Snippets from the renegade province

There has been quite a bit of discussion recently about the "US$100-laptop" developed by the Massachusett's Institute of Technology (MIT) Media Lab. This discussion has also extended to the company that is involved in its manufacture, Quanta, a Taiwanese firm.

The Taipei Times has an interesting article on Taiwanese firms' reluctance to associate their brands with their country of origin, Taiwan.

Digitimes, a publisher of information technology news, has an interesting report on Taiwanese notebook shipments for 2005. According to their report, Taiwanese firms actually reduced the number of own- brand notebook shipments in the first quarter of 2005 with some own-brand vendors leaving the business completely.

It's not easy selling notebooks in highly competitive markets like the United States of America, so many firms here in Taiwan are trying to slip in under the radar to markets such as India, where there may be a better chance of making an impact with their own brands.

This leads to one of the most difficult questions for businesses: Do we actively look for competitive markets, which stimulates innovation, or seek out markets where we can avoid direct confrontation?





[Tags]: Innovation in Asia, innovation management, Joseph Schumpeter, ageing populations, product development, Innovation in China, Innovation in Taiwan, Innovation in India