google Play Store and Apple’s App Store, two of the largest distribution networks for his product. In the grand scheme of things, this doesn’t seem too bad: even accounting for the calls to uninstall the app, Bukalapak still retains a rating of 4 stars without any meaningful negative impact on its core business.

More experienced leaders have learned harsher lessons in the past and bounced back. On Aug. 7, 2018, Elon Musk tweeted that he was considering making Tesla private, which prompted a fraud charge from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and sent share prices tumbling. Both Musk and Tesla recovered eventually, but not without sustaining damage to their reputations.

Zaky and Bukalapak should expect to recover quickly from his gaffe, especially after President Jokowi’s gracious show of support. Regardless, Zaky would do well to remember that as CEO, his opinions and public communications carry weight.

His case can be seen as part of a bigger picture, though. The Indonesian tech industry is approaching adolescence after having enjoyed a period of fast early growth. It now realizes that a key part to the strategy for maintaining its success lies in partnering with the government after traditionally skirting regulations in order to grow. A strong partnership would mean that tech industry leaders would have a hand in creating the rules that will regulate them, and thereby in securing their future growth.

One example of such a partnership is when Bukalapak hosted President Jokowi during its ninth anniversary event earlier this year. Both the President and Bukalapak benefited from this interaction: Bukalapak was in need of political support and Jokowi intended to show an increasingly young constituency that he supported the tech
industry.

This pursuit of support has been seen in more mature industries — miners and plantation owners are masters at lobbying government support and favor.

The newer players in the tech industry would be wise to exercise caution, or at least be more tactful, in their strategy to court government and political institutions.

In the beginning, the only people who knew or cared about the tech industry were industry insiders: the dreamers and builders who had a vision, and the investors with enough money to risk supporting that vision.

Now, it would be difficult to find anyone whose lives haven’t been touched by the tech industry in a meaningful way. We all benefit from access to affordable and convenient ride-hailing transportation, to a huge host of deals on online marketplaces and to food with a few taps on our phones.

However, we should also be reminded that the actual providers of these services, enabled through platforms such as Bukalapak, depend on the tech companies for their incomes. These providers and their families number in the millions.

At a time when the future success of companies like Bukalapak — and all the stakeholders that depend on them — may well be decided with a strategic government partnership, Zaky as well as all other CEOs should have all the incentives in the world to be more careful about what they say in public.

_____________________

The writer, a graduate of Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management, is managing partner at Alexandria Strategy. The views expressed are his own.

Popular

Kadin urges stability after Constitutional Court ruling

Jokowi says transition to new government to begi

BCA loan disbursement surges 17.1 percent yoy in first quarter