Reflections on Business and Innovation: A Journey through Taiwan

Published 01/02/2024 in Scholar Travel Stipend

Written by David Tang-Quan | 01/02/2024

In September, I embarked on an enlightening journey through Taiwan, a country bustling with innovation and entrepreneurial spirit. This trip allowed me to delve into the intricacies of business practices and innovation strategies distinct from those in the United States.

While there were a number of highlights over the course of my trip (in particular experiencing the innovation and creativity present in a range of foods!), a particularly pivotal moment was my visit to Bezalel, a Taiwanese startup revolutionizing the wireless charging industry, so I’ve focused my reflections accordingly.

A Little Context

As a bit of background, Taiwan has shown strong support for innovation and business-building, with the 2022/2023 report of the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) ranking the country third in the world in overall entrepreneurial environment, particularly in its supportive infrastructure, talent, and policies. This is further reflected by the significant (and growing) investments into research and development (R&D) in the country, with the Taipei Times reporting that almost 4% of GDP has been spent across technology development and applied research.

Experiencing Bezalel's Innovative Culture

Founded by Frank Wu, Bezalel exemplifies the dynamic startup culture in Taiwan. My visit to their office in Chiayi, Taiwan, was an exchange of insights and experiences. As an out-of-town guest, I was asked to share from my own experiences working in innovation consulting and a variety of startups, but in sharing my three key points with the audience, I found myself learning equally from their own responses to my questions and their approach to solving the challenges in front of them. I’ve shared below the three points I made to the group, along with my reflections and learnings based on their responses:

1. They already understand deeply knowing their customers

Usually, when I speak to teams, I find that they know their customers at the demographic level, with all the key characteristics in terms of age, income, gender, and maybe even ideas around what triggers them to enter into the customer marketing funnel. However, I often find that the understanding ends there, and it becomes much harder for employees to truly capture the key frictions or pain points that the customer is experiencing that drives them to look for a solution in the first place. At Bezalel, though, this was not an issue. When I asked for someone on the team to explain their customer to me, one woman immediately raised her hand and started sharing the detailed “jobs-to-be-done” that their customers were facing. Her ability to articulate detailed customer profiles, focusing on pain points and specific requirements, was remarkable. This approach is crucial in tailoring solutions effectively and is a stark contrast to some U.S. firms that often rely heavily on quantitative data, sometimes missing the nuanced understanding of customer experiences. It was clear to me that deep understanding of customers was already an understood point!

2. They are already much further along in the GenAI adoption and utilization curve

Given the moment of time we are in, I thought it relevant to make a point regarding experimenting with new technologies - taking advantage of the test and learn process that we use in startups and applying it to one’s own use of new technologies in a role. When I asked for a show of hands of who had used generative AI (GenAI) in some form, every single hand was raised. I was shocked. While I definitely expected some to be experimenting with it or using it for email drafts or the like, for every single team member to have used it and for it to in-fact have been broadly acknowledged across the company as a useful tool that the marketing team in particular leveraged was quite amazing. In the US, a number of businesses are still warming up to the potential of AI and concerned about the potential risks rather than the potential opportunities, whereas Bezalel’s team was already harnessing its capabilities. This forward-thinking attitude is a testament to the agility and openness to new technologies prevalent in Taiwanese startups. I might add that while I do primarily work with large US companies, and thus I understand the risk-aversion within larger companies vs a startup, my conversations with US startups as well have also shown a reticence to take the time to explore and ramp to the new technologies.

3. Career self-management was the point that stood out

The discussion on career progression and career management was perhaps the one point where I did actually feel like I had something new to add to the conversation! Again, in a show-of-hands question to the group, I asked whether any of them knew what the next role or job they wanted to have was (note that I didn’t ask them to reveal their answer in front of their managers or anything like that, just whether or not they knew what they were working towards). Only one or two partially raised their hand. In the US, career planning is an embedded part of many people development conversations - articulating what the next role is and how you want to get there, including goal-setting with one’s manager. Yet there seemed to be a distinct hesitance to set those goals, or if one did, to communicate that out to the broader group. I did want to encourage the group more for themselves to reflect on what they wanted to learn, and even if they did not feel comfortable sharing that goal broadly, to articulate it to themselves so that they can then start to create their own learning goals and work towards that end state. Too often, employees will leave companies because they no longer see growth opportunities for them to learn and develop in a role, but if you are able to state what you are looking for, and managers work to support that, it keeps great talent at the company.

Conclusion

Overall, my visit to Bezalel and my broader journey through Taiwan was not just a mere observation of different business practices but a learning experience that highlighted the importance of understanding cultural nuances in business and innovation. The Taiwanese model, with its deep customer understanding, rapid technology adoption, and unique career dynamics, offers valuable lessons for U.S. businesses. As the world becomes more interconnected, the fusion of these diverse practices could pave the way for more innovative and globally-aware business strategies. This trip has been a profound reminder of the vast potential that lies in embracing different business cultures and practices, and the importance of contextual understanding in driving successful innovation in a global landscape.