When was acer made

The term "third wave" referred to the most recent phase of the history of Taiwan's computer industry: the first was characterized by trademark and patent piracy, the second by clonemaking, and the third by technological innovation. Instead of simply churning out other companies' designs, Acer began to set itself apart from most of its Taiwanese competitors by doing its own research and development.

For example, the company developed one of the world's first Chinese language computer systems. Acer went public in , having chalked up average annual growth of percent from to The late s brought internal and external changes that had a devastating effect on Acer.

The internal problems were completely unexpected. Described in an October Fortune article as "a cerebral Ph. Liu's managerial style reflected his experience at "Big Blue": in contrast with Shih's traditionally progressive corporate culture, Liu tried to centralize control of Acer. His offputting approach has been blamed for a management exodus in the early s.

At the same time, the computer industry quickly matured, shifting from a high profit margin business to a low margin commodity practically overnight. Price wars pushed component prices down so rapidly, and a strong New Taiwan dollar made the country's goods so expensive, that it became difficult to make a profit on the finished product.

Acer's stock dropped to 50 percent of its initial public offering price. Shih had to sell Acer's headquarters to make a profit in These difficulties, however, did not deter Shih from making several expensive, and oft-criticized, expenditures during the late s and early s.

Half of its output was sold to Acer, and the other half was sold on the world market. Some industry observers ballyhooed the project, noting a glut in the global DRAM market. Financial World 's Jagannath Dubashi was skeptical that the company's investments would pay off, noting in her July coverage of the company that "this new aggressiveness seems both poorly timed and unrealistic.

At the time, Shih would have been the first to agree with such an assessment. In January , he offered to resign from the company he had founded. Acer's board of directors turned down Shih's resignation, but accepted Leonard Liu's withdrawal three months later. By mid-year, Shih had resumed dayto-day administration of Acer and its American subsidiary.

Instead of being cowed by the setback, Shih was determined to cement Acer's future in the PC industry by transforming it from just another OEM into one of the world's leading computer brands. He would achieve this goal via several revolutionary strategies. In a Financial World article, Shih compared Taiwanese computer manufacturing to Chinese restaurants, saying that "Chinese food is good, and it is everywhere, but it has no uniform global image or consistent quality. Shih wanted Acer to be more like McDonald's, the quintessential fast food restaurant that boasted a strong brand image and strict quality standards.

This unique paradigm shift required a complete overhaul of Acer's production and distribution scheme. Instead of assembling computers in Taiwan, as it had done for more than a decade, the company began to ship components to 32 locations around the world for assembly. Shih compared computer components including casings, keyboards, and mice to such staples as ketchup and mustard that could be shipped slowly and stored indefinitely. He likened the motherboard, which had to have the "freshest" technology possible, to the meat in a sandwich.

It was shipped by air from Taiwan to each assembly operation. Finally, Shih compared the CPU and hard drive to "very expensive cheese: we try to source them locally. Acer ranks among the world's top five branded PC vendors, designing and marketing easy, dependable IT solutions that empower people to reach their goals and enhance their lives.

This production scheme saved on shipping costs and enabled Acer to include the most up-to-date Shih liked to call it the "freshest" technology available. In Acer-speak, "fresh" meant innovative. Not content to rely on low-end knockoffs of other companies' technology, Acer stayed abreast of the industry's latest developments. That year also saw the introduction of an international service and support network, a vital element of any successful PC business in the s.

In , Acer unveiled a new PC that came equipped with a RISC reduced instruction-set computing chip and Microsoft's most recent version of the Windows operating system. Shih hoped to bring the "fast food" concept all the way to the retail level, so that customers could custom-order computers with peripherals and memory capacity specifically suited to their needs.

Acer tested this concept at a company-owned retail store in Taipei. It seemed to be as close as Acer could come to McDonald's-style service: only two hours passed from the time a system was ordered to the time it was booted. Shih's "global brand, local touch" strategy was closely related to the "fast food" distribution concept. Instead of creating a series of centrally controlled foreign subsidiaries, Acer established a network of virtually autonomous affiliates, much like a fast food franchise system.

Each of these affiliates was managed by a group of locals who determined product configurations, pricing strategies, and promotional programs based on national or regional preferences. The affiliate would usually have just one Taiwanese person on staff to facilitate interorganizational communications. This strategy gave each Acer affiliate the semblance of a local company, an image that carried with it several benefits.

Perhaps most important, it helped to downplay Acer's Taiwanese roots. Despite the country's large strides in the area of quality, "made in Taiwan" continued to carry negative connotations in the minds of many consumers.

While Shih was proud of his company's heritage, individual affiliates often found it efficacious to de-emphasize that aspect of the business. Globalization at Acer employed a third strategy adapted from an Asian chess-like game called "Go. For example, Acer established itself as the leader in less hotly contested markets in Latin America, Southeast Asia, and the Middle East. This combination of tactics worked quickly and well, vindicating many of Acer's previously criticized moves.

From to , Acer advanced from 14th to ninth among the world's largest computer manufacturers, surpassing Hewlett-Packard, Dell, and Toshiba. In the mids, Acer began to globalize production as well as assembly, building a keyboard and monitor plant in Malaysia in In , Shih unveiled a plan to "deconstruct" Acer into 21 publicly traded business units by the end of the 20th century.

Acer Inc. Michael Zimmerman of PC Week speculated on another possible motivation behind the plan, known internally as "in Acer Computer International, the company's Asia-Pacific distributor, had its initial public offering in September Spinoffs of Acer Peripherals, the corporation's manufacturer of keyboards and monitors, and Acer Sertek, the Taiwanese distribution operation, were planned for Stock in Acer America and certain Latin American operations was slated to go on the auction block by Global sales did strengthen, but Acer's performance lagged in the U.

Acer America was reorganized in both and in an attempt to stem the tide of loss. This had a significant impact on the company's bottom line because at the time, one third of Acer Inc. Its branded PCs were ranked ninth in sales in the U. PC market. That same year Acer America purchased Texas Instruments' notebook sector.

At the time it had 37 assembly sites worldwide, but no manufacturing outside of Asia. Later that year the company opened its first manufacturing plants outside of Asia, in Mexico, in order to reduce shipping time to the Latin and North American markets. Acer TravelMate P Display size Acer Spin 3 Display size Acer Aspire 3 Display size Acer Aspire 5 Display size Acer Aspire AG Display size Acer Aspire AG Review.

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