Mips Computer Systems (A)

 

Case Preparation Questions

 

  1. Mips had many alliances.  Try to group them and identify the most important types of alliances in the Mips network.  What was the rationale behind each of these set of alliances?
  2. Stepping back from the individual alliances,  what was the logic of the total network of alliances?  Did it create synergy or chaos?
  3. When several competitors develop alliance networks, as the RISC players have done, what drives competition among them?  What appear to be the chief design variables or success factors in the alliance groupings?
  4. What should Bob Miller do now?
  5. In this industry, as in several others, leading firms have been forming alliances at an unprecedented rate.  What appears to be the limits (constraints) to the growth of alliance networks?  Has Mips reached them?  How might these limits be managed?