Intel Costa Rica Case Study
Managing Across Borders: Intel in Costa Rica
Under the tough and demanding Andrew S. Grove, Intel drove employees to higher and higher levels of motivation and performance…. Bizarrely, but quite typically, Grove instigated a much-hated system called 'the late list '. He got irritated by early morning meetings that didn 't begin on time and insisted on security staff getting signatures from anybody who arrived after eight o 'clock…. Yet this was the same company where open argument and confrontation, often vigorous in the extreme, were an operating principle. And it was the same company in which relatively lowly engineers, acting on their own initiative, created a magical innovation, the allconquering microprocessor. DeBono and Heller Most of the (native Costa Rican) "Ticos" are very conservative individuals who don 't usually welcome "strange" or different ideas. The country 's economy has grown incredibly in the past years, but the culture still retains conservative tendencies. A lot of foreigners view the Ticos as lacking initiative and as being passive. They also complain of the lack of punctuality and of quick decision-making. However, the positive aspects of the Tico identity are the friendliness and hospitality that most people transmit. Costa Ricans are extremely social. Infocostarica Intel Corporation in the late 1990’s faced the immense challenge of building an assembly and test facility in Costa Rica from the ground up within a year. The start-up would be led by a small group of ex-patriot managers, who were counting on timely operations so that Intel could meet customer demand and achieve its revenue targets. However, there were substantial concerns. Could the steepest manufacturing ramp ever demanded of an Intel assembly and test facility be achieved by a relatively young and inexperienced workforce with distinctive social norms? Could the company attract the engineering talent that it would need to sustain operations, and, if not, what should it do
Under the tough and demanding Andrew S. Grove, Intel drove employees to higher and higher levels of motivation and performance…. Bizarrely, but quite typically, Grove instigated a much-hated system called 'the late list '. He got irritated by early morning meetings that didn 't begin on time and insisted on security staff getting signatures from anybody who arrived after eight o 'clock…. Yet this was the same company where open argument and confrontation, often vigorous in the extreme, were an operating principle. And it was the same company in which relatively lowly engineers, acting on their own initiative, created a magical innovation, the allconquering microprocessor. DeBono and Heller Most of the (native Costa Rican) "Ticos" are very conservative individuals who don 't usually welcome "strange" or different ideas. The country 's economy has grown incredibly in the past years, but the culture still retains conservative tendencies. A lot of foreigners view the Ticos as lacking initiative and as being passive. They also complain of the lack of punctuality and of quick decision-making. However, the positive aspects of the Tico identity are the friendliness and hospitality that most people transmit. Costa Ricans are extremely social. Infocostarica Intel Corporation in the late 1990’s faced the immense challenge of building an assembly and test facility in Costa Rica from the ground up within a year. The start-up would be led by a small group of ex-patriot managers, who were counting on timely operations so that Intel could meet customer demand and achieve its revenue targets. However, there were substantial concerns. Could the steepest manufacturing ramp ever demanded of an Intel assembly and test facility be achieved by a relatively young and inexperienced workforce with distinctive social norms? Could the company attract the engineering talent that it would need to sustain operations, and, if not, what should it do
References: “A Latin America Factory Start-Up,” Scott Headley, Thunderbird Case Series, 2005 “An Interview with Intel Corporation: Investing in Costa Rica,” Nuevo Mundo, retrieved from the World Wide Web, November 19, 2005 “Thinking Managers Blog,” Edward de Bono and Robert Heller, retrieved from the World Wide Web, November 19, 2005 “The Costa Rica Identity,” Infocostarica, retrieved from the World Wide Web, November 19, 2005 4