THE name Sampoerna stands as a monument in the country’s cigarette industry. The future of the company, established in 1913 in Surabaya by Liem Seng Tee when he began producing Dji Sam Soe cigarettes, seems fated to grow beyond the dreams of its founder. In 1977, his then 30-year-old grandson Putera Sampoerna, became a shareholder. The rest is history.

Under Putera, a Dutch-born graduate of the University of Houston, the Sampoerna business ex