As a country rich in stories and history, Indonesia has hundreds of museums to preserve relics of the past. Museums are not only a repository for historical objects, but also a medium for learning and preserving culture.
Unfortunately, museums in Indonesia are still not popular with visitors because they are often considered old-fashioned and uninteresting. Museums in Indonesia are predominantly owned and managed by the government, both ministries and agencies, and local governments. This does not mean that business concepts cannot be applied in museum management in Indonesia, but the concept must be understood as a whole.
“As a public institution managed by the government, museums have many challenges such as limited funding, human resource competence, and public perception that museums are scary places. So, the form of marketing for museum management must be adapted to these circumstances,” said Ixora Lundia Suwaryono in her doctoral promotion in the field of Administrative Sciences, Faculty of Administrative Sciences, Universitas Indonesia (FAS UI), with the dissertation titled “Museum Management in Indonesia: Cultural Value-Based Marketing” on Friday (08/07).
Ixora further explained that to face these challenges, it is necessary to adjust the marketing concept for museums with Indonesian cultural values. This is considered a criticism of marketing concepts that generally refer to developed countries, which may be less appropriate when applied to different cultures.
“The development of museums in developed countries and the development of museums towards a visitor-oriented direction, encourages museums in Indonesia to follow these developments. However, the concept is something new for museum managers in Indonesia, so there are concerns about the commercialization of museums that are concerned with the quantity of visitors rather than quality,” said Ixora.
According to her, to develop museums in Indonesia, Indonesian cultural values such as hospitality and collectivity can be a strength while overcoming the challenges of human resources. The novelty offered in this research is museum marketing by integrating Indonesian cultural values in it.
In her research, Ixora found several findings, namely the word that comes to mind when respondents hear the word museum is dominated by the word history. Ixora said that some respondents would like to visit the museum in the future if the museum is interesting, displays varied objects and is not boring. Thus, this research provides recommendations for museum management in Indonesia, namely museum management is a joint task between the government, museum managers, universities and the community.
Ixora’s doctoral promotion session was chaired by the Dean of FAS UI, Prof. Dr. Chandra Wijaya, M.Sc., M.M., with the Promoter Prof. Ir. Bernardus Yuliarto Nugroho, MSM, Ph.D., and Dr. Effy Zalfiana Rusfian, M.Sc., as the Co-promoter. The team of examiners in the trial were Prof. Dr. Martani Huseini, MBA., Dr. Retno Kusumastuti, M. Si., Dr. Sapta Nirwandar., and Dr. Ali Akbar, S. S., M. Hum.
