Innovation at Xilinx: a senior operating manager's view

Purpose – How des Xilinx Corporation, with worldwide headquarters in San Jose and European headquarters in Dublin, stay on Fortune magazine's top‐ten‐best‐companies‐to‐work‐for list and remain the market leader in the programmable logic segment of the semiconductor industry?Design/methodology/approach – Strategy & Leadership interviewed Paul McCambridge, Vice President of Xilinx to find out what's behind the company's sustained success as an innovator.Findings – Xilinx wants to be on the breakthrough curve and has adopted a higher‐risk business model to gain technology leadership. Xilinx has created a culture that supports taking risks. The culture assumes that if there is failure there will be both learning and the opportunity to provide a solution in the future. The culture of trust is key. And this extends to customers and supply partnersResearch limitations/implications – More interviews about other aspects of Xilinx's strategic management practices, such as strategic planning, will be the subject of ...