Analysis
Partnership is key to semiconductor business success says NMI
A report from the National Microelectronics Institute (NMI) concludes that the successful UK semiconductor firms of the future will ensure that partnering is a fundamental aspect of their business cultures. ‘Partnering the Future – Business Innovation in UK Microelectronics’ is based on post-graduate research carried out during 2007.
InstJohn Moor, NMI’s Marketing Director and the author of the report said, “What’s very clear from the research is that company wide partnering strategies have become essential in helping firms improve commercial performance – a key consideration in what can be highly cyclical global markets. What’s more, the use of partnerships or ‘alliances’ on the market side appears to provide important insights into the differences in fortune between the UK’s financial performers and under-performers.”
“One particular trend that the report highlights is an emerging ‘Web 2.0’ approach to semiconductor business, whereby firms leverage partners on the demand side to provide complementary and supporting products and services. This creates an eco-system of users and developers, which accelerates and supports demand. Start-up and mature companies alike are either already proactively using their communities of users and developers to create additional content for their core product or are rapidly advancing towards this stage.”
He continued, “It’s certainly not the intent of the report to sensationally speculate say about the birth of a ‘Semiconductor 2.0’ business model, it’s aim is to inspire companies to think more closely about how they can work with others to create more robust, sustainable and profitable businesses for the longer term.”