The nature, sources, and consequences of firm differences in the early history of the semiconductor industry

Four entrants into the early semiconductor industry-Sprague Electric, Motor ola, Shockley Semiconductor Laboratories, and Fairchild Semiconductor-displ ayed remarkably different performance and behavior. Case studies of the fir ms demonstrate that the key differences stemmed from the firms' technologic al goals and activities and their abilities to integrate R&D and manufactur ing. These differences can in turn be related to the firms' origins and the ir different conditions upon entry into the semiconductor industry, which h ad lasting effects due to constraints an change. While the cases offer limi ted prescriptions for management, they underscore the importance of technol ogical diversity for an industry's rate of technical advance and in turn, p ublic policies that support such diversity. Copyright (C) 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.