Elizabeth Woyke, 11.05.08
In a rare interview, Asus Chairman Jonney Shih describes his philosophy and plans for an “Eee Phone.”
As disruptions go, the one that Taiwan-based AsusTeK Computer has been leading is, well, pretty sweet. It has pioneered the development of low-cost “netbooks,” one of the few electronics devices that may prove resistant to the economic downturn. It’s created some of the first scented PCs. And this holiday season, Asus will display its electronics inside fashion retailer Macy’s— a first for the company.
And all those firsts are just the beginning for Asus, as far as company chairman, Jonney Shih, sees it.
Shih, the press-shy founder and chairman of Asus is emerging as a genuine technology visionary as well as one of the longest-serving executives in the fast-moving industry of mobile devices. Shih visited Boston this week to listen as professors and students at Harvard Business School offered their observations about what Asus has done–and how it can continue to grow–as they debated two newly published cases studies on the company.
The attention was both flattering and amusing to the 57-year old chairman, who granted a rare interview to Forbes.com. Shih was struck by how many were familiar with his company’s popular Eee PC, but not its 19-year history. “They didn’t realize Asus is a $23 billion [in revenues] company!” laughs Shih, who is wiry and, by turns, philosophical and energetic. “They seemed to think it was a small firm.”
…
An engineer by training, Asus’ Shih is keenly interested in management thinking. A fan of Jim Collins and Clayton Christensen, he is fond of sayings like, “Start with numbers, but end with people” and “start with management, but end with leadership.” Several years ago, Shih created a list of five virtues–humility, integrity, diligence, agility, and courage–that he wanted every Asus employee to exemplify. He is equally precise about his vision for the company–a combination of “lean Six Sigma” thinking, solid engineering and attention to aesthetics.
One high-profile project is a super-secret, mobile device that will be unveiled at GSMA Mobile World Congress, a global telecom conference held each February. Shih calls the gadget the “Eee Phone,” after the Eee product line and hints that it will have a multi-touch screen and combine voice, video, Internet and location-based functions. The Taiwanese media has suggested that the phone could be based on Google‘s Google (nasdaq: GOOG – news – people ) Android…
