SAR Journal. Volume 2, Issue 4, Pages 153-157, ISSN 2619-9955, DOI: 10.18421/SAR24-02, December 2019.

SAR Journal – Volume 2 / Number 4 / 2019. 153

Innovation, Local Wisdom and Value

Creation in “Batik” Creative Industry

Djoko Poernomo, Agnes Yuanita Soemartono, Rahayu Eka Safitri

University of Jember, Jl. Kalimantan No. 37, Jember, Indonesia

Abstract – This study aims at describing

the relationship of strategic innovation, local wisdom

and value creation to the sustainability of the batik

creative industry in Banyuwangi Regency, Indonesia.

The information is obtained from the principals who

are also the craftsmen of the batik. The data are

obtained through indepth-interview. The data collected

is reviewed by using a taxonomic method. Findings

show that the creative industry of batik implements an

incremental innovation strategy by optimizing the

"Gajah Oling" icon which is part of the local wisdom

of Using Tribe in order to create value for gaining

profit and sustainability.

Keywords – Innovation Strategy, Local Wisdom,

Value Creation, Batik

1. Introduction

Batik is a native Indonesian culture that contains

historical value and tradition of the Indonesian

people. On October 2, 2009, UNESCO

recognized batik as an Intangible Cultural Heritage

from Indonesia. Batik can be classified as one of

creative economy products because it is highly

dominated by the application of knowledge,

creativity and innovation, local wisdom, arts and

culture [1], [2].

Today, we can find the Batik creative industry

almost in all cities / regencies in Indonesia.

DOI: 10.18421/SAR24-02 https://dx.doi.org/10.18421/SAR24-02

Corresponding author: Djoko Poernomo,

University of Jember, Indonesia. Email: poernomod19@gmail.com

Received: 13 August 2019. Revised: 10 December 2019. Accepted: 15 December 2019. Published: 30 December 2019.

© 2019 Djoko Poernomo, Agnes Yuanita Soemartono, Rahayu Eka Safitri; published by UIKTEN. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 License.

The article is published with Open Access at www.sarjournal.com

Along with the continued growth of creative

industry of Batik, it has led to increasingly fierce

competition in this industry. This reality encourages

Batik producers to make various innovations with the

aim of increasing value creation and business

sustainability. The strategy of prioritizing innovation

is the keyword for creative industry of Batik to

become more competitive.

However,, there seems to be a concern for some of

them regarding the cost for innovating. That should

not be a concern, though, since innovation does not

have to be in a large scale and expensive cost. The

important thing is that innovation is done

continuously to respond to changing times. Basically,

the application of an innovation strategy is faced with

2 things: failure or success. Based on the description

above, the research problem is whether the

innovation strategy in the creative economy of batik

industry in Banyuwangi Regency involves local

wisdom, value creation, and sustainability. How to

make a description? The purpose of this research is

to describe the relationship.

2. Theoretical Review

Innovation is a change to produce something new

that can be done radically, semi-radically or

incrementally on a product or a process that can

appear suddenly in the global world or the local

environment [3], [4]. Innovation is considered to be

good and strategic if it is based on knowledge [5].

There are 2 innovation models. Firstly, the model is

based on the creator of innovation. Secondly, the

model is based on the user of the innovative product.

Paradigmatically, the first thought represents a

resource-based view [6], and the second thought

represents a market-based view [7]. Innovation can

be classified into 4 types, namely product innovation,

service innovation, process/manufacturing

innovation, and organizational innovation [8].

Product innovation is all new things related to the

physical appearance of the product. This can involve

the design of functions and product forms. Service

innovation involves the facilitation of product

delivery in the market to after-sales service. Process

innovation involves all manufacturing of products in

SAR Journal. Volume 2, Issue 4, Pages 153-157, ISSN 2619-9955, DOI: 10.18421/SAR24-02, December 2019.

154 SAR Journal – Volume 2 / Number 4 / 2019.

new ways. Organizational innovation involves new

governance of resources.

An innovation needs a strategy called innovation

strategy. Strategy is a plan of action or a number of

plans that are made in a careful, broad, integrated and

systematical way that connects the company's

strengths to the external environment in order to

obtain financial and non-financial benefits in a

sustainable manner [9]. The strategy reveals the

company’s goals and the innovations are made to

achieve these goals. Innovation strategies can take

the form of leadership orientation, process

innovation, product innovation, sources of internal

innovation, sources of external innovation,

implementation of innovations and investment levels.

A sustainable corporate strategy is defined as the

process of aligning companies with businesses to

maintain a dynamic balance. By adding a sustainable

lens to the company's strategic planning framework it

is intended to balance resilience and growth so that

the economic, environmental and social value

creation can be aligned to save that value for future

generations. Integrating sustainability into innovation

strategies as competitive capital can obtain greater

profitability in the long run. A number of strategic

management experts call this a sustainable

competitive advantage [10].

Value creation is the activity of adding value to

each transformational process from the input sector

(eg. raw materials) to output (eg. finished goods) to

the end users. An activity can be said to have an

added value if the products produced by producers

are consumed by end users continuously. Therefore,

the creation of added value is the creation of

productivity in every process of input, output, and

end-user sectors. Value is formed if it provides

tangible benefits, in the form of satisfaction to end

users and in the form of profits to producers. The

process of creating a value chain involves 4 things:

suppliers - companies - distributors - buyers [11].

The company's value chain is all the elements in the

company that are mutually complementary, mutually

supportive, complementary and they create

competitive power. The company's value chain is

divided into 2 activities ‒ namely primary activities

consisting of product creation, sales and distribution,

post-sale services; as well as secondary activities

consisting of all supporting elements needed for the

continuation of primary activities [12].

Local wisdom can be interpreted as a way of life of

a community or community that lives in a narrower

area of the country, which is implemented as a guide

to behave, course of how to make decisions or

solutions to the problems faced. Local wisdom can

be considered as local knowledge or local genius

[13]. Expressions of local wisdom can be in the form

of cultural arts, rituals, beliefs, or beliefs, manners,

language and the like. Local wisdom can be the

identity or personality of the community that can be

used to improve the welfare of the community.

3. Research Methods

This research uses qualitative research method.

Phenomenology is used as the approach strategy

[14], [15], [16]. The study is done in Banyuwangi

regency. The information is obtained from the

principals who are also the craftsmen of the

batik.The data is obtained through interviews in

which the guideline has been prepared

before.Taxonomy analysis is used to analyze the

data. No data has been discarded. The substance of

taxonomy analysis is categorizing information based

on its function [17].

4. Discussion

Batik As An Attribute Of Local Wisdom

Batik can be interpreted as a picture or painting

carved into a piece of white cloth, then colored with

various colors so that it becomes beautiful. The

picture can express natural environment, arts and

culture of the local community or local wisdom, and

history. Batik, originated from the Kingdom era (the

Majapahit and Mataram Empire), only existed in the

royal palace environment. Now, batik has spread to

almost all parts of Indonesia. Batik contains a lot of

values. In a piece of batik cloth, there is an artistic

value, cultural value or local wisdom, a historical

value and even an economic value, since it can be

traded. This indicates that there has been a creation

of value by batik craftsmen hundreds of years ago

when batik was produced. The creation of value

continues till today.

Batik in Banyuwangi Regency, East Java

Province, Indonesia existed hundreds of years ago.

The batik has distinct characteristics that are not

found in batik produced by batik craftsmen from

other areas. The characteristic is that there is always

an image or 'Gajah Oling ' the icon as shown in the

image below.

Figure 1. “Gajah Oling” Batik of Banyuwangi

"Gajah Oling” is an attribute of the culture of

Using Tribe which is a native of Banyuwangi

Regency. 'Gajah' refers to an animal that is large and

strong and its trunk is able to move in a variety of

directions." “Oling" in the Using language means

SAR Journal. Volume 2, Issue 4, Pages 153-157, ISSN 2619-9955, DOI: 10.18421/SAR24-02, December 2019.

SAR Journal – Volume 2 / Number 4 / 2019. 155

"Eling" or remember. "Oling" in the Javanese

language is “lele”, which is a type of large catfish

that can live in turbid or clean water. Thus, the

meaning of 'Gajah Oling' is that humans should

always have a strong memory for God, and they

should practice their teachings wherever they are and

whatever their condition is. The Using Tribe

implements the meaning of "Gajah Oling" by

making an icon or characteristic of “Gajah Oling” in

their batik. All of the owners / craftsmen of batik in

Banyuwangi are from this tribe. Until now, the

“Gajah Oling” icon always appears in every batik

production, although the designs, motives, and

patterns vary among the batik owners / craftsmen.

Placing the 'Gajah Oling' icon into the production

of batik cloth is an intelligent innovation strategy.

This is because the icon of "Gajah Oling” is an

identity. “Gajah Oling” Batik is a cultural product,

local wisdom product, historical product and identity

of the Using Tribe. The batik owners or craftsmen

believe that the end users of their products are Using

Tribe community. This is proven; the end users of

these products are not only from Using people, but

also from the outside of Using Tribe community.

There are approximately 21 owners / craftsmen of

the famous batik industry in Banyuwangi regency.

All of them are from Using Tribe. They are the

owners / craftsmen of "Sayuwiwit", "Virdes",

"Srikandi", "Seblang", "Gondokusumo",

"Gondoarum", "Tatsaka" "I'irta Wangi", "Sisik

Melik" and etc. They have a number of workers to

achieve the goal of establishing a creative industry of

batik. The goals include economic goals, social

goals and cultural goals. Until now, the owners /

craftsmen of batik industry in Banyuwangi Regency

are not tempted to replace the 'Gajah Oling' icon with

other icons. They still display the 'Gajah Oling' icon

on every batik cloth produced, although many other

icons from various regions (Solo, Pekalongan,

Jogyakarta, Tuban, Madura) enter Banyuwangi’s

market. Theoretically, this indicates that the "Gajah

Oling" icon is used as a grand corporate strategy for

the batik industry. They have a strong belief that if

the "Gajah Oling" icon is displayed on every batik

produced, it will be bought by the community.

Conversely, if they do not use the 'Gajah Oling' icon

in their batik production, then the product will no

longer be bought by the community, especially the

community of the Using Tribe. In addition, they are

able to combine the local values inherent in

themselves as the Using Tribe and other values (for

example the values of the Javanese, Balinese,

Madurese) with consumer tastes that change from

time to time on a piece of batik cloth that they

produce.

Every batik industry (people call it a "Studio") on

average has a production capacity of 200 pieces per

day for printed batik, and approximately 10 sheets

for written batik, depending on the order. The price

of "Gajah Oling" batik varies from Rp. 125,000 to

Rp. 5,000,000 per meter. Written batik is relatively

more expensive than printed batik. Nowadays, new

batik motifs are developed in Banyuwangi. There

were previously only 20 classic motifs, now it is

developed into more than 50 motifs. The motifs

include "Maspun, Galaran, Dilem Semplah, Joloan,

Kawung, Kangkung Setingkes, Alas Kobong, Paras

Gempal, Kopi Pecah, Gedekan, Ukel, Moto Pitik,

Sembruk Cacing, Blarak Semplah, Gringsing, Sekar

Jagad, Semanggian; Garuda Cendrawasih; Lajar

Putih, Sisik Papak "[18], and 'Gajah Oling' as the

icons.

Banyuwangi batik products have a fairly broad

market distribution. Their customers range from

officials, entrepreneurs, communities, and

community organizations to people from other

countries. Banyuwangi Batik still has other

innovation potentials, in terms of motifs. “Gandrung”

dancer crown or crown dancer "Seblang"can be used

as the motif. Other potential innovations in motifs are

historical sites, including paintings on cave walls in

the "Alas Purwo" Protection Forest, Blambangan

kingdom historical sites, and others. This makes it

possible for batik creative owners / craftsmen in

Banyuwangi to create a never-ending innovation

strategy in the context of creating value for society

and themselves. Innovation strategies based on local

wisdom to create value are continued to be carried

out by batik owners / craftsmen to ensure the

realization of their business sustainability. Product

innovation in the batik industry in Banyuwangi is

developing in a sustainable manner because the

stakeholders of the batik creative industry can

coordinate well so far.

Stakeholders

Stakeholders have a very strategic value in

achieving the goals of the batik creative industry.

Theoretically, the stakeholder elements include the

following: trade associations or supplier (or

distributor) associations, non-government

organizations, competitors, the government, capital

owners, banking shareholders, the media, business

partners, academics, next generations and old

generations [19], [20].

These elements also exist and interact directly or

indirectly with the batik industry in Banyuwangi

regency in accordance with their respective

functions. In summary, the elements of the

stakeholders mentioned above can be grouped into 3

main actors namely actors in the business or industry,

government and universities. The latter is known as

the triple helix concept which is crucial in the

SAR Journal. Volume 2, Issue 4, Pages 153-157, ISSN 2619-9955, DOI: 10.18421/SAR24-02, December 2019.

156 SAR Journal – Volume 2 / Number 4 / 2019.

economic progress of society and competitiveness

[21]. Studies in the handicrafts and fashion industries

in Central Java Province in Indonesia, produced

findings that actors in the industry, government and

university are closely related to the ability to

innovate and competitive advantage which ultimately

relates to performance [22]. Other studies in Portugal

show that the three triple helix actors are closely

related to the ability to innovate, to improve

communication and introduce new products [23].

The elements of industry, government and

universities are triggers for the birth of ideas,

creativity and innovation for the growth of any level

of business (small and medium sized, large)

including the batik creative industry in Banyuwangi

Regency which is classified as small and family-

owned businesses (family companies). The dominant

factor in tripple helix that is expected to foster

creativity and innovation is the ability to create a

good and sustainable relationship among: (a)

universities, related to activities to create something

new that is needed by the market and creative people,

(b) industry, associated with the transformation of

creativity in economic activities into high economic

value (c) government, related to facilitating a

conducive business climate in order to support the

growth of business. The regional government of

Banyuwangi has done various regulations and

policies in facilitating the growth of the batik creative

industry.

Universities in Banyuwangi Regency such as

University of 17 August 1945, Ibrahimy University

and other universities, also play an important role

through service activities to the community related to

innovations in the batik creative industry. The

existence of various arts, education, and cultural

festival activities that always involve elements of

typical Banyuwangi batik cloth have motivated batik

owners / craftsmen to create innovations by

optimizing existing local wisdom. The climax is the

event of "Batik Banyuwangi Carnaval (BBC)" which

is held every year. It is able to create an innovative

climate for all business people, especially the

creative industry of batik. In this carnival, most of

Indonesia's top designers came to see and study the

designs and motifs displayed. Even some of the

world’s designers also came to see the carnival. All

elements in government, businesses, and intellectuals

are involved in the carnival event according to their

respective roles, Here, the innovation strategy, local

wisdom, and value creation continuously overlap

harmoniously to become one unit in the batik

creative industry in order to achieve togetherness,

prosperity, and business sustainability. Based on the

above discussion, it can be visualized the capitals of

applying the innovation strategy in the creative

industry of batik in Banyuwangi Regency which are

as follows.

Figure 2. Innovation Strategy of Batik Creative

Economy, 2019.

5. Conclusion

Local wisdom, value creation, and innovation are

the main sources of creating competitive power in the

creative industry of batik in the Banyuwangi district.

The icon "Gajah Oling" as an attribute of local

wisdom combined with economic values can be

knitted well in a sustainable innovation strategy. This

is what causes the creative industry of batik in

Banyuwangi to be able to survive until now, despite

the increasingly fierce competition in the batik

creative industry.

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