Publications

July 2013 (Revised July 2013)
Case

Powerchip Semiconductor Corporation

By: Willy Shih and Chen-Fu Chien

Powerchip Semiconductor Corporation has a horizontal firm structure in an industry that is predominantly organized vertically. While it has been successful in up markets, in the current down market its strategic rationale was being tested. As a capital-intensive... View Details

Keywords: Industry Structures; Organizational Structure; Partners and Partnerships; Competition; Horizontal Integration; Vertical Integration; Semiconductor Industry; Taiwan

November 2022 (Revised April 2023)
Supplement

HTC and Virtual Reality (B)

By: Andy Wu and Matt Higgins

In April 2023, Cher Wang, CEO and Chairwoman of HTC, reflected on her time as a leader in the virtual reality industry from her office high above Taoyuan City, Taiwan. It had been a roller coaster ride of new product introductions and unexpected challenges for HTC and... View Details

Keywords: VR; Virtual Reality; Strategy; Metaverse; Market Entry and Exit; Competition; Technology Industry; Taiwan; China; United States

06 Feb 2012
Research & Ideas

Kodak: A Parable of American Competitiveness

list" of strategic capabilities for the country to focus on, with great success. Today China has captured the supply chain in the electronics industry and will be a dominant player for years to come. Likewise, View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman; Manufacturing

10 Dec 2007
HBS Case

One Laptop per Child

be put in the path of adoption. If you are a technology-centric person, in the West you don't think in terms of a computer replacing a teacher, but in a budget-strapped developing country environment, resources are so limited, there aren't enough teachers. Should View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace; Computer

29 Sep 2015
First Look

September 29, 2015

innovations from industry outsiders who saw economic opportunities where others didn’t—and how these mainstream firms had no choice but to innovate themselves. New models were tried: some succeeded, some failed. Commercial markets turned... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

06 Mar 2012
First Look

First Look: March 6

influential, and industry less influential, than we commonly assume. How Early Adoption Has Increased Wealth—Until Now Authors:Diego Comin and Bart Hobijn Publication:Harvard Business Review 90, no. 3 (March 2012) Abstract Societies that... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

2012
Chapter

Schumpeterian Competition and Diseconomies of Scope: Illustrations from the Histories of Microsoft and IBM

By: Timothy F. Bresnahan, Shane Greenstein and Rebecca M. Henderson

We address a longstanding question about the causes of creative destruction. Dominant incumbent firms, long successful in an existing technology, are often much less successful in new technological eras. This is puzzling, since a cursory analysis would suggest that... View Details

Keywords: Technological Innovation; Opportunities; Competition; Information Technology; Innovation and Management; Organizations; Relationships; Information Technology Industry

June 2015 (Revised January 2017)
Case

Epistar and the Global LED Market

By: Willy C. Shih, Chen-Fu Chien and Hung-Kai Wang

It took BJ Lee many years to learn how to navigate the patent minefield that was the global LED industry. When his company was first spun off from the Industrial Technology Research Institute in Taiwan, he thought the essence of a good IP strategy was to develop a... View Details

Keywords: Intellectual Property Management; Patenting; Patent Litigation; Intellectual Property; Patents; Electronics Industry; Electronics Industry; Asia; United States; Japan; Taiwan

November 2012 (Revised May 2013)
Case

ASUSTeK and the Google Nexus 7 Tablet

By: Willy C. Shih and Jyun-Cheng Wang

Days after Jerry Shen introduced a new tablet computer at the Consumer Electronics Show, a Google meeting convinced him to go with a lower price point and co-branding as the Nexus 7. While his company would have a premier position at launch, companies like Samsung... View Details

April 2008
Supplement

Chunghwa Telecom Co., Ltd. (B)

By: Paul W. Marshall, Michael Shih-ta Chen and Keith Chi-ho Wong

In late November 2000, Chung Telecom Co., Ltd., the once-monopolized telecom operator owned by the Taiwanese government, was on its way to privatization. Mr. C.K. Mao, Chairman of the company, was headed the job only three months earlier, after its prior chairman... View Details

Keywords: State Ownership; Jobs and Positions; Monopoly; Privatization; Competition; Decisions; Motivation and Incentives; Labor and Management Relations; Resignation and Termination; Compensation and Benefits; Price; Status and Position; Telecommunications Industry; Telecommunications Industry; Taiwan

April 2008
Case

Chunghwa Telecom Co., Ltd. (A)

By: Paul W. Marshall, Michael Shih-ta Chen and Keith Chi-ho Wong

In late November 2000, Chunghwa Telecom Co., Ltd., the once-monopolized telecom operator owned by the Taiwanese government, was on its way to privatization. Mr. C.K. Mao, Chairman of the company, who headed the job only three months earlier, after its prior chairman... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Employee Relationship Management; Leading Change; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Privatization; Competition; Telecommunications Industry; Taiwan

September 2010
Case

Quanta Research Institute: Rainforest or Hothouse?

By: Willy C. Shih, Jyun-Cheng Wang and Ho Howard Yu

Barry Lam, the CEO and founder of Quanta Computer (the largest notebook computer manufacturer worldwide), has recognized for many years that he had to transform the company to decrease its dependence on producing commodity hardware for other global brands and move the... View Details

Keywords: Change Management; Leading Change; Growth and Development Strategy; Product Development; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Research and Development; Computer Industry; Taiwan

Teaching Interest

Strategy and Technology (Elective Curriculum)

By: David B. Yoffie

This course explores the unique aspects of creating effective management and investment strategies for technology-intensive businesses. What strategies can win in markets with strong network effects? How can firms leverage technology to build multi-sided platforms?... View Details

Keywords: Strategy; Information Technology; Technology Platform; Telecommunications Industry; Telecommunications Industry; Telecommunications Industry; Telecommunications Industry; Telecommunications Industry; United States; China; Israel; Taiwan

12 Mar 2006
Research & Ideas

New Research Explores Multi-Sided Markets

console platforms are vertically integrated into hardware, whereas most operating system vendors for PCs (Microsoft), PDAs (Palm), and mobile phones (Symbian) have preferred to rely on third-party competing hardware makers. The idea is... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Technology

30 Mar 2003
Research & Ideas

The Future of IT Consulting

Johnston: Your research refers to the PC in the 80's and the Internet in the 90's as triggers of explosive growth for the IT consulting industry. Have you identified a third trigger for this decade? Nolan and Bennigson: The trigger in... View Details

Keywords: by Sarah Jane Johnston; Consulting

20 Apr 2015
Research & Ideas

The 5 Strategy Rules of Bill Gates, Andy Grove, and Steve Jobs

that no one understood what it did was brilliant," says Yoffie. "That changed the entire structure of the semiconductor industry forever." “They were all in many ways highly imperfect leaders. We didn't want to idealize... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Computer

01 Sep 2022
What Do You Think?

Is It Time to Consider Lifting Tariffs on Chinese Imports?

the two countries have managed to alienate each other. It includes everything from blame about COVID-19 to suppression of minorities in China to the US policy toward Taiwan and “One China” to military action in waters adjacent to China to... View Details

Keywords: Re: James L. Heskett

April 2017
Case

Yushan Bicycles: Learning to Ride Abroad

By: Christopher A. Bartlett and Paul S. Myers

Yushan Bicycles, one of Taiwan's leading bicycle manufacturers, is pursuing an international expansion strategy by increasing demand for its range of traditional and electric bicycles and shifting its product mix toward higher-margin models sold through specialty... View Details

Keywords: Globalized Firms and Management; Growth and Development Strategy; Competitive Strategy; Conflict Management; Learning; Bicycle Industry; Taiwan; Australia