This is due to Taiwan’s unique trend of export-oriented small and medium enterprises (SME) – a direct result of domestic-market prioritization by state-owned enterprises (SOE) in its formative years.[11] While the development of SMEs allowed better market adaptability and inter-firm partnerships, most companies in Taiwan remained original equipment manufacturers (OEM) and did not – other than firms like Acer and Asus – expand to original design manufacturing (OBM).[12] These SMEs provide "incremental innovation" with regard to industrial manufacturing but do not, according to Dieter Ernst of the East–West Centre, a think-tank in Honolulu, surpass the "commodity trap", which stifles investment in branding and R&D projects.[13]