Catching Up and Leapfrogging ─ The New Latecomers in the Integrated Circuits Industry

Ever since Schumpeter’s ground breaking work there has been a plethora of new research seeking to extend the direction and dynamics of innovation. Using a rich account of detailed interviews, this book offers new evidence on how latecomers have successfully caught up and leapfrogged incumbent firms.

Catching Up and Leapfrogging Strategies in the Integrated Circuits Industry explores how technological transitions affect latecomer catch-up strategies, and vice versa, in a high technology industry. It looks to the East Asian latecomers who, towards the end of the 20^th century, pioneered a new pathway through organizational change by specializing on the key production stages of integrated circuits and pushing technologies further. This volume assesses how latecomer resource acquisition strategies have varied alongside structural industry changes and evaluates the mechanisms through which firms started life as a technology follower and rose to become a technology leader.

Xiao-Shan Yap and Rajah Rasiah present a unique story about how firm strategies evolve from the catching up phase to the leapfrogging phase, captured from the accounts of managers on the ground. It is the first time firm-level strategies have been systematically analysed to describe 21st century strategic management in the integrated circuits industry in particular, and the high tech industry in general.

The evidence and analysis in this book offers insights for chief executive officers, policy makers and researchers to revisit existing approaches to the theory of catching up and leapfrogging.

Xiao-Shan Yap is currently a post-doctoral researcher at Eawag, the Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology, Switzerland

Rajah Rasiah is Professor of International Development at the Faculty of Economics and Administration, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur.