A blend of inner and outer strength propels Asus

What brings you to Boston?
We are having some discussions with Harvard Business School. The Business Review is doing case studies on us and the transformation of how we went from a motherboard maker to making notebooks.

Harvard Business School is very interested in the history of how Asus can transfer our business from original motherboards or components to the current business, and I think that should be a very interesting story.

Asus has had a lead role in motherboard manufacturing and distribution for a long time. What motivated the company to move into laptop computers, a very consumer-driven product?
In 1997, the company started to think that we should expand. We saw that maybe laptop business should be the next step. We did a very good business on the motherboard side and also the OEM [original equipment manufacturer] business. We didn't want to compete with our [component] customers. So we thought of laptops.

We started the business in Taiwan and some European countries, and very fortunately we grew the business from zero to number one in Taiwan within two years. Then we started to go to other countries.

We are currently the number eight laptop brand in the Americas. Why only eight? Because in the beginning as we thought about doing the branded laptop business [in the Americas], there was some conflict with our [OEM] customers so it was very low profile. But in 2007, we separated our OEM and laptop businesses into two companies, and we started to build our operation in the United States.

How is Asus doing in the current global economy?
There are two things we have to watch very carefully. One is the accounts receivable. Two is the exchange rate of different currencies. I think these two things should be watched carefully and completely.

We are focusing on healthy business and developing some healthy products that can contribute to the profit of both our customers and Asus.

As the leader of Asus in the Americas, how do you want people - general consumers - to view your company? When they think of Asus, what do you want them to think about?
In Chinese kung fu we always talk about the inner strength and the outer strength. So, we hope people can consider Asus from these two views. Inside is the innovation, and outside is the perfection of the product design. That's why you can see on the Eee PC, the price range is only in the hundreds, but we still put lots of effort in terms of the development and design.

Outer strength is industrial design. Inner strength is innovation and functionality.

How does the American market and American style differ from Taiwan and China?
Oh, very good question. I have been learning.

The United States is one of the biggest countries in the world. Only Russia, Brazil, India, and China have similar or bigger geography. The United States, however, has one very special feature - transparency. If you want to do business, you have to consider information flow. People can find information and compare our product with others on the Internet in one second.

Also, in China or in other countries, you encounter difficulties on the border between provinces and other countries. In the United States, from East Coast to West Coast, if you send a product through overnight shipping, it's just overnight. In other countries, 10 days or a week at least. The infrastructure in the United States is very well built.

What kinds of gadgets do you use yourself?
My laptop. This product was pushed by me. The U-1, 11-inch laptop. It's very light. Four years ago, I pushed our company to have this product.

And I have my cellphone. I travel a lot, so I need to have the GPS. This is the Asus PDS phone with GPS functionality, so I have GPS with me every day. [Hsu's phone, the Asus P-527 is not available in the United States.] I also have an iPod Nano.