Acer and Lenovo Path differences

Absrtact: Taiwan companies have been very cautious in selecting successors. The words of Acer founder Shih yesterday were surprising. He said he would retire in June and elect a new chairman, and 3 years later, he hopes Chen will become the chairman's successor. Who is Chen Jun-San?

Taiwan companies have been very cautious in selecting their successors. The words of Acer founder Shih yesterday were surprising. He said he would retire in June and elect a new chairman, and 3 years later, he hopes Chen will become the chairman's successor.

Who is Chen Jun-San? He worked for IBM, Intel and TSMC. In 2008, I interviewed him at TSMC's Taiwan headquarters, a handsome and elegant man who was once considered a potential candidate for TSMC's CEO.

But Chen is not a direct descendant, to Acer less than half a year. Shih must have a great sense of crisis. In my view, Acer has undergone two transformations in the past, and I think this should be shih in the implementation of the third reconstruction.

This moment Hu Hongyu not so wonderful. Look at a set of data: 2008, Lenovo's annual revenue (according to the normal Four seasons) has lagged Acer about 2 billion U.S. dollars. In 2013, Acer's revenue was $12 billion and Lenovo Group 37.2 billion. Acer has less than One-third of Lenovo's group. In the past year, when Lenovo had invested heavily in IBM's x86 server business and its mobile phone, Acer had responded to the continuing turmoil of its executives by eliminating the negative impact of insider trading.

This makes it seem that Acer, compared with Lenovo's tall, seems to have broken down and is being forgotten by many media outlets.

Shih the third time that Acer can succeed? You know, he is the same age as Liu, only 8 months younger than Liu, was originally retired, enjoy the time. In the face of Liu's ambitions, he has nothing to do.

His new strategy for Acer is actually a cloud business model. Unlike other global giants divided into public and private clouds, Acer will allow consumers to build their own cloud, relying on PCs, to connect mobile terminals, so Acer will join the Giants to build an application platform, from the hardware company into the "Hardware + Software + Services" model.

This is the result of his discussions with 40 senior executives at the beginning of the year. It doesn't look like much novelty. What is Acer's chance in the global banner of clouds?

In my opinion, this is the most reasonable way for Shih to plan for Acer and the return of Acer's value. It can even be said that Taiwan's brand enterprises to optimize the road to upgrade. This is because:

Taiwan's TMT industry has developed industrial division of labor;

Second, Taiwan has developed cultural and creative industries;

Acer has a good business reserve.

The value of Taiwan in the global IT industry lies in the division of labor that is subdivided into extremes. Of course, there was also a vertically integrated IDM model early on. You can find all the parts and components in PC field in Taiwan. Many years ago, every earthquake in Taiwan, the outside world is worried that the entire industry will be paralyzed, not empty words. At present, many production links have been relocated to the mainland and Southeast Asia.

Acer was born in 1976, 5 years earlier than Lenovo, and is involved in almost all parts of the PC-related area, including semiconductors. Then two times, stripping manufacturing, Acer moved to pure brand operations. It should be said that it is a history of change in Taiwan's IT industry.

But in Taiwan to do the brand, the market hinterland is too small, no local backers. Coupled with the limited opening of the Strait, it forced the Taiwanese to operate globally from the start, or else they would not. By 2005, Acer was a lot more internationalized than HP, Dell and Lenovo.

Things are different now. The value of Taiwan's industry, once discriminated against, is being revalued, becoming the infrastructure of the global cloud computing and Internet of things. As you can see, over the past two years, Taiwan's semiconductor and PC-foundry giants have been involved in cloud computing infrastructure services. This should be said to be the brand enterprise Acer's third time to recreate the best industrial soil.

Taiwan's developed cultural and creative industries are becoming the support of content resources. Over the past 6 years, Foxconn, Quanta and other Taiwanese industries have been involved. Mr Gou even said he would have invested in 100 films before he died. At present, Foxconn is building a comprehensive operating base in Taiwan to integrate TMT. The Acer reengineering provides support for content resources.

As for Acer itself, it more than 10 years ago put forward the "cloud + End" concept, at that time its strategy is the BC (parity computer), XC (dedicated computer) grafting, transition to the "giant architecture, micro-service" service mode, the implementation of electronic services, should be said to be very strategic vision. The acquisition of a subsidiary, Igware, 2 years ago, has been transformed into a Acer cloud technology company with a number of core technologies and app services.

Shih said that the future, to unite Taiwan, the mainland and international market partners, together "Rumble".

It's all just a formality. The concrete effect still depends on the person. Shih personally understand that he could not perform many of the specific. Therefore, the outside world saw that in the past year, he did not hesitate to remove many of the old men, including outstanding achievements and because the netbook has many questions Wang and others. When the general manager of Greater China Lin Xianrong "retired", he did not retain.

The author talked to a core executive of Acer, and in fact, as early as 5 years ago, Shih was aware of Acer's crisis and strategic dilemma, but he felt that he should not intervene too much and should give the time to Acer's decision-making. Even so, he had been Lachen Jun Saint, but the latter was the first step by TSMC to the high salary to pull away.

Just from that point, I felt that Shih never really gave up on Acer. Therefore, yesterday, the public to support the entry of less than half a year Chen Jun-San as chairman of the post 3 years later, I think he must have a long-term arrangement.

In fact, in addition to Chen Saint, Shih also dug a new CFO and group spokesperson. The woman was the Hu Yanying of chief executive officer of Hong Kong Asia Television Limited and president of the Golden Gale Music Culture Group. She also served as general Manager and vice chairman of the Taiwan Television network. Media and cultural creative executives were drawn to the CFO, which smelled a lot.

After 45 days, Shih retired, but he also returned. By then, he will be the chief architect of Acer's own cloud-building initiative, leading the way. Since the concept of cloud-building spans many areas, he said, it will combine business, services, health care and education to create a new pattern.

"After the pan-pan, the things you do are the layout of the general direction, including cultural and strategic vision, the term of only 45 days will be over, now the mood is like a few steamed buns." Yesterday he said so.

"Steamed bun" shows a kind of thoughts about him. The retreat, which means that the Shih is another ride in Acer, is the graft of content with the cultural industry.

In my opinion, Acer's third reinvention is bigger than the Lenovo Group, especially in the personnel fools. Acer's first two reengineering, the high-level did not how to change, but changed the thinking, the replacement of the new head of the change, the direction of software and services, forcing the Shih to employ airborne troops, Acer's Taiwan since the establishment of the cloud sector about 30-50 people, and the United States about 30-40 people. Lenovo Group has also experienced a lot of personnel changes in recent years, but on the whole, it is dependent on the PC industry from the people.

Of course, this comparison is not appropriate. Lenovo, which relies on a huge continental market, is already much larger than Acer and has more to do with restructuring.

Shih, Chen Saint actually also very envy association. Shih said that Lenovo can indeed use acquisitions to enhance the international image, and the mainland market to support the acquisition of more powerful, and Taiwan's local market is too small, the Government's attitude towards the industry is not as positive as South Korea, the situation is difficult, the acquisition of benefits is not easy to see, this is Acer pushed its own cloud, Chen Jun-San said, Lenovo is indeed on a step, But Acer's most important thing is to improve its physique rather than scale it, and there will be no recent acquisitions.

Writing here, I think, over the past years, the public's judgment on the brilliance and ups and downs of cross-strait enterprises often ignores the regional market factors, especially the resource differences in the context of cross-strait political and business discourse. Compared to Lenovo, Acer's brand operations are hard to support without a stronghold, but they will have a more international perspective once they get through the start-up period, and Lenovo, which has a huge local market, is often easy to survive in its infancy, but it has more twists and turns to achieve an astonishing internationalization jump. The current situation of Acer and Lenovo does not represent a long-term pattern.

And I get the feeling from Shih's remarks and actions: the difference between Acer and Lenovo is just the result of the reshaping of the global TMT industry chain, and the rise of the mainland economy has given Lenovo a driving force. And Taiwan's horizontal industry has been a long division of labor, the transition period to give the brand enterprise support is not so big.

Therefore, Lenovo and other mainland brands should really thank the Chinese mainland in this era. The brilliance and lows of an enterprise are often closely related to the vicissitudes of an economy. Everything in sight is not the end, but the beginning of a change.

I'm bullish on the Lenovo, and also bullish on Acer, no matter what model and path they take, behind Shih and Liu said that cultural drive. Liu returned, the intention is to drive culture, restore confidence, grasp the strategic pattern, and Shih said he had come back is also organizational culture reengineering. Shih mouth obsessed with the spirit of the king, Liu saying the spirit of ownership and engine culture. I think, China and even the global Chinese entrepreneurs to retreat, pro-Pro, depending on the spirit of enterprise, although tens of thousands of people I also went to the Confucian spirit, is the cross-strait enterprises continue to rise, to obtain the key to global recognition.