The leader of one of the most powerful companies in the high-technology industry, Andrew S. Grove is an example of an immigrant "who makes good" story. This research examines the life and accomplishments of Grove and his approach to business.
Andrew Grove was born in Budapest, Hungary in 1936. He graduated from the City College of New York in 1960 with a degree in Chemical Engineering, and received his doctorate from the University of California, Berkeley in 1963. After he graduated, he joined the Research and Development Laboratory of Fairchild Semiconductor and became Assistant Director of Research and Development in 1967. In July 1968, Dr. Grove participated in the founding of Intel Corporation where he helped guide the company's direction. In 1979 he was named its President, and in 1987, Chief Executive Officer. Dr. Grove is currently Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Intel ("Andrew Grove," 1999, p. 1).
Dr. Grove has written more than 40 technical papers and holds several patents on semiconductor devices and technology (unlike some CEOs who do not have technical backgrounds). For six years he taught a graduate course in semiconductor device physics at the UC Berkeley, and Grove is now a lecturer at the Stanford Graduate School of Business. In addition to several technical books, Grove also authored High Output Management in 1982 and Only the Paranoid Survive in 1996 ("Andrew Grove," 1999, p. 1).
Companies are constantly responding to shifts and changes in the competitive forces. Suppliers may enter or leave the markets, new uses may be found for existing products, or new competitors may come into the market. Most of these changes are small and companies make them without difficulty. But there are changes which are more important than others because they signal a fundamental shift in the way the company must do business. These changes have a "10X" effect on the company and Gr...