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- All HBS Web (297)
- Faculty Publications (201)
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- 2003
- Case
Analog Devices, Inc.: Microelectromechanical Systems (MEMS)
By: Vijay Govindarajan, Chris Trimble and Julie Lang
In the late 1980s, Analog Devices, Inc., a semiconductor company, developed a technology known as Microelectromagnetic Machines, or MEMS. The technology allows tiny moving parts to be embedded within traditional silicon chips. The potential applications are widespread.... View Details
Govindarajan, Vijay, Chris Trimble, and Julie Lang. "Analog Devices, Inc.: Microelectromechanical Systems (MEMS)." 2003. (Case No. 2-0018.)
- February 2022
- Case
NFX Capital and Moov Technologies
By: Scott Duke Kominers and Nicole Tempest Keller
In July 2019, James Currier, a general partner at San Francisco-based NFX Ventures, was considering a seed stage investment of $1.5 million in Moov Technologies, a B2B marketplace for used industrial equipment. NFX was a venture capital firm focused on seed-stage... View Details
Keywords: Venture Capital; Network Effects; Marketplace Matching; Digital Platforms; Market Design; Applications and Software; Semiconductor Industry; Semiconductor Industry; San Francisco
Kominers, Scott Duke, and Nicole Tempest Keller. "NFX Capital and Moov Technologies." Harvard Business School Case 822-045, February 2022.
- January 1999 (Revised June 2006)
- Case
Advanced Technologies, Inc.
By: Thomas R. Piper
The CEO of a semiconductor equipment manufacturer is assessing the financial forecasts and financing plan prepared by the chief financial officer. Continued rapid growth will create substantial financing pressures, especially if profitability fails to recover and/or if... View Details
Keywords: Forecasting and Prediction; Earnings Management; Financial Condition; Financial Reporting; Risk and Uncertainty; Economic Slowdown and Stagnation; Outcome or Result; Growth and Development; Crisis Management; Profit; Financial Strategy; Semiconductor Industry; Semiconductor Industry
Piper, Thomas R. "Advanced Technologies, Inc." Harvard Business School Case 299-042, January 1999. (Revised June 2006.)
- 2001
- Case
Analog Devices (A)
By: Vijay Govindarajan
Analog Devices, a leading semiconductor manufacturer, designed performance measurement systems that provided far more than just a financial view. As their system evolved, it incorporated more measures designed to reflect growth, rather than just operational efficiency.... View Details
- December 2002
- Article
Knowledge Seeking and Location Choice of Foreign Direct Investment in the United States
By: Juan Alcacer and Wilbur Chung
To what extent do firms go abroad to access technology available in other locations? This paper examines whether and when state technical capabilities attract foreign investment in manufacturing from 1987-1993. We find that on average state R&D intensity does not... View Details
Keywords: Knowledge Acquisition; Foreign Direct Investment; Research and Development; Information Technology; Production; Geographic Location; United States
Alcacer, Juan, and Wilbur Chung. "Knowledge Seeking and Location Choice of Foreign Direct Investment in the United States." Management Science 48, no. 12 (December 2002): 1534–1554.
- 2010
- Working Paper
Local R&D Strategies and Multi-location Firms: The Role of Internal Linkages
By: Juan Alcacer and Minyuan Zhao
This study looks at the role of firms' internal linkages in highly competitive technology clusters, where much of the world's R&D takes place. The leading players in these clusters are multi-location firms that organize and integrate knowledge across sites worldwide.... View Details
Keywords: Geographic Location; Collaborative Innovation and Invention; Technological Innovation; Knowledge Use and Leverage; Industry Clusters; Research and Development; Competitive Advantage; Semiconductor Industry
Alcacer, Juan, and Minyuan Zhao. "Local R&D Strategies and Multi-location Firms: The Role of Internal Linkages." Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 10-064, February 2010.
- April 2012
- Article
Local R&D Strategies and Multi-location Firms: The Role of Internal Linkages
By: Juan Alcacer and Minyuan Zhao
This study looks at the role of firms' internal linkages in highly competitive technology clusters, where much of the world's R&D takes place. The leading players in these clusters are multilocation firms that organize and integrate knowledge across sites worldwide.... View Details
Keywords: Multinational Firms and Management; Technological Innovation; Knowledge Use and Leverage; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques; Research and Development; Risk and Uncertainty; Competition; Competitive Advantage; Technology
Alcacer, Juan, and Minyuan Zhao. "Local R&D Strategies and Multi-location Firms: The Role of Internal Linkages." Management Science 58, no. 4 (April 2012): 734–753.
- Summer 2018
- Article
Why High-Tech Commoditization Is Accelerating
By: Willy C. Shih
Knowledge embedded within state-of-the-art production and design tools is a powerful force that is leveling the global technology playing field. It democratizes innovation and makes future competition more challenging. This paper describes the knowledge flows through... View Details
Keywords: Product Design; Product Commercialization; Product Development; Product Development Strategy; Production; Manufacturing Tools; Manufacturing; Manufacturing Industry; Engineering; Globalization; Goods and Commodities; Knowledge; Commercialization; Business Strategy; Corporate Strategy; Information Infrastructure; Technology Adoption; Consumer Products Industry; Consumer Products Industry; Consumer Products Industry; Consumer Products Industry; Consumer Products Industry; Consumer Products Industry; North America; Asia
Shih, Willy C. "Why High-Tech Commoditization Is Accelerating." Art. 59420. MIT Sloan Management Review 59, no. 4 (Summer 2018): 53–58.
- November 15, 2022
- Article
What Really Makes Toyota’s Production System Resilient
By: Willy C. Shih
Toyota has fared better than many of its competitors in riding out the supply chain disruptions of recent years. But focusing on how Toyota had stockpiled semiconductors and the problems of other manufacturers, some observers jumped to the conclusion that the era of... View Details
Keywords: Supplier Relationships; Manufacturing; Supply Chain; Production; Auto Industry; United States; Japan
Shih, Willy C. "What Really Makes Toyota’s Production System Resilient." Harvard Business Review Digital Articles (November 15, 2022).
- March 2014
- Case
MediaTek: From Feature Phones to Smartphones
By: Willy Shih
MediaTek was the third largest fabless semiconductor company in the world, and was the second largest supplier of the silicon microchips that powered mobile phones. Yet as the company's chairman reflected on his R&D strategy, he wondered why it hadn't moved faster on... View Details
Keywords: Decision Choices and Conditions; Decisions; Business Strategy; Corporate Strategy; Technology Adoption; Telecommunications Industry; Telecommunications Industry; China; Taiwan
Shih, Willy. "MediaTek: From Feature Phones to Smartphones." Harvard Business School Case 614-059, March 2014.
- May 2008 (Revised December 2010)
- Case
Chi Mei Optoelectronics
By: Willy C. Shih, Chintay Shih, Jyun-Cheng Wang and Ho Howard Yu
Chi Mei is a Taiwanese industrial group that makes a major diversification into the technology intensive TFT-LCD flat panel display industry. Because the diversification is far away from its core competence in petrochemicals, it is an opportunity to examine how the... View Details
Keywords: Globalized Firms and Management; Supply Chain; Corporate Strategy; Diversification; Information Technology; Electronics Industry; Electronics Industry; China; South Korea; Taiwan
Shih, Willy C., Chintay Shih, Jyun-Cheng Wang, and Ho Howard Yu. "Chi Mei Optoelectronics." Harvard Business School Case 608-123, May 2008. (Revised December 2010.)
- February 1990 (Revised March 1990)
- Case
Quantum Semiconductor, Inc.
By: Janice H. Hammond and Roy D. Shapiro
Quantum is faced with a difficult ethical dilemma--industry studies provide evidence that chemicals used in semiconductor manufacturing may cause women working in fabrication cleanrooms to suffer a higher likelihood of spontaneous abortions. The possibility of other... View Details
Keywords: Safety; Prejudice and Bias; Law; Equality and Inequality; Cost; Production; Ethics; Health; Gender; Semiconductor Industry
Hammond, Janice H., and Roy D. Shapiro. "Quantum Semiconductor, Inc." Harvard Business School Case 690-059, February 1990. (Revised March 1990.)
- June 2008
- Article
Decomposability in Knowledge Structures and Its Impact on the Usefulness of Inventions and Knowledge-base Malleability
By: Sai Yayavaram and Gautam Ahuja
We use patent data from the worldwide semiconductor industry from 1984 to 1994 to study the effect of the structure of organizational knowledge bases, or the patterns of coupling between their elements of technical knowledge, on the usefulness of inventions and... View Details
Yayavaram, Sai, and Gautam Ahuja. "Decomposability in Knowledge Structures and Its Impact on the Usefulness of Inventions and Knowledge-base Malleability." Administrative Science Quarterly 53, no. 2 (June 2008): 333–362.
- March 2001 (Revised April 2001)
- Case
MiCRUS: Activity-Based Management for Business Turnaround
By: Robert S. Kaplan, Jonathan B. Schiff and Stanley Abraham
MiCRUS is a new company, spun off from IBM as a joint venture between IBM and Cirrus Logic to produce semiconductor wafers at world-class costs for its two parent companies. The senior management team needs to overcome the bureaucratic, internally focused culture that... View Details
Kaplan, Robert S., Jonathan B. Schiff, and Stanley Abraham. "MiCRUS: Activity-Based Management for Business Turnaround." Harvard Business School Case 101-070, March 2001. (Revised April 2001.)
- July 2024
- Case
ZEISS: Commercializing Science
By: Maria P. Roche, Carlota Moniz and Daniela Beyersdorfer
Karl Lamprecht, President and CEO of the ZEISS AG Group, mused on how far ZEISS had come in 175 years of being a pioneer in optics, and how the course he had charted since taking the helm of the company could keep it on track. In his role, he oversaw the four core... View Details
Keywords: Business Model; Business Organization; Decisions; Business Strategy; Competition; Business History; Collaborative Innovation and Invention; Independent Innovation and Invention; Disruptive Innovation; Innovation and Management; Innovation Strategy; Technological Innovation; Growth and Development Strategy; Knowledge Sharing; Industry Growth; Monopoly; Organizational Culture; Supply Chain Management; Partners and Partnerships; Risk and Uncertainty; Adaptation; Commercialization; Resource Allocation; Corporate Strategy; Semiconductor Industry; Semiconductor Industry; Germany; Europe
Roche, Maria P., Carlota Moniz, and Daniela Beyersdorfer. "ZEISS: Commercializing Science." Harvard Business School Case 725-359, July 2024.
- October 2012 (Revised August 2013)
- Case
Global Unichip Corporation (A)
By: Willy Shih and Chen-Fu Chien
Global Unichip Corporation (GUC) is a design services company that acts as a front-end to TSMC, the world's largest semiconductor foundry. In so doing, it masked the complexity of the latest process technologies, and reduced the entry barriers for small firms to... View Details
Keywords: Abstraction; Value-network; Entry Barriers; Intermediaries; Dis-intermediation; Aggregator; Vertical Specialization; Technology Adoption; Digital Platforms; Competitive Strategy; Corporate Strategy; Horizontal Integration; Vertical Integration; Technological Innovation; Innovation Strategy; Innovation and Management; Industry Structures; Information Infrastructure; Complexity; Information Technology; Semiconductor Industry; Semiconductor Industry; Semiconductor Industry; Taiwan
Shih, Willy, and Chen-Fu Chien. "Global Unichip Corporation (A)." Harvard Business School Case 613-048, October 2012. (Revised August 2013.)
- October 2024 (Revised June 2025)
- Case
Nvidia
By: Andy Wu and Matt Higgins
This case study examines Nvidia's strategic pivot from gaming GPUs to becoming a leader in general-purpose computing and AI. It explores how Nvidia leveraged its GPU architecture to dominate the growing fields of data center acceleration and AI training, outpacing... View Details
- February 2008 (Revised November 2008)
- Case
Radical Collaboration: IBM Microelectronics Joint Development Alliances
By: Willy Shih, Gary Pisano and Andrew A. King
IBM's "Radical Collaboration" model has been an innovative approach to meeting the challenges of the huge R&D and capital investments that are needed to stay competitive in the global semiconductor industry. This model has required a rethinking of what is proprietary,... View Details
Keywords: Cost Management; Investment; Collaborative Innovation and Invention; Problems and Challenges; Alliances; Networks; Partners and Partnerships; Research and Development; Competitive Advantage; Semiconductor Industry
Shih, Willy, Gary Pisano, and Andrew A. King. "Radical Collaboration: IBM Microelectronics Joint Development Alliances." Harvard Business School Case 608-121, February 2008. (Revised November 2008.)
- May 1997 (Revised October 2007)
- Case
Teradyne: The Aurora Project
By: Joseph L. Bower
Three cases deal with the introduction of a new product to Teradyne's line of semiconductor test equipment. Teradyne: Managing Strategic Change provides historic and administrative background for the other two cases. This case deals with the problems facing the head of... View Details
Keywords: Business Divisions; Business Startups; Customer Satisfaction; Product Launch; Product Development; Corporate Strategy; Semiconductor Industry
Bower, Joseph L. "Teradyne: The Aurora Project." Harvard Business School Case 397-114, May 1997. (Revised October 2007.)
- June 2021 (Revised December 2021)
- Case
Suzhou Good-Ark Electronics: Creating and Implementing a Sage Culture
By: Sandra J. Sucher, Nien-he Hsieh, Susan J. Winterberg, Nancy Hua Dai and Shalene Gupta
Suzhou Good-Ark, a Chinese semiconductor implemented "Sage Culture" management based on traditional Chinese philosophy. Productivity doubled, turnover decreased, and employee satisfaction shot up. By 2015, more than 2,000 companies had toured Wu’s factories, and Wu had... View Details