Hewlett-Packard: Singapore (A)

In the over 20 years since Hewlett-Packard (HP) set up a manufacturing site in Singapore to produce calculators, HP has invested managerial talent and resources in developing its licensor into a technology development partner. The case details the growth of high-volume manufacturing capabilities and the setting up of an R&D facility. Various projects are described in which Singapore contributed an increasing amount of skill, leading up to an abortive attempt to completely co-develop a new printer. Singapore now feels ready to develop a printer on its own for the Japanese market, and the case poses the question of whether or not it is ready to do so. There is also an issue of whether the developers understand the Japanese market well enough to proceed.