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 partners Research limitations/implications – More interviews about other aspects of Xilinx's strategic management practices, such as strategic planning, will be the subject of future interviews. Practical implications – In bad economic times Xilinx took unconventional actions to preserve teams and avoid layoffs. The result was the culture of innovation was enhanced. Originality/value – Here is a rare look at how a senior leader manages the continual risks of making breakthrough innovation happen.