How would you account for Acer’s outstanding start-up? What caused this company to outpace scores of other Taiwanese PC companies?
Acer is a company that was founded by Shih, his wife and a couple of other people. It was founded in the 1976 and the electronic market at that time was still small. This time cellphones where not yet even invented so the market was pretty good for a starter. This is I believe one of the reasons why Acer’s startup was outstanding.
One of the other many reasons is because of their willingness to try everything that came their way. They dared to do everything, from providing engineering to publishing trade journals. They were not hesitant and were very hungry to succeed.
Acers CEO Shih was also a very charismatic leader, transferring very important philosophies to his employees hence creating a strong foundation. He paid his employees modest salaries and offered them equity. The employees in turn felt a sense of ownership and this had a very good impact on their performances. They were very loyal and followed Shih’s leadership. Shi did not only offer key employees equity but also delegated substantial decision-making responsibility to them. Empowering his employees in such a way only made them more loyal and committed to the company. Shih also believed and valued his employee’s education and created an environment where people were ready to learn and improve themselves. Joint ventures also cut down costs and developed good relationships with suppliers.
The whole work environment was like a family and everyone there was very comfortable and happy. When employees are happy, the company’s customers are also happy.
All of these reasons and more made Acer then known as Multitech outscore the other Taiwanese PC companies.
After a strong decade of growth, why did Acer’s growth and profitability tumble in the late 1980’s? How do you evaluate Leonard