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The Road to Becoming a “Giant Lion”-Asustek Computer Inc.

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The Road to Becoming a “Giant Lion”-Asustek Computer Inc.
The Road to Becoming a “Giant Lion”-ASUSTek Computer Inc.

Chyong Ling Judy Chen
Department of Economics
Feng Chia University
100 Wen Hwa Road,
Taichung, Taiwan
Tel: 04-24517250 ext. 4482
Fax: 04-24518737 clchen@fcu.edu.tw Abstract

In Taiwan, small businesses account for about 97% of all firms. Though many people use the terms “entrepreneur” and “small business owner” synonymously, there are significant differences between them. Small business owners pursue profit, but often at a slow pace. Entrepreneurs create substantial wealth, often at rapid speed and take high risks to pursue ideas and opportunities that often involve substantial innovations beyond what a small business owner might exhibit. The CEO of ASUSTek Computer Inc.(ASUS) exhibits these characteristic.

Taiwan’s economic miracle extended to the IT industry after 1990. ASUS was founded on April 2, 1990 by four engineers with capital of NT$10 million. Its total revenue has reached NT$800 billion and market capitalization was NT$49 billion as of December 31, 2007 (US$1=NT$31.5). ASUS’ business significantly took off after Jonney Shih joined the company as CEO in 1994. He is a key anchor of ASUS.

This paper will discuss how entrepreneurial character and beliefs formed ASUS’ culture and their impact on the development of the company’s strategies in business and finance, as well as ASUS’ innovations in marketing and products, leading the company to become a “giant lion” in the computer industry.

Keywords: ASUS; Entrepreneur; Business culture; Innovation

1. Introduction

Taiwan’s economic miracle extended to the IT industry after 1990. Taiwanese IT companies manufacture a diversity of 3C products for the global market (Table 1). Taiwan plays an important role in the world IT industry and is well known as the “Silicon Island.”

Table 1 Taiwan’s IT products, world market shares, and sales amounts
|World Rank |Product |World Market



References: 李書齊 (2007), 30位黑帶高手發功 華碩要從二流企業變一流, 今周刊, 第536期.  伍忠賢 (2007), 華碩馬步心法施崇棠的策略雄心, 五南圖書, 台北. 徐仁全 (2007), 遠見 2007/08/23 葉代芝, 大紀元時報, 1/10/2007. 劉常勇 (2002), 創業管理的12堂課, 天下文化, 台北. 21century is Chinese century: www.sina.com.cn, Oct. 13, 2007. Branding Taiwan (2008), www.brandingtaiwan.org/public/bestCompanyList.asp. Chen, Kevin (2007), “Smooth Sailing,” Staff Reporter, Oct. 31, 2007. Christensen, C. M. (1997), The Innovator’s Dilemma, Harvard Business School Press, Ma. Collins, Jim (2001), Good to Great, HarperCollins Publishers, New York. Hindo, Brian (2007), “At 3M, A struggle between efficiency and creativity,” Cover story, Business Week, 6/11/2007. Miles, R.E. and C.C. Snow (1978), Organizational strategy, structure, and process, McGraw-Hill, New York. Nam, Suzanne (2007), Cover/Top Stories: The Jonney Machine, Forbes, 11/12/2007 Pacheco, Dennis Costa (2007), “What’s Hot-ASUS Eee PC ushers new era of ultra-compact notebooks,” Caribbean Business, Nov Tan, Jason (2007), “Easy Does it,” Staff Reporter, Sep. 13, 2007. Vella, Matt (2007), “Reinventing the wheel: Race-worthy Laptops,” Wall Street Journal, (Eastern edition), New York, July 19, 2007. Wang S.W. (2007), “ASUS’ innovative momentum shakes the world,” Common Wealth, 387, 12/19/2007. What’s in a Name? Flatter Profits, What’s next? (2007), Info Tech, Nov. 12, 2007. Why Taiwan Matters? International cover story, BusinessWeek, May 16, 2005. ----------------------- [1] In the same year when ASUS was established, 40,000 new firms were set up, yet 35,000 closed (劉常勇, 2002).

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