For sale - a gem of European technology
Article Abstract:
British scientist Iann Barron is determined to see his revolutionary microprocessor, the transputer, succeed in the face of broad scepticism and US competition. Inmos, the firm which Barron helped found in 1978, is for sale for the second time since its sale to Thorn EMI in 1984, and no takers have expressed interest. Barron says that European high technology start-ups are made difficult by an environment which is hostile to innovative products, slow-paying buyers, slavish worship of US trends, and an identifiable bias against European technology. The transputer chip can be employed in a standard microprocessor, but can also serve as a building block for computers that do parallel processing. The transputer's revolutionary nature required development of a special programming language known as OCCAM. Transputer sales for the year ended Mar 1986 were just $11 million of total company revenues of $68 million, but transputer orders are expected to hit $25 million in 1987.
Publication Name: International Management
Subject: Business, international
ISSN: 0020-7888
Year: 1987
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The myth and the man: how Philippe Kahn has built Borland
Article Abstract:
Software entrepreneur Philippe Kahn has used marketing skills and the innovative Turbo Pascal "language compiler" to help build the four-year-old Borland International company into a $27.1 million firm. Kahn used mail-order, low-price sales to sell 700,000 copies of Turbo Pascal in its first three years. Danish programmers, who originally developed Turbo Pascal, later came up with SideKick, a successful desk-top organizer software program for Borland. Kahn has parted ways with Danish co-founder Niels Jensen, although Jensen retains a 10.2 percent interest in the company.
Publication Name: International Management
Subject: Business, international
ISSN: 0020-7888
Year: 1987
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Silicon Valley's 'new wave' of Europeans
Article Abstract:
European-born immigrants to California's Silicon Valley are having an impact on the state's high technology industries. Immigrants such as Philippe Kahn of Borland International and Jean-Louis Gassee of Apple Computer have been attracted to California because they feel it is more conducive to innovation and entrepreneurship than their native countries. These engineers and managers report frustration at the lack of venture capital available in Europe, and by tight government restrictions on the extraction of profits.
Publication Name: International Management
Subject: Business, international
ISSN: 0020-7888
Year: 1987
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