Retired Acer chairman and founder Stan Shih has been more successful than most at when it comes to starting a business. From its early days in the 1970s, Acer has spawned businesses whose sales totaled about $66 billion last year, including its own computer business and U.S.-listed LCD panel maker AU Optronics.
After a speech about business culture at the China Europe International Business School in Shanghai last night, I talked with Shih about, among other things, what he considers to be the most promising businesses for entrepreneurs in China today.
Shih said the answer depends on whether the entrepreneur wants to be a pioneer or get involved in a “me-too” business. Shih once wrote a book called “Me-Too Is Not My Style,” so I imagine he doesn’t want to go there.
To develop a business in China or elsewhere, Shih said, “you have to take time to develop your competitiveness.” Acer itself was like that, too, early on, he said. Microprocessor technology wasn’t mature when the company was founded as Multitech in 1976. “I was looking for the long run, and took a step-by-step approach.”
So what about opportunity in China today?
“It isn’t in manufacturing,” he said before giving the answer: “Services.”
“Services are going to grow,” in the future, he says. “There is a lot of room for value creation.”
Time was up. Shih, though no longer chairman at Acer, is on the board of directors at TSMC and Acer, too, and leads an investment company, iD SoftCapital. It will be interesting to see whether the companies Shih is still associated with today can take advantage of those new opportunities he sees in China in the coming years.
–Follow me on Twitter @rflannerychina
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