Wistron vs. Luxshare: US-China trade war and its decoupling effects from China

Set in mid-2021, the case follows the events happening at the Taiwanese company, Wistron, which commenced operations as an Original Design Manufacturer (ODM) – a company that designs and produces products for other companies. Its founder, tech billionaire Simon Lin, started Wistron in 2001 as a spin...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: CHEE, Jonathan, GENG, Xuesong
Format: text
Language:English
Published: Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University 2021
Subjects:
Online Access:https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/cases_coll_all/368
https://smu.sharepoint.com/:b:/r/sites/admin/CMP/cases/SMU-21-BATCH%20%5bPDF-Pic%5d/SMU-21-0014%20%5bWistron%5d/SMU-21-0014%5bWistron%5d.pdf?csf=1&web=1&e=As8cBl
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Institution: Singapore Management University
Language: English
id sg-smu-ink.cases_coll_all-1379
record_format dspace
spelling sg-smu-ink.cases_coll_all-13792022-06-22T09:46:05Z Wistron vs. Luxshare: US-China trade war and its decoupling effects from China CHEE, Jonathan GENG, Xuesong Set in mid-2021, the case follows the events happening at the Taiwanese company, Wistron, which commenced operations as an Original Design Manufacturer (ODM) – a company that designs and produces products for other companies. Its founder, tech billionaire Simon Lin, started Wistron in 2001 as a spin-off from ACER Inc., one of the largest multinational computing companies’ hardware producers. After former US president Donald Trump and his administration began taking a hard line on Chinese state-backed enterprises, both superpowers began retaliatory measures that hurt several vital industries. One of the key measures taken by the Trump administration was to impose tariffs on all products entering the US that had manufacturing origins from China, regardless of the firm’s nationality. Foundry manufacturing firms, including Wistron, could no longer sustain the margins required to stay afloat and had to contemplate decoupling their operations out of China to alternative sites. In 2018, Lin saw the opportunity to relocate his iPhone manufacturing operations to India to avoid caught being in the middle of the trade spat. Amidst the move, Wistron was hit by the Covid-19 pandemic, which made the initial costs of relocation untenable. As a result, Wistron had to raise capital very quickly. Luxshare, a relatively new upstart in the manufacturing world was ready to acquire Wistron’s operations in China. Initially blocked by Taiwanese regulators, as Wistron was viewed as a strategic player in a vital industry, Luxshare managed to circumnavigate the restrictions and the sale went ahead. Wistron’s decoupling strategies are now faced with massive challenges in their Indian operations. The firm had struggled to maintain the same level of competency in India as it had in China. As a result, it ran into many issues in the knowledge transfer process and faced one of the largest labour strikes that the country has seen for a while. The case explores broadly the global supply chain, and prospective Chinese acquirers and their meteoric rise to power. It provides an example of how vulnerable some Taiwanese family firms can become as the target of acquisitions of the rising Chinese state-owned enterprises. It exemplifies how the global supply chain and many firms’ decisions may be altered by the national policies made by governments like the US, China, India and Taiwan, the US-China trade war and the unexpected pandemic. 2021-08-01T07:00:00Z text https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/cases_coll_all/368 https://smu.sharepoint.com/:b:/r/sites/admin/CMP/cases/SMU-21-BATCH%20%5bPDF-Pic%5d/SMU-21-0014%20%5bWistron%5d/SMU-21-0014%5bWistron%5d.pdf?csf=1&web=1&e=As8cBl Case Collection eng Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University Growth strategy Global supply chain management Electronic connectors Mobile phones Trade policy COVID-19 Strategic Management Policy
institution Singapore Management University
building SMU Libraries
continent Asia
country Singapore
Singapore
content_provider SMU Libraries
collection InK@SMU
language English
topic Growth strategy
Global supply chain management
Electronic connectors
Mobile phones
Trade policy
COVID-19
Strategic Management Policy
spellingShingle Growth strategy
Global supply chain management
Electronic connectors
Mobile phones
Trade policy
COVID-19
Strategic Management Policy
CHEE, Jonathan
GENG, Xuesong
Wistron vs. Luxshare: US-China trade war and its decoupling effects from China
description Set in mid-2021, the case follows the events happening at the Taiwanese company, Wistron, which commenced operations as an Original Design Manufacturer (ODM) – a company that designs and produces products for other companies. Its founder, tech billionaire Simon Lin, started Wistron in 2001 as a spin-off from ACER Inc., one of the largest multinational computing companies’ hardware producers. After former US president Donald Trump and his administration began taking a hard line on Chinese state-backed enterprises, both superpowers began retaliatory measures that hurt several vital industries. One of the key measures taken by the Trump administration was to impose tariffs on all products entering the US that had manufacturing origins from China, regardless of the firm’s nationality. Foundry manufacturing firms, including Wistron, could no longer sustain the margins required to stay afloat and had to contemplate decoupling their operations out of China to alternative sites. In 2018, Lin saw the opportunity to relocate his iPhone manufacturing operations to India to avoid caught being in the middle of the trade spat. Amidst the move, Wistron was hit by the Covid-19 pandemic, which made the initial costs of relocation untenable. As a result, Wistron had to raise capital very quickly. Luxshare, a relatively new upstart in the manufacturing world was ready to acquire Wistron’s operations in China. Initially blocked by Taiwanese regulators, as Wistron was viewed as a strategic player in a vital industry, Luxshare managed to circumnavigate the restrictions and the sale went ahead. Wistron’s decoupling strategies are now faced with massive challenges in their Indian operations. The firm had struggled to maintain the same level of competency in India as it had in China. As a result, it ran into many issues in the knowledge transfer process and faced one of the largest labour strikes that the country has seen for a while. The case explores broadly the global supply chain, and prospective Chinese acquirers and their meteoric rise to power. It provides an example of how vulnerable some Taiwanese family firms can become as the target of acquisitions of the rising Chinese state-owned enterprises. It exemplifies how the global supply chain and many firms’ decisions may be altered by the national policies made by governments like the US, China, India and Taiwan, the US-China trade war and the unexpected pandemic.
format text
author CHEE, Jonathan
GENG, Xuesong
author_facet CHEE, Jonathan
GENG, Xuesong
author_sort CHEE, Jonathan
title Wistron vs. Luxshare: US-China trade war and its decoupling effects from China
title_short Wistron vs. Luxshare: US-China trade war and its decoupling effects from China
title_full Wistron vs. Luxshare: US-China trade war and its decoupling effects from China
title_fullStr Wistron vs. Luxshare: US-China trade war and its decoupling effects from China
title_full_unstemmed Wistron vs. Luxshare: US-China trade war and its decoupling effects from China
title_sort wistron vs. luxshare: us-china trade war and its decoupling effects from china
publisher Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University
publishDate 2021
url https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/cases_coll_all/368
https://smu.sharepoint.com/:b:/r/sites/admin/CMP/cases/SMU-21-BATCH%20%5bPDF-Pic%5d/SMU-21-0014%20%5bWistron%5d/SMU-21-0014%5bWistron%5d.pdf?csf=1&web=1&e=As8cBl
_version_ 1794549840796975104