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Innovation Policies in South Korea & Taiwan - Vinnova

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• Tier 1: labour-<strong>in</strong>tensive light <strong>in</strong>dustries (toys, cloth<strong>in</strong>g, footwear,sport<strong>in</strong>g goods)• Tier 2: scale-<strong>in</strong>tensive heavy and chemical <strong>in</strong>dustries (steel, metals,fertilizers, basic chemicals)• Tier 3: assembly-based <strong>in</strong>dustries where product differentiation and bothscale and scope economies dom<strong>in</strong>ate (motor vehicles, televisions andother consumer durables)• Tier 4: <strong>in</strong>novation-<strong>in</strong>tensive ‘Schumpeterian’ <strong>in</strong>dustries <strong>in</strong> which R&Dand close customer <strong>in</strong>teraction are key <strong>in</strong>puts (aircraft, computers,pharmaceuticals)Economies that are early on the development path seek to develop <strong>in</strong>dustrialsectors where the significance of economic and <strong>in</strong>dustrial development isfelt <strong>in</strong> the future.National and economic growth is a very complex process which, despitesimilarities between places, is locally, regionally and nationally specific.The penchant to compete as well as to imitate successes <strong>in</strong> other places hasbeen especially pronounced <strong>in</strong> the case of policies to create technologicalcapability. At the national level, this is manifested <strong>in</strong> <strong>in</strong>dustrial policies andscience and technology (S&T) policies that try to ’target’ certa<strong>in</strong> <strong>in</strong>dustriesand technologies which are considered to have especially high potential forfuture growth and to protect traditional <strong>in</strong>dustries (OECD, 1991). Industrialpolicy measures used to protect established sectors <strong>in</strong>clude subsidies,government procurement, tax preferences and national product standards.Macroeconomic policies are also critical s<strong>in</strong>ce they <strong>in</strong>fluence the flow off<strong>in</strong>ance to new <strong>in</strong>dustries and firms and create stable conditions <strong>in</strong> whichentrepreneurs can operate (Porter, 1990, Roobeek, 1990).National differences <strong>in</strong> the <strong>in</strong>stitutional and organizational structuressupport<strong>in</strong>g technological change are usually known as national systems of<strong>in</strong>novation, co<strong>in</strong>ed by Lundvall (1985). These structures go beyond anarrow view of <strong>in</strong>novation, and beyond earlier accounts of national researchsystems (Movery and Rosenberg, 1989) to encompass the range of statesocietalarrangements and their <strong>in</strong>fluence on competitiveness (Freeman,1995).In recent years the ”triple-helix” model has been much discussed as a tool tounderstand university-<strong>in</strong>dustry-government relations. The ”triple-helix”thesis states that the university can play an enhanced role <strong>in</strong> <strong>in</strong>novation <strong>in</strong><strong>in</strong>creas<strong>in</strong>gly knowledge-based societies. As knowledge becomes an<strong>in</strong>creas<strong>in</strong>gly important part of <strong>in</strong>novation, the university as a knowledgeproduc<strong>in</strong>gand dissem<strong>in</strong>at<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong>stitution plays a larger role as a part of an7


<strong>in</strong>novation system. Industrial <strong>in</strong>novation was earlier an activity largely thepreserve of either the <strong>in</strong>dustry or government or it may have been a bilateral<strong>in</strong>teraction between these two <strong>in</strong>stitutional spheres (Etzkowitz et.al, 2000).Thus, <strong>in</strong>dustrial policies focused upon the government-bus<strong>in</strong>ess relationship,while <strong>in</strong> the ”triple-helix” model three <strong>in</strong>stitutional spheres (public, private,academic) are looked upon as critical elements <strong>in</strong> the <strong>in</strong>novation process.Globalization has raised several fundamental issues for most countries.Firstly, national governments want to support their own national companiesbut nowadays its is no longer clear which companies are national as theidentity of firms are <strong>in</strong>creas<strong>in</strong>gly blurred. Secondly, national policy makershave to formulate science and technology programmes that are <strong>in</strong> tune withthe rapid technological development (Sigurdson and Cheng, 2001). The firstissues requires a shift <strong>in</strong> policy focus from the macro to the micro-level,where governments seek to <strong>in</strong>fluence the performance of firms and<strong>in</strong>dustries. The second issue requires an <strong>in</strong>creas<strong>in</strong>gly close <strong>in</strong>teraction with aglobal system of <strong>in</strong>novation (ibid).1.2 Objectives and outl<strong>in</strong>e of the study<strong>South</strong> <strong>Korea</strong> and <strong>Taiwan</strong> (R.O.C.) are two of the most well-knownexamples of newly <strong>in</strong>dustrializ<strong>in</strong>g economies which have been remarkablysuccessful dur<strong>in</strong>g the past three decades.Particularly critical to understand<strong>in</strong>g their success is the complex <strong>in</strong>teractionof different <strong>in</strong>stitutions and policies – implicit as well as explicit.The objectives of this study are:• To give an update overview of <strong>South</strong> <strong>Korea</strong>’s and <strong>Taiwan</strong>’s policiesconcern<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong>novation and technology.• To compare between these two economies, ma<strong>in</strong> po<strong>in</strong>t of strength andweakness regard<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong>novation systems, ma<strong>in</strong>ly based on <strong>in</strong>stitutionalframework of the Triple Helix model.Chapter 2 gives an account of various parts of national competitiveness,focus<strong>in</strong>g on <strong>in</strong>novation systems, knowledge-based economy and statepolices. Chapter 3 and 4 deals with <strong>South</strong> <strong>Korea</strong> and <strong>Taiwan</strong> respectively,provid<strong>in</strong>g an account of their development policies, <strong>in</strong>novation andtechnology policies. In the case of <strong>Taiwan</strong> two <strong>in</strong>dustry-specificperspectives have are <strong>in</strong>cluded, the IT-sector and the efforts to develop acommercial aerospace cluster and <strong>in</strong>novation system <strong>in</strong> the economy.Chapter 5 gives an overall evaluation and comparative perspectives ofstrength and weakness of <strong>South</strong> <strong>Korea</strong>’s and <strong>Taiwan</strong>’s <strong>in</strong>novation systems.8


As def<strong>in</strong>ed by the OECD (1996), a knowledge-based economy is aneconomy <strong>in</strong> which the production, distribution, and use of knowledge arethe ma<strong>in</strong> drivers of growth, wealth creation, and employment across all<strong>in</strong>dustries. The term ‘knowledge-based economy’ has drawn considerableattention <strong>in</strong> both academic and political arenas, but its exact mean<strong>in</strong>g is stillrather blurred. S<strong>in</strong>ce knowledge is an <strong>in</strong>tangible good, it implies that aneconomy based on materials or manufactur<strong>in</strong>g differs from a knowledgebasedeconomy. There are many different features of knowledge, and themost important <strong>in</strong>clude:First, as knowledge has become <strong>in</strong>creas<strong>in</strong>gly important as an economicgood, the distance between knowledge and economic activities has shrunk.This could be applied to the ‘third mission’ of <strong>in</strong>stitutions of universitiesand other <strong>in</strong>stitutions of higher education and research. Second, knowledgeas an <strong>in</strong>put generates scale and scope economies, but the magnitude of theseeconomies depends on the speed at which knowledge depreciates andbecomes obsolete as well on market size. Therefore, speed and first-moveradvantage are central aspects of <strong>in</strong>dustrial competition <strong>in</strong> the knowledgebasedera (Chen and Liu, 2003).Third, as knowledge is <strong>in</strong>creas<strong>in</strong>gly <strong>in</strong>tegrated <strong>in</strong>to economic output, giv<strong>in</strong>grise to the dematerialisation of f<strong>in</strong>al products, the boundaries betweenmanufactur<strong>in</strong>g and services and between hardware and software are notclear. Fourth, <strong>in</strong>formation technology and networks, which are central to thecreation, distribution, and utilisation of knowledge, are necessary conditionsfor <strong>in</strong>dustrial development <strong>in</strong> the era of knowledge-based economy.Technology, <strong>in</strong> general, is an enabl<strong>in</strong>g or facilitat<strong>in</strong>g agent that makespossible new structures, new organizational and geographical arrangementsof economic activities, new products and new processes (Dicken, 1998).Already Joseph Schumpeter po<strong>in</strong>ts out (1943) that,“the fundamental impulse that sets and keeps the capitalist eng<strong>in</strong>e <strong>in</strong> motioncomes from the new consumers’ goods, the new methods of production ortransportation, the new markets, the new forces of <strong>in</strong>dustrial organizationthat capitalist enterprise creates” (p. 83).Technological change is the ‘the fundamental force <strong>in</strong> shap<strong>in</strong>g the patternsof transformation of the economy’ (Freeman, 1988) and ‘the chronicdisturber of comparative advantage’ (Chesnais, 1986). Althoughtechnologies, <strong>in</strong> the form of <strong>in</strong>ventions and <strong>in</strong>novations, orig<strong>in</strong>ate <strong>in</strong> specificplaces, they are no longer conf<strong>in</strong>ed to such places. <strong>Innovation</strong>s spread ordiffuse with great speed under current conditions.10


A fifth aspect of a knowledge economy is that it is characterised by theglobalization of a wide range of corporate value-added activities. Production<strong>in</strong>novation <strong>in</strong>volves an assortment of knowledge related to various stages ofthe value cha<strong>in</strong>. Knowledge applied to manufactur<strong>in</strong>g, market<strong>in</strong>g, andcustomer services is complementary to the knowledge used <strong>in</strong> product<strong>in</strong>novation.Vertical <strong>in</strong>tegration of the <strong>in</strong>novation function <strong>in</strong> the value cha<strong>in</strong> is onlyjustified if <strong>in</strong>ternalisation is the best way to acquire the relevant knowledge,and this is not always the case. Because of network externalities and productcompatibility, successful <strong>in</strong>novations for technical systems entail <strong>in</strong>tensive<strong>in</strong>terfac<strong>in</strong>g among actors with different knowledge- and skill-bases <strong>in</strong> an<strong>in</strong>novation network (W<strong>in</strong>drum 1999). On the one hand, <strong>in</strong>novations oftenresult from collective efforts of <strong>in</strong>terrelated firms. Moreover, the value cha<strong>in</strong>does not need to be completely <strong>in</strong>ternalised with<strong>in</strong> any <strong>in</strong>dividual firm. Onthe other hand, technology sourc<strong>in</strong>g has been driv<strong>in</strong>g firms to<strong>in</strong>ternationalise their R&D (Gerybadze and Reger 1999, Niosi 1999) and toform <strong>in</strong>ter-firm partnerships (Delapierre and Mytelka 1998). Thus, firms canbuild competitive advantage based on knowledge by leverag<strong>in</strong>g and align<strong>in</strong>gboth their <strong>in</strong>ternal and external networks on different geographical scales.Over time, and under specific historical circumstances, societies havedeveloped dist<strong>in</strong>ctive ways of organiz<strong>in</strong>g their economies, even with<strong>in</strong> theuniversal ideology of capitalism. Capitalism comes <strong>in</strong> many differentvarieties and governance models with their differ<strong>in</strong>g conception of the roleof government <strong>in</strong> regulat<strong>in</strong>g the economy (Berger and Dore, 1996; Doremuset. al, 1998; Turner, 2001; Whitley, 1999)In neo-liberal market capitalism, exemplified by the United States, marketmechanisms are used to regulate almost all aspects of the economy.Individualism is a dom<strong>in</strong>ant characteristic, where short-term bus<strong>in</strong>ess goalsand ’share-holder value’ tend to predom<strong>in</strong>ate. In social-market capitalism, ahigher premium is placed upon collaboration between different actors <strong>in</strong> theeconomy with a broader identification of ’stakeholders’ beyond that ofowners of capital. This k<strong>in</strong>d of capitalism can be exemplified byScand<strong>in</strong>avian countries. In developmental capitalism, exemplified by Japan,<strong>South</strong> <strong>Korea</strong>, <strong>Taiwan</strong>, the state plays a much more central role, although notusually <strong>in</strong> the terms of public ownership. This mode of governance ischaracterized by the sett<strong>in</strong>g of substantive social and economic goals as wellthe as existence of a comprehensive <strong>in</strong>dustrial policy.The most obvious stimulatory measures concern<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong>dustrial policy arevarious f<strong>in</strong>ancial and fiscal <strong>in</strong>centives governments may offer to privatesector firms (Dicken, 1998, 2003). The f<strong>in</strong>ancial measures most commonlyused fall <strong>in</strong>to two categories. On the one hand, governments may provide11


capital grants or loans to firm to supply part or all of the <strong>in</strong>vestment requiredfor a particular productive venture. The other major f<strong>in</strong>ancial, or ratherfiscal, <strong>in</strong>centive employed by governments is that of tax concessions. Underthis banner a whole variety of measures may be employed, such as allow<strong>in</strong>gfirms to depreciate or write down their capital <strong>in</strong>vestment aga<strong>in</strong>st tax at anaccelerated rate, grant<strong>in</strong>g them tax reductions or even tax exemptions.The rapid and far-reach<strong>in</strong>g technological developments <strong>in</strong> <strong>in</strong>novation,products and processes, transportation and communication technologies etc,have led many governments to try to stimulate research and developments <strong>in</strong>key sectors and to encourage technological collaboration between firms.The perceived need to stimulate entrepreneurial activity has produced awhole battery of policies to encourage small and medium-sized enterprises.Governments may also attempt to restructure firms – and even entire<strong>in</strong>dustries – to improve their <strong>in</strong>ternational competitiveness.Regulation of national <strong>in</strong>dustrial activity can also take a variety of forms,such as state ownership of productive assets, although a current trend <strong>in</strong>many market economies is towards <strong>in</strong>creased privatization. Entry <strong>in</strong>toparticular sectors may be discouraged through the operation of merger andcompetition policies, despite the current trends towards deregulation ofcerta<strong>in</strong> <strong>in</strong>dustries such telecommunications and f<strong>in</strong>ancial services. Thevarious stimulatory and regulatory policies may be applied generally acrossthe whole of a nation’s <strong>in</strong>dustries or they may be applied selectively.Industrial <strong>in</strong>novation was earlier an activity largely the preserve of either the<strong>in</strong>dustry or government or it may have been a bilateral <strong>in</strong>teraction betweenthese two <strong>in</strong>stitutional spheres.Industrial and technology policies focused upon the government-bus<strong>in</strong>essrelationship, while <strong>in</strong> the ”triple-helix” model three <strong>in</strong>stitutional spheres(public, private, academic) they are viewed as critical elements <strong>in</strong> the<strong>in</strong>novation process. The ”triple-helix” thesis is analytically different fromthe national systems of <strong>in</strong>novation proposed by Lundvall (1992) and Nelson(1993) which regard firm as hav<strong>in</strong>g the lead<strong>in</strong>g role <strong>in</strong> <strong>in</strong>novation.The evolution of <strong>in</strong>novation systems, and the current conflict over the pathto be taken <strong>in</strong> university-<strong>in</strong>dustry relations, are reflected <strong>in</strong> the vary<strong>in</strong>g<strong>in</strong>stitutional arrangements of university-<strong>in</strong>dustry-government relations(Etzkowitz and Leydesdorff, 2000). First, one can dist<strong>in</strong>guish a specifichistorical situation which one can label Triple Helix 1, where the nationstateencompasses academia and <strong>in</strong>dustry and relations between them. Thestrong version of this model could be found <strong>in</strong> the former Soviet Union and<strong>in</strong> the Eastern European countries, while weaker versions were formulated12


<strong>in</strong> the policies of many Lat<strong>in</strong> American countries and to some extent <strong>in</strong>European countries such as Norway (ibid).A second model consists of separate <strong>in</strong>stitutional spheres with strongborders between the different spheres, as well as highly circumscribedrelations among the spheres. F<strong>in</strong>ally, ”triple-helix” III generates aknowledge <strong>in</strong>frastructure <strong>in</strong> terms of overlapp<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong>stitutional spheres, witheach tak<strong>in</strong>g the role of the other and with hybrid organizations emerg<strong>in</strong>g atthe <strong>in</strong>terfaces. Triple Helix 1 is largely viewed as a failed developmentalmodel, with few possibilities for ”bottom up” <strong>in</strong>itiatives. Triple Helix IIentails a laissez-faire policy, nowadays also advocated as shock therapy toreduce the role of the state <strong>in</strong> Triple Helix 1.Figure 1: Triple-Helix IIStateIndustryAcademiaSource: Etzkowitz and Leydesdorff, 2000.In various forms, many countries are now try<strong>in</strong>g to atta<strong>in</strong> some form ofTriple Helix III. Ma<strong>in</strong> objectives are to create an <strong>in</strong>novative environmentconsist<strong>in</strong>g of university sp<strong>in</strong>-offs, tri-lateral <strong>in</strong>itiatives for knowledge-basedeconomic development, and strategic alliances among firms, governmentlaboratories, and academic research groups13


Figure 2: Triple-Helix IIIStateIndustryAcademiaSource : Etzkowitz and Leydesdorff, 2000.14


3 SOUTH KOREA3.1 Development policies – general views<strong>Korea</strong> had very limited contacts with the rest of the world until the open<strong>in</strong>gtreaties of 1876-83. After 15 years of adjustment, rapid developmentseemed possible but was cut short by Japan’s annexation <strong>in</strong> 1910. Thecolonial era left <strong>in</strong> all <strong>Korea</strong>ns a profound psychological trauma, whichessentially tended to <strong>in</strong>duce conservation of traditional ways of th<strong>in</strong>k<strong>in</strong>g(seen as <strong>Korea</strong>n) and dislike of modern ideas (seen as Japanese) and at thesame time to enhance the status of two modern forces seen as anti-Japanese– Christianity and communism. Unlike other colonial countries the <strong>Korea</strong>nsdid not feel hostility for the West, which was seen as a natural ally aga<strong>in</strong>stJapan.<strong>South</strong> <strong>Korea</strong> came <strong>in</strong>to be<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong> 1948, follow<strong>in</strong>g the partition of <strong>Korea</strong> <strong>in</strong>totwo parts. <strong>Korea</strong> had been a Japanese colony, very tightly <strong>in</strong>tegrated <strong>in</strong>to theimperial economy.<strong>Korea</strong> emerged from the colonial period as an <strong>in</strong>complete economy <strong>in</strong> twosenses: liberation separated the Republic from its major export market,Japan; and the division of the country separated complementary functions –light <strong>in</strong>dustry and agriculture <strong>in</strong> the south, heavy <strong>in</strong>dustry and energysources <strong>in</strong> the north. The United States Military Government attempted withfewer resources and far less <strong>in</strong>formation, to apply the k<strong>in</strong>d of reformsGeneral MacArthur was mak<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong> Japan. It was hampered by ignorance,left-w<strong>in</strong>g and centrist opposition, uncerta<strong>in</strong>ty about long-term division ofthe pens<strong>in</strong>sula, and even guerrilla war. Despite these handicaps, by the timethe United States handed over southern <strong>Korea</strong> to an elected domesticgovernment <strong>in</strong> 1948, the economy had recovered to a considerable extentdespite the shutt<strong>in</strong>g off of power supplies from north of the 38th parallel <strong>in</strong>February 1948 and difficulties <strong>in</strong> obta<strong>in</strong><strong>in</strong>g raw materials (Michell, 1988).Reconstruction started <strong>in</strong> 1951, s<strong>in</strong>ce the front l<strong>in</strong>e was reasonably stablefrom that year onwords and American air superiority prevented bomb<strong>in</strong>g ofthe south. A total of 2,080 million current dollar poured <strong>in</strong>to the republic of<strong>Korea</strong> dur<strong>in</strong>g the 1950s, whereas total damage was evaluated at 5,000million (1953) dollars (KDI, 1975, p.13).Attention was given to creat<strong>in</strong>g an effective national education system aswell as a land reform. The land reform of 1948-50 removed the old landlordclass and created a more equitable class structure and a redistribution of15


Japanese-owned and state properties to <strong>in</strong>dividuals which helped to create anew <strong>Korea</strong>n capitalist class (Koo and Kim, 1992).Accord<strong>in</strong>g to Michell (1988), <strong>South</strong> <strong>Korea</strong>’s development s<strong>in</strong>ce the SecondWorld War has passed through five stages:• The transition from a colonial to an <strong>in</strong>dependent economy (1945-50)• The <strong>Korea</strong>n War and reconstruction (1950-59)• The transition from low to high growth (1960-69)• Export-led growth (1970-77)• Unstable growth and recession (1978-82)The 1993 study by the World bank, divided the <strong>Korea</strong>n development <strong>in</strong>tothe follow<strong>in</strong>g five stages:• War, reconstruction and land reform (1950-60)• Export takeoff (1961-73)• Heavy and chemical <strong>in</strong>dustries drive (1973-79)• Functional <strong>in</strong>centives and liberalization (1980-90)• F<strong>in</strong>ancial sector liberalization (1990-)The export takeoff phase (1961-73) was a period with an aggressivepromotion of exports comb<strong>in</strong>ed with classic import protection at home.<strong>Korea</strong>n policymakers ma<strong>in</strong>ta<strong>in</strong>ed close control over trade, exchange, andf<strong>in</strong>ancial policy, as well as aspects of <strong>in</strong>dustrial decision-mak<strong>in</strong>g. In contrastto their controlled economies, they used these <strong>in</strong>struments to pursue theprimary objective of export growth. The trade regime was biased <strong>in</strong> favourof exports as a whole but essentially neutral with respect to theircomposition.From 1962 to 1997 <strong>South</strong> <strong>Korea</strong> achieved remarkable economic growth,with an average of nearly eight per cent per year and <strong>Korea</strong>’s version of thestate-led growth model achieved what some believe to be the greatestdevelopment success <strong>in</strong> history.Between 1948 and 1988, when political liberalization occurred, <strong>South</strong> <strong>Korea</strong>was governed by a succession of authoritarian, military-backed and stronglynationalistic governments. These governments operated a strong statedirectedeconomic policy articulated through a series of five-year plans. Theemphasis changed over time from primary import-substitut<strong>in</strong>g<strong>in</strong>dustrialization (food, beverages, textiles, cloth<strong>in</strong>g, footwear, cement, light16


manufactur<strong>in</strong>g), through primary export-oriented <strong>in</strong>dustrialization (textilesand apparel, electronics, plywood, chemicals, petroleum, paper, steelproduction), secondary import-substitut<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong>dustrialization and secondaryexport-oriented <strong>in</strong>dustrialization (automobiles, shipbuild<strong>in</strong>g, steel and metalproducts, petrochemicals, electronics, consumer electronics etc.).In the 1950s, the economic policy was under public control due to heavy USforeign aid for <strong>South</strong> <strong>Korea</strong>’s reconstruction after the <strong>Korea</strong>n War. Incomparison, every major shift <strong>in</strong> <strong>in</strong>dustrial diversification <strong>in</strong> the 1960s andthe 1970s was planned by the <strong>South</strong> <strong>Korea</strong>n government (Amsden, 1989), asignal that the state planned and decided upon the major milestones <strong>in</strong> <strong>South</strong><strong>Korea</strong>’s <strong>in</strong>dustrialization. A powerful economic bureaucracy was created,with a key role played by a new Economic Plann<strong>in</strong>g Board (EPB). Thebureaucracy has still managed to reta<strong>in</strong> itself as one of the power elitegroups along with the military and the most privileged organ, the EPB,headed by the deputy prime m<strong>in</strong>ister (Kim, 1987).At the same time, the f<strong>in</strong>ancial system was placed firmly <strong>in</strong> the hands of thestate; the banks were nationalized, and the Bank of <strong>Korea</strong> was broughtunder the control of the M<strong>in</strong>istry of F<strong>in</strong>ance. This highly centralized ”statecorporatist”bureaucracy, <strong>in</strong> effect, ”aggressively orchestrated the activitiesof private firms” (Wade, 1990, p. 320). Another part of the policy was toactively encourage the development of a small number of extremely largeand highly diversified family-controlled bus<strong>in</strong>ess groups, the chaebol, thatstill cont<strong>in</strong>ued to dom<strong>in</strong>ate the economy. The <strong>South</strong> <strong>Korea</strong>n governmentdeliberately created and nurtured chaebols to use them as locomotives forrapid economic development. These bus<strong>in</strong>ess groups were the backbone of<strong>in</strong>dustrialization <strong>in</strong> the labour-<strong>in</strong>tensive <strong>in</strong>dustries and played a major role <strong>in</strong>expedit<strong>in</strong>g technological learn<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong> <strong>in</strong>dustry, upgrad<strong>in</strong>g <strong>South</strong> <strong>Korea</strong>’stechnological capability and globaliz<strong>in</strong>g <strong>South</strong> <strong>Korea</strong>n bus<strong>in</strong>ess. Theyconsequently generated the lion’s share of production and exports from<strong>South</strong> <strong>Korea</strong>.By controll<strong>in</strong>g the f<strong>in</strong>ancial system, particularly the availability of credit,the <strong>Korea</strong>n government was able to operate a strongly <strong>in</strong>terventionisteconomic policy. The chaebol were favoured and long-term relationshipswere developed between them and the state.Access to modern technologies was a major need and for most part thesewere acquired from abroad. <strong>South</strong> <strong>Korea</strong> adopted a restrictive policytowards <strong>in</strong>ward <strong>in</strong>vestment (table 3.1). Until 1983 it placed curbs on foreigndirect <strong>in</strong>vestment that restricted the permitted level of foreign ownership,specified a m<strong>in</strong>imum export performance and local content level. As aconsequence, the share of FDI <strong>in</strong> the <strong>Korea</strong>n economy has been extremelylow.17


Table 3.1Investment share of GDP (Per cent)1990 1999Develop<strong>in</strong>g countries 13.4 28.0Source: UNCTAD, 2001.S<strong>in</strong>gapore 76.3 97.5Malaysia 24.1 65.3Chile 33.2 55.2Indonesia 34.0 46.2Ch<strong>in</strong>a 7.0 30.9Argent<strong>in</strong>a 6.4 22.2Brazil 8.0 21.6Thailand 9.6 17.5Pakistan 4.8 17.2Mexico 8.5 16.4Philipp<strong>in</strong>es 7.4 14.9<strong>Taiwan</strong> 6.1 8.0<strong>South</strong> <strong>Korea</strong> 2.0 7.9India 0.6 3.6In the early 1980s, however, the emphasis of <strong>Korea</strong>n economic policyshifted towards a greater degree of liberalization. State control of thef<strong>in</strong>ancial system was eased <strong>in</strong> 1983, and at the same time the domesticmarket was to some extent opened up to a greater degree of imports. Inwardforeign direct <strong>in</strong>vestment began to be encouraged follow<strong>in</strong>g the 1984Foreign Capital Inducement Law that <strong>in</strong>creased the number ofmanufactur<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong>dustries open to foreign direct <strong>in</strong>vestment. Some relaxationof <strong>South</strong> <strong>Korea</strong>’s str<strong>in</strong>gent labour laws, otherwise the most restrictive andrepressive of any East Asian NIEs (Deyo, 1992), occurred.In 1988, the military regime was replaced by a democratically electedgovernment. Some attempts were made to persuade the chaebol to changesome of their practices, but with only limited success (Dicken, 2003).Dur<strong>in</strong>g the 1990s much of <strong>Korea</strong>’s traditional <strong>in</strong>dustry policy was weakened(Chang, 1998). Major changes were made <strong>in</strong> policies of f<strong>in</strong>ancial regulation,18


exchange rate management, and <strong>in</strong>vestment coord<strong>in</strong>ation. The central pillarof <strong>South</strong> <strong>Korea</strong>’s <strong>in</strong>dustrial policy – the coord<strong>in</strong>ation of <strong>in</strong>vestment – beganto be dismantled.The f<strong>in</strong>ancial crisis that swept through East and <strong>South</strong>east Asia <strong>in</strong> the late1990s did have profound effects on <strong>South</strong> <strong>Korea</strong>’s economy. The country’sproblems were attributed by the IMF, and by the Western f<strong>in</strong>ancialcommunity <strong>in</strong> general, to the existence of an over-regulated, statedom<strong>in</strong>atedeconomy with excessively close relationships betweengovernment and bus<strong>in</strong>ess. Certa<strong>in</strong> reforms were needed as both the <strong>Korea</strong>neconomy and the broader global environment were chang<strong>in</strong>g. Not least wasthe need to reform the chaebol, which had come to distort the economy andwhich were, themselves, <strong>in</strong> great f<strong>in</strong>ancial difficulty. That battle is stillgo<strong>in</strong>g on. The question is whether the push for the Anglo-American<strong>in</strong>stitutional model, half voluntary and half under IMF pressure, is the rightreform program for a country such as <strong>South</strong> <strong>Korea</strong>, which has beendevelop<strong>in</strong>g successfully employ<strong>in</strong>g other <strong>in</strong>stitutional methods.3.2 Technology policiesOver the years, the <strong>Korea</strong>n government has adopted an array of policy<strong>in</strong>struments designed to facilitate technological learn<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong> <strong>in</strong>dustry and <strong>in</strong>turn strengthen the <strong>in</strong>ternational competitiveness of the economy. Thegovernment not only stimulates the demand side of technological learn<strong>in</strong>gthrough <strong>in</strong>dustrial policy <strong>in</strong>struments but also gives rise to the supply side oftechnological capability through technology policies.At the outset of economic development, <strong>South</strong> <strong>Korea</strong> as well as <strong>Taiwan</strong>, hadto rely on foreign technology imports. However, <strong>Korea</strong>’s policies on foreignlicenses were quite restrictive <strong>in</strong> the 1960s. In the case of manufactur<strong>in</strong>g,general guidel<strong>in</strong>es from 1968 gave priority to technology that promotedexports, developed <strong>in</strong>termediate products for capital goods <strong>in</strong>dustries, orbrought diffusion effect to other sectors. The restrictive policy on licens<strong>in</strong>gstrengthened local licensees’ barga<strong>in</strong><strong>in</strong>g power on generally availabletechnologies, lead<strong>in</strong>g to lower prices for technologies than would otherwisehave been the case (Kim, 1997).In a bid to attract more sophisticated technologies, a change <strong>in</strong> nationalpolicy was <strong>in</strong>troduced <strong>in</strong> the 1970s. Restrictions on foreign licens<strong>in</strong>g wereeased <strong>in</strong> 1970 and 1978, result<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong> the <strong>in</strong>crease of royalty payments. Mostforeign licens<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong> the early years was associated with technical assistanceneeded to tra<strong>in</strong> local eng<strong>in</strong>eers to run turnkey plants (ibid).In contrast to the gradual relaxation of government control on foreignlicens<strong>in</strong>g, the government policy on foreign direct <strong>in</strong>vestment (FDI) saw19


complete change <strong>in</strong> the 1960s and 1970s. The FDI policy was rather free <strong>in</strong>the 1960s, but few foreign <strong>in</strong>vestments were made dur<strong>in</strong>g this decade,primarily due to uncerta<strong>in</strong>ties about <strong>South</strong> <strong>Korea</strong>’s political an economicoutlook. The government reversed its FDI policy <strong>in</strong> the 1970s, tighten<strong>in</strong>g itscontrol. Jo<strong>in</strong>t ventures were given priority compared to wholly ownedsubsidiaries. Three different criterias were <strong>in</strong>troduced:1) Competition with domestic firms were seldom allowed <strong>in</strong> bothdomestic and <strong>in</strong>ternational markets.2) Export requirements were forced on FDIs.3) Foreign participation ratios were basically limited to 50 percentThus, <strong>South</strong> <strong>Korea</strong> was one of a few countries with restrictions on FDIwhen technology was not a critical element and necessary maturetechnologies could be acquired through mechanisms other than FDI, such asreverse-eng<strong>in</strong>eer<strong>in</strong>g. As a consequence, the size of FDI and its proportion tototal external borrow<strong>in</strong>g were significantly lower <strong>in</strong> <strong>South</strong> <strong>Korea</strong> comparedwith many other newly <strong>in</strong>dustrializ<strong>in</strong>g countries (<strong>Korea</strong> Exchange Bank,1987). These circumstances reflect <strong>South</strong> <strong>Korea</strong>’s explicit policy ofpromot<strong>in</strong>g its <strong>in</strong>dependence from mult<strong>in</strong>ationals <strong>in</strong> management control(Kim, 1997). This implies that FDI had a much smaller impact on the<strong>Korea</strong>n economy compared with the FDI effects <strong>in</strong> other NIEs.The technology transfer promotion through procurement of turnkey plantsand capital goods led to massive imports of foreign capital goods at the costof retard<strong>in</strong>g the development of the local capital goods <strong>in</strong>dustry. Themassive imports of foreign capital goods became a major source of learn<strong>in</strong>gthrough reverse-eng<strong>in</strong>eer<strong>in</strong>g by <strong>Korea</strong>n firms (Kim & Kim, 1985). AmongNIEs, the proportion of capital goods imports to technology transfer washigher <strong>in</strong> <strong>South</strong> <strong>Korea</strong> than <strong>in</strong> countries such as Argent<strong>in</strong>a, Brazil, India andMexico (Westphal, Kim & Dahlman, 1985). Other <strong>in</strong>struments also played arole <strong>in</strong> lubricat<strong>in</strong>g the <strong>in</strong>flow of foreign capital goods to <strong>South</strong> <strong>Korea</strong>: theslight overvaluation of the local currency, tariff exemptions on importedcapital goods, and the f<strong>in</strong>anc<strong>in</strong>g of purchases by suppliers’ credits, whichcarried low <strong>in</strong>terest rates relative to those on the domestic market, allworked to <strong>in</strong>crease the attractiveness of capital goods imports.After two decades of restrictive policy toward foreign direct <strong>in</strong>vestment andforeign licens<strong>in</strong>g, <strong>South</strong> <strong>Korea</strong> liberalized its technology transfer policies <strong>in</strong>the 1980s and 1990s. Progressively more sophisticated foreign technologieswere needed to susta<strong>in</strong> its <strong>in</strong>ternational competitiveness <strong>in</strong> high value-added<strong>in</strong>dustries. In the early 1990s there was a steady decl<strong>in</strong>e <strong>in</strong> new FDI <strong>in</strong>tomanufactur<strong>in</strong>g, while there was an <strong>in</strong>crease <strong>in</strong> FDI <strong>in</strong> service sectors. In the1960s and 1970s foreign companies <strong>in</strong>vested ma<strong>in</strong>ly due to low labour20


costs, at a time they were not so will<strong>in</strong>g to collaborate with <strong>Korea</strong>ncompanies <strong>in</strong> relatively more technology-<strong>in</strong>tensive areas (Kim, 1997). <strong>South</strong><strong>Korea</strong> has been heavily dependent on both Japan and the U.S. fortechnology imports. These two countries accounted for more than 80 percent of FDI and more than 70 percent of foreign licens<strong>in</strong>g and capital goodsimports dur<strong>in</strong>g the 1960s and 1970s (ibid).The government’s plan to develop the capital goods <strong>in</strong>dustries was <strong>in</strong>itiated<strong>in</strong> 1968 but not seriously implemented until the mid-1970s. Thedevelopment of local consult<strong>in</strong>g eng<strong>in</strong>eer<strong>in</strong>g firms was promoted by theEng<strong>in</strong>eer<strong>in</strong>g Service Promotion Law of 1973, which stipulated that mosteng<strong>in</strong>eer<strong>in</strong>g projects should be given to local firms as major contractors withforeign partners as m<strong>in</strong>or participants. From a technology diffusionperspective <strong>South</strong> <strong>Korea</strong> had no efficient mechanism for diffusion oftechnical <strong>in</strong>formation until the 1980s. In the 1960s the governmentestablished a scientific and technological <strong>in</strong>formation centre as a l<strong>in</strong>k<strong>in</strong>gmechanism for dissem<strong>in</strong>at<strong>in</strong>g technical <strong>in</strong>formation and a public research<strong>in</strong>stitute as a diffusion agent. These diffusion agents were not successfulbecause <strong>Korea</strong>n researchers lacked the manufactur<strong>in</strong>g know-how that wasimportant <strong>in</strong> the first decades of development. More important as diffuserswere the government enterprises established <strong>in</strong> the 1950s and 1960s. Manyeng<strong>in</strong>eers from these firms, ma<strong>in</strong>ly fertilizer and mach<strong>in</strong>ery <strong>in</strong>dustry, laterwent to private firms’ eng<strong>in</strong>eer<strong>in</strong>g and production departments (ibid).In the 1980s the government established an extensive network ofgovernment, public, and private technical support systems to promotetechnology diffusion with<strong>in</strong> the economy. The Industrial AdvancementAdm<strong>in</strong>istration, a government agency, coord<strong>in</strong>ates the functions of differenttechnical support agencies for both large and small firms. The NationalIndustrial Technology Institute and more than ten regional <strong>in</strong>dustrial<strong>in</strong>stitutes, together with the Small and Medium Industry PromotionCorporation, constitute a national network of technical services. <strong>Korea</strong>Academy of Industrial Technology, together with other government R&D<strong>in</strong>stitutes and <strong>in</strong>dustry-specific R&D <strong>in</strong>stitutes under trade associations,comprise a core of an R&D network for technology diffusion.The <strong>Korea</strong> Standard Association’s national network and <strong>Korea</strong> ProductivityCentre promote technology diffusion among firms ma<strong>in</strong>ly through theireducational and tra<strong>in</strong><strong>in</strong>g programs on quality control, value eng<strong>in</strong>eer<strong>in</strong>g,physical distribution, and factory automation. To this should be added anumber of private, non-profit, technical support systems ma<strong>in</strong>ly focus<strong>in</strong>g ontechnology diffusion among SMEs.In the early part of the 1960s a very limited range of technology resourceswas available to <strong>South</strong> <strong>Korea</strong>n companies, due to lack of <strong>in</strong>adequate21


esearch <strong>in</strong>frastructure and lack of skilled manpower. But <strong>in</strong> the late 1960sand early 1970s relevant technology was available <strong>in</strong> mach<strong>in</strong>e-embodiedform and learn<strong>in</strong>g by do<strong>in</strong>g was relatively easy. Stimulat<strong>in</strong>g policies aim<strong>in</strong>gat the country’s own R&D were not effective. As the years passed and<strong>South</strong> <strong>Korea</strong>s <strong>in</strong>dustries became more technology-<strong>in</strong>tensive, the governmentfocused more attention on <strong>in</strong>digenous R&D activities, primarily through twomajor mechanisms: direct R&D <strong>in</strong>vestment and <strong>in</strong>direct <strong>in</strong>centive packages.The direct <strong>in</strong>vestments aimed at develop<strong>in</strong>g the science and technology<strong>in</strong>frastructure and promot<strong>in</strong>g R&D at universities and government research<strong>in</strong>stitutes (GRIs).In the late 1960s, the <strong>Korea</strong>n Institute of Science and Technology (KIST)was established as an <strong>in</strong>tegrated technical centre to support the <strong>in</strong>dustry’stechnological learn<strong>in</strong>g. The ongo<strong>in</strong>g sophistication <strong>in</strong> the <strong>in</strong>dustrialdevelopment hiked demand for development of government research<strong>in</strong>stitutes <strong>in</strong> shipbuild<strong>in</strong>g, mar<strong>in</strong>e resources, electronics,telecommunications, energy, mach<strong>in</strong>ery, and chemicals. Another importantcreation was the establishment of <strong>Korea</strong> Advanced Institute of Science,which is the country’s most important <strong>in</strong>stitution with regard to exam<strong>in</strong>ationof PhDs <strong>in</strong> science and eng<strong>in</strong>eer<strong>in</strong>g.Until the early 1990s university research has been relativelyunderdeveloped. Accord<strong>in</strong>g to the M<strong>in</strong>istry of Science and Technology(1994) university research accounted 7.7 percent of the nation’s R&Dspend<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong> 1994, and 33 percent of the nation’s R&D manpower, and asmuch as 73.7 percent of its Ph.D.-level personnel. Of <strong>South</strong> <strong>Korea</strong>’s totalR&D expenditures, <strong>in</strong> 1994, basic research accounted for 14.4 percent,applied research for 23.8 percent and development for 61.8 percent. Thestatistics also show that the private sector accounted for 45.1 percent of thenation’s basic research and 64.5 percent of applied research, whileuniversities accounted for only 29.1 percent and 6.3 percent, respectively.Accord<strong>in</strong>g to Kim (1997) there are reasons for question<strong>in</strong>g the figuresconcern<strong>in</strong>g basic and applied research, particularly the share commanded bythe private sector, because only lately have the lead<strong>in</strong>g chaebols begunrather limited <strong>in</strong>vestments <strong>in</strong> applied research <strong>in</strong> their largest technologybus<strong>in</strong>esses. In basic research the <strong>in</strong>vestment have been more limited than <strong>in</strong>applied ones.3.3 <strong>Innovation</strong> system perspectivesIn general the <strong>in</strong>adequacy of university research, <strong>in</strong>clud<strong>in</strong>g lack of welltra<strong>in</strong>edscientists, has been a bottleneck <strong>in</strong> the <strong>South</strong> <strong>Korea</strong>n <strong>in</strong>novationsystem. To deal with this weakness the government enacted the BasicResearch Promotion Law <strong>in</strong> 1989, target<strong>in</strong>g basic research as one of the22


nation’s technological priorities. Ma<strong>in</strong> focus has been to <strong>in</strong>troduce a schemeto organize science research centres (SRCs) and eng<strong>in</strong>eer<strong>in</strong>g researchcentres (ERCs) <strong>in</strong> <strong>South</strong> <strong>Korea</strong>’s universities.The most ambitious government vision is the Highly Advanced NationalR&D Project, also known as the G-7 Project, which is aimed at lift<strong>in</strong>g thenation’s technological capability to the level of G-7 countries by 2020. Thisproject consists of two parts: product technology development projects andfundamental technology development projects. The former <strong>in</strong>clude newdrugs and chemicals, broadband technology, next-generation vehicletechnology, and high-def<strong>in</strong>ition television (HDTV). The latter consist ofultra-large-scale <strong>in</strong>tegrated circuit, advanced manufactur<strong>in</strong>g systems,electronics and new material technology <strong>in</strong> <strong>in</strong>formation technologies, energyand environmental technologies, biomaterials and next-generation nuclearreactor.To support R&D with<strong>in</strong> the <strong>in</strong>dustry, the government has used various<strong>in</strong>centives. In the 1960s and 1970s various tax <strong>in</strong>centives and preferentialf<strong>in</strong>anc<strong>in</strong>g for R&D activities were offered. The mechanisms were largelyignored by <strong>in</strong>dustry ow<strong>in</strong>g to the absence of a clearly felt need to <strong>in</strong>vest <strong>in</strong>R&D and the relatively easy means of acquir<strong>in</strong>g and assimilation of foreigntechnologies the available from many sources. In the early 1980spreferential loans became the most important means for f<strong>in</strong>anc<strong>in</strong>g privateR&D activities.Public f<strong>in</strong>anc<strong>in</strong>g, mostly <strong>in</strong> the form of preferential loans, accounted for 64percent of the nation’s total R&D expenditures <strong>in</strong> manufactur<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong> 1987.The impact of this source of f<strong>in</strong>anc<strong>in</strong>g may be overstated due to rates ofpreferential loans rang<strong>in</strong>g from 6.5 to 15 percent, thus conferred littleadvantage over f<strong>in</strong>anc<strong>in</strong>g terms available <strong>in</strong> markets outside <strong>South</strong> <strong>Korea</strong>(KITA, 1994). Another source for corporate R&D is tax <strong>in</strong>centives, whichcan be classified <strong>in</strong>to five objectives: <strong>in</strong>centives aimed at promot<strong>in</strong>gcorporate R&D <strong>in</strong>vestment, reduced tariffs on import of R&D equipmentand supplies, deduction of annual non-capital R&D expenditures and humanresource development costs from taxable <strong>in</strong>come, exemption from realestate tax on R&D related properties and a tax reduction scheme, and f<strong>in</strong>allyTechnology Development Reserve Fund, whereby a company can set asideup to 3 percent (4 percent for ”high-tech” companies) of sales <strong>in</strong> any year tobe used for its R&D work <strong>in</strong> the follow<strong>in</strong>g three years.There are also some <strong>in</strong>direct support programs for specific <strong>in</strong>dustrial R&Dactivities, such as the World Class <strong>Korea</strong>n Products program, <strong>in</strong>troduced <strong>in</strong>the late 1980s. It is a government scheme to make products world class.Twenty-seven products were selected by the government, <strong>in</strong>volv<strong>in</strong>g fiftyn<strong>in</strong>eproducers <strong>in</strong> exist<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong>dustries, offer<strong>in</strong>g various k<strong>in</strong>ds of support.23


Among the products chosen were sport shoes, fish<strong>in</strong>g rods, pianos, tires,bicycles, CDs, ultrasonic scanners, VCRs and videotapes (KOTRA). In1993 the government <strong>in</strong>troduced the New Technology CommercializationProgram, <strong>in</strong> which it offers preferential f<strong>in</strong>anc<strong>in</strong>g activities related to R&Dand commercialization of new technologies developed locally.A characteristics of the 1970s to the mid-1990s is the rapid growth of<strong>in</strong>digenous <strong>in</strong>dustrial R&D activities, especially with<strong>in</strong> the private sector(MOST, 1994, Kim 1997). The total R&D <strong>in</strong>vestment <strong>in</strong> <strong>South</strong> <strong>Korea</strong><strong>in</strong>creased from W 10.5 billion <strong>in</strong> 1970 ($28 million) to W. 7.89 trillion($10.25 billion) <strong>in</strong> 1994. That corresponds to an <strong>in</strong>crease from 0.32 percentto 2.61 percent of the GNP dur<strong>in</strong>g the same period.Despite <strong>in</strong>creas<strong>in</strong>g governmental <strong>in</strong>volvement <strong>in</strong> technology policy, Kim(1997b) observes several weaknesses <strong>in</strong> <strong>South</strong> <strong>Korea</strong>’s <strong>in</strong>novation system:research at universities is relatively weak; there is a serious lack of <strong>in</strong>terplaybetween universities and the private sector; there are relatively fewtechnological sp<strong>in</strong>-offs; and there is a dearth of diffusion mechanisms totransfer research results from public research establishments (PREs) to<strong>in</strong>dustry and particularly to SMEs. There are signs that the character of<strong>South</strong> <strong>Korea</strong>’s technology policy is mov<strong>in</strong>g from a mission-oriented to adiffusion-oriented one. For <strong>in</strong>stance, the central government has<strong>in</strong>creas<strong>in</strong>gly been support<strong>in</strong>g the <strong>in</strong>novativeness of SMEs and <strong>in</strong>terfirmnetworks. Accord<strong>in</strong>g to Hass<strong>in</strong>k (2001), these SME-oriented <strong>in</strong>novationpolicies are more strongly developed than one would expect after read<strong>in</strong>gthe literature on <strong>South</strong> <strong>Korea</strong>’s economic policy. In the literature andjournals stress is often a placed on the strong connection between thegovernment and the chaebol, also <strong>in</strong>volv<strong>in</strong>g large support, and thusneglect<strong>in</strong>g SMEs.<strong>South</strong> <strong>Korea</strong>’s SME- oriented <strong>in</strong>novation support is judged variously <strong>in</strong> theliterature. OECD (1996) and Park (1998) have negative views, while Kimand Nugent (1994) have a more positive view of the policy. Chung (1999) isof the op<strong>in</strong>ion that different judgements depend on the lack of systematicevaluation.In 1997, <strong>South</strong> <strong>Korea</strong> plunged <strong>in</strong>to a serious economic crisis. Accord<strong>in</strong>g toCrotty and Lee (2002), the neoliberal restructur<strong>in</strong>g of the <strong>Korea</strong>n economy<strong>in</strong> the years preced<strong>in</strong>g the 1997 crisis was to blame for the serious impact on<strong>South</strong> <strong>Korea</strong>. Kim (2001) asserts that unlike previous economic disruptions,which had been evoked by external shocks such as oil, the 1997 and 1998crisis that affected <strong>South</strong> <strong>Korea</strong> stemmed from fundamental structuralweaknesses <strong>in</strong> its <strong>in</strong>stitutions that support national <strong>in</strong>novation.24


”The developmental state consolidated sufficient power to pick ”w<strong>in</strong>ners”and mobilized and allocated resources to them for ambitious developmentgoals, achiev<strong>in</strong>g phenomenal <strong>in</strong>dustrial growth <strong>in</strong> the early decades.However this approach eventually led to corruption and collusion betweenthe state and big bus<strong>in</strong>ess, and mismanagement of the f<strong>in</strong>ancial sector withserious resource misallocation. The chaebol relied heavily on stateprotection, which resulted <strong>in</strong> diversification by big bus<strong>in</strong>esses beyond theirf<strong>in</strong>ancial and technological capabilities. Lack of transparency andaccountability <strong>in</strong> the economic system was also a serious problem.” (ibid, p.1)After the Asian crisis the government launched <strong>in</strong> early 1998 major reforms<strong>in</strong> four areas: the public sector, the f<strong>in</strong>ancial sector, chaebols , and thelabour market. Prior to the crisis, reform programs had been discussed butnever implemented because of <strong>in</strong>ertia and resistance from stake-holders.The crisis, however, provided <strong>South</strong> <strong>Korea</strong> with a rare opportunity to carryout reform programs.Accord<strong>in</strong>g to Kim (2001) the government, prior to the crisis, cont<strong>in</strong>ued tofunction as a development state, h<strong>in</strong>der<strong>in</strong>g the growth of a free marketeconomy by authorative dictates, frequent <strong>in</strong>tervention <strong>in</strong> the market, andunnecessary regulations. Non-transparent policies and <strong>in</strong>accessibleadm<strong>in</strong>istration nurtured dubious collusion between the government andchaebols, lead<strong>in</strong>g to political corruption. After the Asian crisis, theadm<strong>in</strong>istration of Kim Dae Jung set government reform as a high priority,<strong>in</strong>clud<strong>in</strong>g the establishment of a Government Reform Office (GRO) with theexplicit mandate to reform the public sector. Some of the centralgovernment functions have been transferred to local governments,outsourced or privatized, or transformed <strong>in</strong>to executive agencies. The Asiancrisis also triggered the government to restructure its adm<strong>in</strong>istrativeapparatus for coord<strong>in</strong>at<strong>in</strong>g public science and technology efforts.The f<strong>in</strong>ancial sector has long been a tool of collusion between thegovernment and the chaebols, result<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong> major resource misallocation, andhad for a long time been recognized as a serious problem <strong>in</strong> the <strong>South</strong><strong>Korea</strong>n economy. As a result of the crisis major steps were <strong>in</strong>troduced toreform the f<strong>in</strong>ancial sector. Two public agencies – the F<strong>in</strong>ancialSupervisory Commission (FSC) to review, design and supervise thef<strong>in</strong>ancial system and <strong>Korea</strong> Asset Management Corporation (KAMCO) tobuy non-perform<strong>in</strong>g loans to recapitalize f<strong>in</strong>ancial <strong>in</strong>stitutions, were createdto function <strong>in</strong>dependent of the government. The FSC has been <strong>in</strong>strumental<strong>in</strong> reform<strong>in</strong>g the f<strong>in</strong>ancial sector, <strong>in</strong>clud<strong>in</strong>g clos<strong>in</strong>g many banks andhundreds of f<strong>in</strong>ancial <strong>in</strong>stitutions. In recent years foreign participation andownership <strong>in</strong> the bank sector is expected to <strong>in</strong>troduce more modern marketorientedactivities, accountability and transparency <strong>in</strong> operations.25


Beh<strong>in</strong>d the successful chaebols, there was serious divergence from freemarket pr<strong>in</strong>ciples. Collusions with government resulted <strong>in</strong> resourcemisallocation at the macro level and the concentration of economic power <strong>in</strong>the hands of chaebols resulted <strong>in</strong> monopolistic exploitation at the microlevel (Kim, 2000). They also stifled a healthy growth of small and mediumenterprises (SMEs). Over diversification, extremely high debt rations andsubsidization of unprofitable bus<strong>in</strong>esses made many chaebols vulnerable tothe fluctuation of the <strong>in</strong>ternational economic environmentAfter the Asian crisis the Kim Dae Jung adm<strong>in</strong>istration set five pr<strong>in</strong>ciples ofcorporate restructur<strong>in</strong>g: down-scope to focus on core bus<strong>in</strong>ess, the reductionof debt to equity ratios, the dismantl<strong>in</strong>g of cross-credit guarantees amongsubsidiaries, management transparency, and greater managementaccountability. Three techniques to force the chaebols to comply withgovernment directives were <strong>in</strong>troduced: threats to undertake acomprehensive tax audit, the legal prosecution of family owners, andwithdraw<strong>in</strong>g credits to debt-ridden firms (Krause, 2000). To meet themandate requirements to down-scope and reduce the debt to equity ratio forcore bus<strong>in</strong>esses, chaebols had to sell off many of their unprofitablebus<strong>in</strong>esses to foreign companies.26


4 TAIWAN4.1 Introduction<strong>Taiwan</strong> shares a number of common features with <strong>South</strong> <strong>Korea</strong>. First, like<strong>Korea</strong>, <strong>Taiwan</strong> was a Japanese colony (from 1895 to 1945) and was tightly<strong>in</strong>tegrated <strong>in</strong>to the Japanese economic system. A substantial <strong>in</strong>dustrial baseand physical <strong>in</strong>frastructure was established by the Japanese to utilize locallabour and materials; land reform was <strong>in</strong>stituted. Second, <strong>Taiwan</strong> also has adifficult external political situation to face: the claim by the People’sRepublic of Ch<strong>in</strong>a (PRC) as an <strong>in</strong>tegral part of the ma<strong>in</strong>land. Present-day<strong>Taiwan</strong> was established by the Kuom<strong>in</strong>tang (KMT) regime flee<strong>in</strong>g from thema<strong>in</strong>land Ch<strong>in</strong>a <strong>in</strong> 1949. Third, <strong>Taiwan</strong> has followed a broadly similar pathto that of <strong>South</strong> <strong>Korea</strong>, although there are some significant differencesbetween these two economies. <strong>Taiwan</strong> shares some common features withHong Kong, notably the <strong>in</strong>flux of Ch<strong>in</strong>ese population, <strong>in</strong>clud<strong>in</strong>g manyactual or potential entrepreneurs, from ma<strong>in</strong>land Ch<strong>in</strong>a at the time of thecommunist revolution <strong>in</strong> 1949 and the greater importance of smallentrepreneurial firms <strong>in</strong> the domestic economy.<strong>Taiwan</strong>ese bus<strong>in</strong>ess groups, or guanxichiye (related enterprise) are smallerthan such counterparts <strong>in</strong> other Asian countries such as Japan and <strong>South</strong><strong>Korea</strong>. The <strong>Taiwan</strong>ese bus<strong>in</strong>ess groups typically occupy a niche role with<strong>in</strong>part of one or several commodity cha<strong>in</strong>s, supply<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong>termediate productsand services to other <strong>Taiwan</strong>ese bus<strong>in</strong>esses for eventual <strong>in</strong>corporationwith<strong>in</strong> an export sector. The exception to this is the presence of a few<strong>in</strong>tegrated groups <strong>in</strong> the production of some electrical and electronicproducts (Perry, 1999). <strong>Taiwan</strong>ese bus<strong>in</strong>ess groups, and ownership, arema<strong>in</strong>ly structured around the family. Of the top 97 groups, <strong>in</strong> early 1980s,84 were family-owned (Hamilton, 1998). Although the family enterprise isassociated with a drive for economic <strong>in</strong>dependence, it also generatesprocesses conducive to the formation of groups. The adaptability of abus<strong>in</strong>ess group is enhanced by the use of subcontract<strong>in</strong>g to m<strong>in</strong>imize the<strong>in</strong>vestment and skill required to enter new activities, and ease the burden ofdownsiz<strong>in</strong>g exist<strong>in</strong>g activities.Foreign mult<strong>in</strong>ational brand marketers primarily built the expansion of<strong>Taiwan</strong>’s economy on its co-operation with buyer-driven commodity cha<strong>in</strong>scontrolled. These connections have provided opportunities for an agilemanufactur<strong>in</strong>g system that is able to cope with the market fluctuations ofcost-competitive and fashion-conscious <strong>in</strong>dustries. The high status that<strong>Taiwan</strong> has atta<strong>in</strong>ed with its <strong>in</strong>ternational customers is partly a product of27


the entrepreneurial climate <strong>in</strong> <strong>Taiwan</strong> (Perry, 1999). This is dist<strong>in</strong>guishedboth by the <strong>in</strong>tensity of ambition to be an <strong>in</strong>dependent entrepreneur(Hamilton, 1998) and by the <strong>in</strong>ternationalisation of its entrepreneurs(Lehmann, 1998). That <strong>in</strong>ternationalisation is reflected both <strong>in</strong> thewill<strong>in</strong>gness to accept foreign <strong>in</strong>vestment and <strong>in</strong> the Westernisation of thebus<strong>in</strong>ess class <strong>in</strong> the extent of overseas education and work experience(ibid).When try<strong>in</strong>g to expla<strong>in</strong> the general performance of <strong>Taiwan</strong>’s economicdevelopment, with a time frame <strong>in</strong> m<strong>in</strong>d, some different approaches havebeen used. The study by the World Bank (1993), The East Asian Miracle,divided the <strong>Taiwan</strong>ese development policy <strong>in</strong>to five stages (see below) <strong>in</strong>which the government has implemented comprehensive but chang<strong>in</strong>g policypackages. Throughout, low <strong>in</strong>flation and macroeconomic stability have beena foundation for growth-enhanc<strong>in</strong>g policy <strong>in</strong>itiatives, and s<strong>in</strong>ce the late1950s, export growth has also been a fundamental goal.• Land reform and reconstruction (1949-52)• Import-substitut<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong>dustrialization (1953-57)• Export promotion (1958-72)• Industrial consolidation and new export growth (1973-80)• High technology and modernization (1981-)This classification does not fully correspond with the one usually used bythe government <strong>in</strong> <strong>Taiwan</strong>. S<strong>in</strong>ce the World Bank study was published <strong>in</strong>the early 1990s, ten more years have elapsed, imply<strong>in</strong>g new policies <strong>in</strong><strong>Taiwan</strong> and external economic and political changes. The classification <strong>in</strong>the next part is based on the time periods used <strong>in</strong> the World Bank study, butthe content is further developed and deepened4.2 Development policy – General viewsS<strong>in</strong>ce the 1950s <strong>Taiwan</strong>’s economic structure has undergone gradualreconfiguration, primarily due to <strong>in</strong>ternational competition and the decl<strong>in</strong>eand growth of various domestic <strong>in</strong>dustries. One of the first <strong>in</strong>itiatives was anambitious land reform program (1949-52), which fostered social andpolitical stability and <strong>in</strong>creased agricultural production. Greater agriculturaloutput provided raw materials for export and earned foreign exchange tofund imports of mach<strong>in</strong>ery, equipment, and <strong>in</strong>dustrial raw materials.The next period (1953-57) was characterized by import-substitut<strong>in</strong>g<strong>in</strong>dustrialization, where the government attempted to develop <strong>in</strong>dustrialactivity as the base for economic self-sufficiency.28


The government <strong>in</strong>vested heavily <strong>in</strong> <strong>in</strong>frastructure; U.S aid was an importantsource of f<strong>in</strong>ance, fund<strong>in</strong>g 49 per cent of public <strong>in</strong>vestment <strong>in</strong> <strong>in</strong>frastructure.Extended quantitative restrictions and higher tariff rates shielded domesticconsumer goods from foreign competition. To take advantage of abundantlabour, light <strong>in</strong>dustries, particularly textiles, were subsidized. Consumergoods <strong>in</strong>dustries such as apparel, wood and leather products, and bicyclesalso developed rapidly.The characteristic approach was for the state itself to set up new upstream<strong>in</strong>dustries and then either to cont<strong>in</strong>ue to operate them under state ownershipor to transfer them to private entrepreneurs. A dist<strong>in</strong>ctive feature of<strong>Taiwan</strong>’s development, compared with <strong>Korea</strong>, was a heavy direct<strong>in</strong>volvement <strong>in</strong> production through state ownership. In each case, the stateplayed the <strong>in</strong>itiat<strong>in</strong>g role.The export promotion period (1958-72) implied the term<strong>in</strong>ation of U.S. aidand a need to correspond<strong>in</strong>gly <strong>in</strong>crease the <strong>in</strong>flows of foreign currencies.The government shifted to a policy of outward orientation and exportpromotion. Tariffs and import controls were gradually reduced, especiallyfor <strong>in</strong>puts to export. The Stanford Research Institute was consulted by thegovernment to identify promis<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong>dustries for development and exportpromotion. On the basis of <strong>Taiwan</strong>’s comparative advantage <strong>in</strong> low-costlabour and exist<strong>in</strong>g technical capabilities, the <strong>in</strong>stitute chose heavy, capitalgoods <strong>in</strong>dustries, but also plastic and synthetic fibres. Other <strong>in</strong>dustriespromoted <strong>in</strong>cluded apparel, consumer electronics, home appliances andwatches. A statement <strong>in</strong> the Second Four-Year Plan did show that thegovernment was determ<strong>in</strong>ed to steer the direction of <strong>in</strong>vestment: ”TheGovernment should positively undertake to guide and help private<strong>in</strong>vestments so that they do not flow <strong>in</strong>to enterprises which have a surplusproduction and stagnant market” (Wade 1990, pp. 81-82).As the 1970s progressed, <strong>in</strong>ternal and external challenges threatened thecont<strong>in</strong>uation of export-led growth. <strong>Taiwan</strong>’s light manufactur<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong>dustriesfaced new competition from lower-wage producers abroad. The 1973-74 oilcrisis had dramatic repercussions for the <strong>Taiwan</strong>ese economy and a newdevelopment policy, called <strong>in</strong>dustrial consolidation and new export growth(1973-80) was implemented. Once aga<strong>in</strong> the government turned to foreignexperts and commissioned the U.S. management firm Arthur D. Little tof<strong>in</strong>d solutions to the economic problems. Based on <strong>Taiwan</strong>’s economicneeds and capabilities, the Americans recommended heavy <strong>in</strong>vestment <strong>in</strong><strong>in</strong>frastructure, <strong>in</strong>dustrial upgrad<strong>in</strong>g, and secondary import substitution. Agovernment plan <strong>in</strong>corporat<strong>in</strong>g the recommendations focused on thedevelopment of capital-<strong>in</strong>tensive, petrochemical, electronics, computerterm<strong>in</strong>als and peripherals, precision mach<strong>in</strong>e tools, and heavy <strong>in</strong>dustries to29


<strong>in</strong>crease production of raw materials and semi manufactures for the use ofexport <strong>in</strong>dustries.Dur<strong>in</strong>g the 1970s the government also addressed how <strong>in</strong>dustrial sectorsshould be organized,”Some sectors were identified as suitable for development by local firms,others by jo<strong>in</strong>t ventures with foreign companies and public enterprises(especially petrochemicals), and still others as suitable for a mix of foreignand local private firms (electronics)” (Wade 1990, p. 96).Follow<strong>in</strong>g the oil price shock of the mid-1970s, the <strong>Taiwan</strong>ese government<strong>in</strong>itiated major <strong>in</strong>vestments <strong>in</strong> the heavy and chemicals <strong>in</strong>dustries <strong>in</strong> order toreduce the exposure to external supply shocks.With a new decade, <strong>Taiwan</strong> cont<strong>in</strong>ued its <strong>in</strong>tegration <strong>in</strong>to the worldeconomy, but revealed structural weakness, particular <strong>in</strong> the f<strong>in</strong>ancialsystem’s <strong>in</strong>ability to match the <strong>in</strong>creas<strong>in</strong>g demands of <strong>in</strong>dustrialization andexternal trade. Externally, its persistent trade surpluses with major trad<strong>in</strong>gpartners led to grow<strong>in</strong>g protectionism. <strong>Taiwan</strong>’s export faced additionallosses of competitiveness due to the appreciation of the <strong>Taiwan</strong> dollar andris<strong>in</strong>g wages. As a first generation East Asian NIE, <strong>Taiwan</strong> manufacturerswere squeezed between lower-wage NIEs <strong>in</strong> traditional, labour-<strong>in</strong>tensivemanufactur<strong>in</strong>g on the one hand, and high-technology products from<strong>in</strong>dustrial economies on the other. Once aga<strong>in</strong> the government moved torestructure the economy, enter<strong>in</strong>g the phase of high technology andmodernization (1981-), now focus<strong>in</strong>g on high-technology <strong>in</strong>dustries:<strong>in</strong>formation, electro-optics, mach<strong>in</strong>ery, precision <strong>in</strong>struments, biotechnologyand later on (1990s) the civil aircraft <strong>in</strong>dustry.S<strong>in</strong>ce the 1990s, technology-<strong>in</strong>tensive <strong>in</strong>dustries <strong>in</strong> <strong>Taiwan</strong>, not leastsemiconductor and computer production, have become <strong>in</strong>creas<strong>in</strong>glyimportant. The percentage of technology-<strong>in</strong>tensive <strong>in</strong>dustries with<strong>in</strong> themanufactur<strong>in</strong>g sector rose from 24 per cent <strong>in</strong> 1986 to 38.8 per cent <strong>in</strong> 1997(Hsu and Chiang 2001). Dur<strong>in</strong>g the same period technology-<strong>in</strong>tensiveexports jumped from 22.2 per cent to 54.6 per cent (NSC, 1998).<strong>Taiwan</strong> was far less seriously affected by the 1997 East Asian f<strong>in</strong>ancialcrisis than <strong>South</strong> <strong>Korea</strong>, although growth rate slowed down as aconsequence of the turmoil. <strong>Taiwan</strong> largely evaded the currency crisis of1997-98. This was due to its system of numerous entrepreneurs and smallscaleproduction that shunned the level of <strong>in</strong>debtness, overcapacity and’cronyism’ prevalent <strong>in</strong> other Asian Bus<strong>in</strong>ess groups (Ranis, 1998).Although <strong>Taiwan</strong>’s economy has prospered <strong>in</strong> the past four decades, theeconomy currently faces wage <strong>in</strong>creases, appreciat<strong>in</strong>g currency value,30


<strong>in</strong>creased <strong>in</strong>ternational protectionism, dent<strong>in</strong>g its competitive edge.Consequently, a number of <strong>in</strong>dustries are mov<strong>in</strong>g out of <strong>Taiwan</strong>, and<strong>in</strong>dustry growth and exports have slowed down. (Shyu and Chiu, 2002).But also <strong>Taiwan</strong>’s contested political status casts a long shadow over itsfuture. On the one hand, the 50-year rule of the authoritarian KMT ended <strong>in</strong>early 2000, when the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) was elected <strong>in</strong>togovernment. On the other hand, the DPP is a long-established advocate of<strong>in</strong>dependence from the PRC and this creates further political tensions. InNovember 2001, <strong>Taiwan</strong> was admitted to the WTO as Ch<strong>in</strong>ese Taipei, withthe status of a ’separate customs territory’4.3 <strong>Innovation</strong> and technology policies <strong>in</strong> <strong>Taiwan</strong>The ma<strong>in</strong> challenge fac<strong>in</strong>g the <strong>Taiwan</strong>ese economic planners was how tomove from a condition of little know-how, <strong>in</strong>adequate <strong>in</strong>stitutions, and anunder-supply of tra<strong>in</strong>ed scientists and eng<strong>in</strong>eers to that of a high-tech basedeconomy. The key problem was how to keep upgrad<strong>in</strong>g the technologicalcontent of the products. To reach this goal an overall strategy of four keycomponents was adopted (L<strong>in</strong>, 1998).• Build<strong>in</strong>g human resources• Acquir<strong>in</strong>g technology from the more advanced countries.• Creat<strong>in</strong>g science and technology capacities• Convert<strong>in</strong>g research results <strong>in</strong>to commercial productsBuild<strong>in</strong>g human resources: The build<strong>in</strong>g of human resources has severalelements. The key element is the education system. S<strong>in</strong>ce the early 1960s,strengthen<strong>in</strong>g education has been a national priority. This applies to alllevels of education, from primary to university. The number of science andeng<strong>in</strong>eer<strong>in</strong>g degree holders has <strong>in</strong>creased significantly over the years.Recogniz<strong>in</strong>g the need to learn from the outside world, the governmentencouraged students to go abroad for post-graduate studies. Initially, manygraduates found jobs abroad, mostly <strong>in</strong> the U.S., as opportunities <strong>in</strong> <strong>Taiwan</strong>were limited. S<strong>in</strong>ce the late 1980s an <strong>in</strong>creas<strong>in</strong>g number of post-graduateshave returned to <strong>Taiwan</strong>. Knowledge conveyed by nationals who had beeneducated or worked abroad became an important mode of technologytransfer as <strong>in</strong>dustrialization proceeded and chang<strong>in</strong>g factor prices dictated ashift to more capital and technology <strong>in</strong>tensive sectors <strong>in</strong> which productswere protected by patents, employed specialized equipment protected bypatents and were characterized by tacit knowledge (Pack, 2001, p. 724). Onemajor bottleneck of personnel is <strong>in</strong> the key eng<strong>in</strong>eer<strong>in</strong>g and management31


Creat<strong>in</strong>g science and technology capacities: In the early 1970s, littleresearch was done <strong>in</strong> <strong>Taiwan</strong>. There were few researchers, limited funds andprojects scattered loosely. A similar situation existed <strong>in</strong> the manufactur<strong>in</strong>g<strong>in</strong>dustry. Due to <strong>Taiwan</strong>’s <strong>in</strong>dustrial structure, based on small enterprises,the development of high-technology <strong>in</strong>dustries is somewhat handicapped(OECD; 1988, p.39)To change these conditions, the Industrial Technology Research Institute(ITRI) was established <strong>in</strong> 1973. ITRI is now the largest <strong>in</strong>dustry-orientedresearch <strong>in</strong>stitution <strong>in</strong> <strong>Taiwan</strong>. In 1973 it had about 450 employees. By 2000it grew to 6100 employees, 900 of them hold doctoral degrees and morethan 3600 had bachelor or master’s degrees (ITRI, 2000). ITRI receivescontracts from the government to develop generic technologies, and transferthe results to the <strong>in</strong>dustries <strong>in</strong> a non-exclusive manner.It also conducts short-term R&D projects <strong>in</strong> cooperation with privateorganizations, generally to improve product performance and processefficiency. ITRI’s research scope covers electronics and IT, mach<strong>in</strong>ery,biomedical and advanced materials, energy and resources, and morerecently civil aerospace. At the end of the 1980’s the government set up“key research <strong>in</strong>stitute” and “centre of excellence” at each of the fournational universities - National <strong>Taiwan</strong>, National Ts<strong>in</strong>g-Hua, NationalChiao-Tung, and National Cheng-Kung - <strong>in</strong> the fields of applied mechanics,material science, <strong>in</strong>formation technology and aviation and aerospacetechnology.The Hs<strong>in</strong>-Chu Science-based Industrial Park (HSIP) was established <strong>in</strong> 1980under the guidance of national Science Council. Started with a fewcompanies, today it hosts a large number of companies, provid<strong>in</strong>gemployment for nearly 40 000 people (visit to HSIP, 2000).Of all <strong>in</strong>dustries with<strong>in</strong> the HSIP, the Integrated Circuits Industry is thelargest. It is also the most important <strong>in</strong> terms of number of companies, scaleof operations and sales revenues. HSIP is one of the world’s ma<strong>in</strong> centres ofIC manufacture. The second largest <strong>in</strong>dustry with<strong>in</strong> HSIP is computers andperipherals. Major <strong>Taiwan</strong> computer makers such as Acer Incorporated,Mitac International, UMAX Data Systems etc. are located <strong>in</strong> this sciencepark.Convert<strong>in</strong>g research results <strong>in</strong>to commercial products: Traditionalenterprises are the ma<strong>in</strong>stay of manufactur<strong>in</strong>g. They consist ma<strong>in</strong>ly of smalland medium-sized companies with assets under NT $ 40 million andaccount for 98 per cent of all manufactur<strong>in</strong>g firms (L<strong>in</strong>, 1998). A typicalsmall company has 10-100 employees. The state provides support byfunnell<strong>in</strong>g cash for <strong>in</strong>dustrial automation through Chiao Tung Bank,33


improv<strong>in</strong>g management quality through the Ch<strong>in</strong>a Productivity Centre andvarious <strong>in</strong>dustrial development centres give technical support to companies.In order to speed up the conversion of R&D results <strong>in</strong>to commercialisation,The Department of Industrial Technology (DOIT) of the M<strong>in</strong>istry ofEconomic Affairs, employs the strategy of <strong>in</strong>dustry-<strong>in</strong>stitute jo<strong>in</strong>t researchprojects. Based on needs of companies with limited R&D facilities, DOITalso promotes a research-based ‘open laboratory’ strategy. These openlaboratories give access to companies for the purpose of maximiz<strong>in</strong>gexist<strong>in</strong>g resources and m<strong>in</strong>imiz<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong>vestment risks beforecommercialization can take place (Hsu & Chiang, 2001).Although the <strong>in</strong>dustrial and technological capabilities have <strong>in</strong>creaseddramatically <strong>in</strong> recent decades, <strong>Taiwan</strong>’s ability to <strong>in</strong>novate still falls beh<strong>in</strong>dadvanced countries due to some short-com<strong>in</strong>gs <strong>in</strong> the <strong>in</strong>novation<strong>in</strong>frastructure. These <strong>in</strong>clude <strong>in</strong>sufficient laws and regulations regard<strong>in</strong>g<strong>in</strong>novation which impose too many restrictions that discourage the privatesector’s <strong>in</strong>terest; limited budget and manpower for <strong>in</strong>novation; thedependence of some key technologies on other lead<strong>in</strong>g countries (Shyu andChiu 2002).In addition to the previous account (4.3), the current <strong>in</strong>novation policy of<strong>Taiwan</strong> also <strong>in</strong>cludes:1. Alleviation of taxation2. Loan subsidy3. Supply of <strong>in</strong>formation and technological assistance <strong>in</strong>stitutions4. Government procurement5. Protection of research results6. Cultivation of manpowerAccord<strong>in</strong>g to Shyu and Chiu (2002), there are some important issuesrelevant to <strong>Taiwan</strong>’s <strong>in</strong>novation <strong>in</strong>frastructure:1. Insufficient laws and regulations regard<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong>novation. <strong>Taiwan</strong> hasimposed too many restrictions that discourage the private sector’s<strong>in</strong>terest.2. Limited budgets and manpower for <strong>in</strong>novation.3. Some key technologies depend on other lead<strong>in</strong>g countries.34


In order to ma<strong>in</strong>ta<strong>in</strong> <strong>Taiwan</strong>’s economic growth, an <strong>in</strong>novation policy of<strong>in</strong>creas<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong>centives, based on supply side, demand side, and environmentside, is essential (ibid):• Supply side policy <strong>in</strong>cludes assist<strong>in</strong>g firms to perform R&D activities,strengthen<strong>in</strong>g the function of public research <strong>in</strong>stitutions, sett<strong>in</strong>g up openlaboratories, promot<strong>in</strong>g cooperation between <strong>in</strong>dustries and academics,revis<strong>in</strong>g laws to speed up technology transfer, and promot<strong>in</strong>g technologycooperation between both sides of the Ch<strong>in</strong>a Strait.• Demand side policy is to stimulate market potential and assure thepurchase power of customers. The government plays the role of sett<strong>in</strong>gup a mechanism for firms to f<strong>in</strong>d proper markets with export <strong>in</strong>centivesor deregulation <strong>in</strong> some specific markets.• Environment side policy should focus on build<strong>in</strong>g up a national<strong>in</strong>novation system, <strong>in</strong>clud<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong>dustrial <strong>in</strong>novation, cultivation ofproduction factors, encouragement of <strong>in</strong>dustrial competition anddemand, as well as creation of relevant <strong>in</strong>dustries. Environment sidepolicy should <strong>in</strong>clude development of venture capital, establishment oftechnologies trade centres (Techno marts), supply of favourablef<strong>in</strong>anc<strong>in</strong>g measures and fortification of the ability to collect, summarizeand apply <strong>in</strong>formation to the roughly 1 million SMEs <strong>in</strong> <strong>Taiwan</strong>. Suchan <strong>in</strong>dustrial <strong>in</strong>formation centre should be an <strong>in</strong>dustrial <strong>in</strong>formationsystem able to <strong>in</strong>crease the competitiveness of these companies.Dur<strong>in</strong>g a meet<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong> Hs<strong>in</strong>chu (January 14, 2004) discuss<strong>in</strong>g weak and strongl<strong>in</strong>ks between the government, universities and <strong>in</strong>dustry, Dr Chiuma<strong>in</strong>ta<strong>in</strong>ed that the weakest l<strong>in</strong>k was that between universities and <strong>in</strong>dustry,while we know from previous studies that there are already very strong l<strong>in</strong>ksbetween the government and the <strong>in</strong>dustry through ITRI and several otheractors. Reasons for the weak l<strong>in</strong>kages between <strong>in</strong>dustry and universities areshortage of human resources <strong>in</strong> the eng<strong>in</strong>eer<strong>in</strong>g faculties of universities and<strong>Taiwan</strong>’s <strong>in</strong>dustrial structure, with the dom<strong>in</strong>ation of SMEs with verylimited resources for research, both <strong>in</strong> terms of capital and human resources.An aggravat<strong>in</strong>g circumstance is the difficulties for leave of absence forresearchers to work <strong>in</strong> the <strong>in</strong>dustry. Instead many researchers chose to set upown companies although it can be risky bus<strong>in</strong>ess.Although <strong>Taiwan</strong> is mostly known as a newly <strong>in</strong>dustrializ<strong>in</strong>g economy,manufactur<strong>in</strong>g’s share of the economy has been shr<strong>in</strong>k<strong>in</strong>g s<strong>in</strong>ce the mid-1980s. Manufactur<strong>in</strong>g decl<strong>in</strong>ed from an all-time peak of 39.4 per cent ofgross domestic product (GDP) <strong>in</strong> 1986 to a low 26.4 per cent <strong>in</strong> 1999. Theservice sector, by contrast, has followed a constantly ris<strong>in</strong>g trend and nowaccounts for 66.7 per cent of <strong>Taiwan</strong>’s GDP (Chen and Liu, 2003).35


The Council for Economic Plann<strong>in</strong>g and Development (CEPD) exam<strong>in</strong>edthe importance of knowledge-based activities <strong>in</strong> <strong>Taiwan</strong>’s economy us<strong>in</strong>gthe OECD’s def<strong>in</strong>itions of knowledge-based <strong>in</strong>dustries (KBI). The OECD(1999) def<strong>in</strong>ition <strong>in</strong>cludes both knowledge-based manufactur<strong>in</strong>g (aerospace,computer and data-process<strong>in</strong>g equipment, pharmaceutical,telecommunications, semiconductors, scientific <strong>in</strong>struments, automobilesand other transport equipment, electrical equipment, chemical products andmach<strong>in</strong>ery) and knowledge-based services (<strong>in</strong>clude transport and storage,communication services, f<strong>in</strong>ance, <strong>in</strong>surance, and real estate, commercialservices, social and personal services).Table. 4.1Knowledge-based Industries <strong>in</strong> <strong>Taiwan</strong>. (Percent)All <strong>in</strong>dustriesKnowledgebasedIndustriesKnowledge-basedManufactur<strong>in</strong>gIndustriesKnowledgebasedServiceIndustriesShare of GDP1991 100.0 37.7 6.1 31.71994 100.0 39.2 5.7 33.51996 100.0 40.6 6.8 33.7Source: Council for Economic Plann<strong>in</strong>g and Development based on Input-Output Tables.In 1996 KBIs generated 40.6 per cent of <strong>Taiwan</strong>’s GDP, which was about10 per cent lower than the average GDP share of KBIs <strong>in</strong> the OECDcountries. Nevertheless, it was larger than five years earlier. Accord<strong>in</strong>g tothis classification, most of <strong>Taiwan</strong>’s knowledge-based economy is theservice sector, which comprises a large share of <strong>Taiwan</strong>’s KBIs. But thisfigures can give a mislead<strong>in</strong>g picture of the economic importance ofknowledge-based activities <strong>in</strong> <strong>Taiwan</strong>, as knowledge or <strong>in</strong>formation is not <strong>in</strong>fact an important <strong>in</strong>put <strong>in</strong> the production of services <strong>in</strong> <strong>Taiwan</strong> (Chen andLiu, 2003).36


Information Intensity of Selected Service IndustriesInformationServices Utilised(NT$ million)1Value-added(NT$ million)2InformationIntensity(%)1/2Academic research 642 22,566 2.85Insurance 3,591 170,756 2.10Transport 1,979 118,591 1.67Pr<strong>in</strong>t<strong>in</strong>g and publish<strong>in</strong>g 1,033 67,949 1.52F<strong>in</strong>ance 5,658 485,361 1.17Hotels 441 42,027 1.05Public service 7,866 852,936 0.92Leas<strong>in</strong>g 305 42,342 0.72Food service 1,209 173,141 0.70Real estate 1,411 217,122 0.65Foreign trade 2,162 417,221 0.52Retail<strong>in</strong>g 3,550 709,163 0.50Wholesale trade 2,052 434,634 0.47Medical service 1,048 246,376 0.43Enterta<strong>in</strong>ment 163 76,706 0.21Legal and account<strong>in</strong>g 52 25,421 0.21Advertis<strong>in</strong>g 194 133,163 0.15Storage 20 223,896 0.08Source: Input-Output Tables, Council for Economic Plann<strong>in</strong>g and Development.In <strong>Taiwan</strong> the two service <strong>in</strong>dustries (three-digit level) with the highestknowledge <strong>in</strong>tensity are academic research and <strong>in</strong>surance, while sevenservice <strong>in</strong>dustries comprise only 0,5 per cent, or lower, of value added.However, this measure understates the true <strong>in</strong>formation content because itcounts only outsourced, or purchased, <strong>in</strong>puts of <strong>in</strong>formation services.Nevertheless, even allow<strong>in</strong>g for the downward bias, the <strong>in</strong>formation contentof <strong>Taiwan</strong>’s service <strong>in</strong>dustries seems to be low.A study by Wu (2000) compared <strong>Taiwan</strong>’s manufactur<strong>in</strong>g sectors andselected OECD countries accord<strong>in</strong>g to four categories of technology<strong>in</strong>tensity:high, upper medium, lower medium, and low. High-technologymanufactur<strong>in</strong>g accounted for 19.5 per cent of total manufactur<strong>in</strong>g valueadded<strong>in</strong> <strong>Taiwan</strong>, a high figure <strong>in</strong> comparison to most other OECDcountries. The growth of high-technology manufactur<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong> <strong>Taiwan</strong> dur<strong>in</strong>gthe 1990s outpaced the high-tech manufactur<strong>in</strong>g sectors <strong>in</strong> most OECDcountries. There are thus <strong>in</strong>dications that <strong>Taiwan</strong>’s knowledge-base isstronger on the manufactur<strong>in</strong>g side than it is on the service side.4.4 <strong>Taiwan</strong>’s IT sector<strong>Taiwan</strong>, which served as a source of cheap labour for foreign consumerelectronics mult<strong>in</strong>ationals as late as the 1970s, is known today as a globalcentre of IT systems design and manufactur<strong>in</strong>g. <strong>Taiwan</strong>’s strength lies <strong>in</strong>PC-related <strong>in</strong>formation products and IC (semiconductor) sub sectors.37


Local companies dom<strong>in</strong>ate the markets for a large and grow<strong>in</strong>g range ofcomputer-related products, from notebook computers, motherboards andmonitors to optical scanners, keyboards and power supplies. In addition,<strong>Taiwan</strong>’s state-of-the-art semiconductor foundries account for an importantshare of the global output.From a technological and economic po<strong>in</strong>t of view the development of<strong>in</strong>formation <strong>in</strong>dustry products has been a success. <strong>Taiwan</strong> is the world’sthird (some years fourth) largest <strong>in</strong> computer production. Many peripheralproducts make up a large share of world market, such as monitors, computermouse devices and pr<strong>in</strong>ted circuit boards.One important explanation for the expansion can be the modulararchitecture (Henderson & Clarke, 1990, Ulrich, 1995) of the productsmanufactured. For example, the PC-<strong>in</strong>dustry is a highly open, modularisedsystem with many <strong>in</strong>ternationally standardized components and rather easilyadjustable <strong>in</strong>terfaces. Even propriety CPUs and memory chips can bepurchased from merchant firms. As a result, local firms could enter this<strong>in</strong>dustry by <strong>in</strong>itially assembl<strong>in</strong>g f<strong>in</strong>al products and subsystems (keyboards,monitors, chipsets etc.) based on OEM and OBM terms.Later on there are possibilities to produce key components and materials,such as liquid crystal displays, memory and logic chips and silicon wafers.Modularisation can reduce product complexity, lower entry barriers and<strong>in</strong>crease <strong>in</strong>dustrial flexibility (Kogut & Bowman, 1995). An importantreason why <strong>Taiwan</strong> has been successful with<strong>in</strong> the electronics-,semiconductor-, and IT-<strong>in</strong>dustries is the fact that these sectors arecharacterized by many competitors, short product life cycles and rapidcompany turnover (Mathews and Cho 2000).For some scholars (Lau 1994, Callon, 1995) national economic success <strong>in</strong><strong>in</strong>formation technology <strong>in</strong>dustries is evidence of the dynamism of freemarkets, i.e. creation of human capital formation, domestic entrepreneurshipand market competition. Others argue that the important role of statepolicies is the catalyst beh<strong>in</strong>d the success. In the case of <strong>Taiwan</strong> this impliesthe <strong>in</strong>tervention and role of ITRI <strong>in</strong> this process (Wade,1990; Mathews,1997)Other analysts have looked beyond the state market-debate to study otherdeterm<strong>in</strong>ants of economic performance such as geography of production,<strong>in</strong>clud<strong>in</strong>g the role of technological <strong>in</strong>novation to regional growth. Hs<strong>in</strong>chucan be looked upon as an <strong>in</strong>dustrial cluster, <strong>in</strong> which competition andvertical cooperation among local firms account for ris<strong>in</strong>g productivity,<strong>in</strong>novation and new firm formation (Porter, 1990). As <strong>in</strong> <strong>South</strong> <strong>Korea</strong>, the<strong>in</strong>itial development of semiconductor production <strong>in</strong> <strong>Taiwan</strong> was boosted by38


the decision of US firms to locate assembly operations <strong>in</strong> low-cost EastAsian locations <strong>in</strong> the 1960s. The <strong>Taiwan</strong>ese government took advantage ofthis trend by build<strong>in</strong>g the world’s first export process<strong>in</strong>g zone (EPZ) forsemiconductors <strong>in</strong> 1965.Stages <strong>in</strong> the evolution of the <strong>Taiwan</strong>ese semiconductor <strong>in</strong>dustryStage IPre-1976PreparationLabour-<strong>in</strong>tensiveSemiconductorback-endoperations(assembly) andtest<strong>in</strong>gDom<strong>in</strong>ated by foreignmult<strong>in</strong>ationalsEstablishment ofITRI and ERSOStage II1976-79Seed<strong>in</strong>gLicens<strong>in</strong>g of ICfabricationtechnology, andits adoption bypublic sectorR&D <strong>in</strong>stituteSource: Mathews and Cho, 2000, Table 4.1Stage III1980-88TechnologyAbsorption andPropagationTechnologyabsorption andenterprise diffusionEstablishment ofsecure<strong>in</strong>frastructure <strong>in</strong> theform of theHs<strong>in</strong>chu SciencebasedIndustry ParkERSO acquires skillscover<strong>in</strong>g all phasesof semiconductormanufactur<strong>in</strong>g,mov<strong>in</strong>g from LSIto VLSISp<strong>in</strong>-off of privatecompanies andentry of privatesectorStage VI1989-98Susta<strong>in</strong>abilityEntry of firms tocover all phases ofsemiconductormanufactur<strong>in</strong>g andfull product range,<strong>in</strong>clud<strong>in</strong>g DRAMsFrom VLSI to ULSItechnologySubmicron stage ofpublic-sector ledR&DCooperative R&Dsystem of<strong>in</strong>novationestablishedHigh value-add<strong>in</strong>g wafer fabrication was <strong>in</strong>itiated by the <strong>Taiwan</strong>esethemselves as an act of public policy through the public-sector ITRI. Itselectronics laboratory, the Electronics Research Service Organisation(ERSO), entered <strong>in</strong>to a technology transfer arrangement with RCA <strong>in</strong> 1976which, for a royalty fee made available its then-obsolete 7-micron ICproduct and process technology, and tra<strong>in</strong>ed a cadre of <strong>Taiwan</strong>ese eng<strong>in</strong>eers(Mathews and Cho, p. 46).ERSO spun off <strong>Taiwan</strong>’s first ma<strong>in</strong>stream IC company <strong>in</strong> 1980, the UnitedMicroelectronics Corporation (UMC), which was located on the newlyestablished Hs<strong>in</strong>chu Science-based Industrial Park, near ITRI/ERSO.By the mid-1990s <strong>Taiwan</strong> had become the world’s fourth-largestsemiconductor producer beh<strong>in</strong>d the US, Japan and <strong>South</strong> <strong>Korea</strong>. Comparedto <strong>South</strong> <strong>Korea</strong>, <strong>Taiwan</strong>’s IC <strong>in</strong>dustry is more well-balanced spann<strong>in</strong>g overa broad spectrum of products. The <strong>in</strong>dustry has been developed to span allphases <strong>in</strong> the value-add<strong>in</strong>g process, thereby reduc<strong>in</strong>g the need for importedvital components, and enhanc<strong>in</strong>g the susta<strong>in</strong>ability of the <strong>in</strong>dustry (ibid, p.47).39


4.5 The Hs<strong>in</strong>chu Science-based parkDomestic companies are important actors for computer-related products,such as notebook computers, motherboards, monitors, optical scanners,keyboards and power supplies. In addition, <strong>Taiwan</strong>’s state-of-the-artsemiconductors foundries have a large share of the world production.<strong>Taiwan</strong>’s ”high-tech” IT-sector is largely located <strong>in</strong> an area from Taipei <strong>in</strong>the north down to Hs<strong>in</strong>chu roughly 80 km southwest from the capital. Inrecent years science-based parks have also been established <strong>in</strong> Ta<strong>in</strong>an andTaichung.The Hs<strong>in</strong>chu Science-based park was an <strong>in</strong>itiative of <strong>Taiwan</strong>esegovernment, through the guidance of National Science Council, and more orless modelled explicitly on the success of the Stanford Research Park <strong>in</strong>Silicon Valley. It was established <strong>in</strong> 1980 and started with a few companiesand had reached to host a large number of companies, provid<strong>in</strong>gemployment for nearly 40 000 people.The Hs<strong>in</strong>chu region, like Silicon Valley, appears as an exemplar ofMarshallian external economies, <strong>in</strong> which the location of skill, specializedmaterials and <strong>in</strong>puts, comb<strong>in</strong>ed with technological know-how generate costreductions for <strong>in</strong>dividual firms, <strong>in</strong>creas<strong>in</strong>g returns to the region as a whole(Krugman, 1991). These two regions might also be viewed as <strong>in</strong>dustrialclusters, <strong>in</strong> which competition and vertical cooperation among local firmsaccount for ris<strong>in</strong>g productivity, <strong>in</strong>novation and new firm formation (ibid).Levy and Kuo (1991) compare the ”bootstrap” strategy of <strong>Taiwan</strong>’s small,specialized PC firms with the high-volume PC assembly strategy of thevertically <strong>in</strong>tegrated <strong>Korea</strong>n conglomerates. They suggest that thepropensity for risk-tak<strong>in</strong>g and experimentation <strong>in</strong> <strong>Taiwan</strong>’s SMEs producedan ongo<strong>in</strong>g stream of <strong>in</strong>novation and the opportunity for some firms to be <strong>in</strong>the technological forefront. The competitive advantages of this ”bootstrap”were confirmed <strong>in</strong> the 1990s as <strong>Korea</strong>’s chaebol fell <strong>in</strong>creas<strong>in</strong>gly beh<strong>in</strong>d theacceleration PC product lifecycle and were to source key components from<strong>Taiwan</strong> (Chung, 2000).This k<strong>in</strong>d of approach suffers from its focus on regions <strong>in</strong> isolation. Itoverlooks the grow<strong>in</strong>g role of <strong>in</strong>ternational trade and <strong>in</strong>vestment <strong>in</strong>economic growth, and cannot expla<strong>in</strong> the emergence of successful newregions such as <strong>Taiwan</strong>’s Hs<strong>in</strong>chu that are located far from establishedcentres of technology and skills (Saxenian and Hsu, 2001). The importanceof a transnational community that shares <strong>in</strong>formation, trust and contacts(Portes, 1996) has been largely overlooked <strong>in</strong> account’s of <strong>Taiwan</strong>’sdevelopment. Saxenian and Hsu (2001) argue that the contributions of thistechnical community have been a key to the success of more commonly40


ecognized actors such as government policymakers and globalcorporations. The connection to Silicon Valley, <strong>in</strong> particular, expla<strong>in</strong>s how<strong>Taiwan</strong>’s producers <strong>in</strong>novated technologically <strong>in</strong> the 1980s and 1990s<strong>in</strong>dependently of their OEM customers (ibid).The Silicon Valley-Hs<strong>in</strong>chu relationship nowadays consists of formal and<strong>in</strong>formal collaborations between <strong>in</strong>dividual <strong>in</strong>vestors and entrepreneurs,SMEs as well as larger companies. A new generation of venture capitalproviders and professional associations serve as <strong>in</strong>termediaries l<strong>in</strong>k<strong>in</strong>gdecentralized <strong>in</strong>frastructures of the two regions (ibid).The emergence of new centres of technology, like <strong>Taiwan</strong>, <strong>in</strong> locationsoutside of the old <strong>in</strong>dustrialized countries has been possible due to a radicaltransformation <strong>in</strong> the structure of the IT-sector. The dom<strong>in</strong>ant competitors <strong>in</strong>the computer <strong>in</strong>dustry from the 1960s to the early 1980s were vertically<strong>in</strong>tegrated corporations that controlled all aspects of hardware and softwaredevelopment and production. The rise of the Silicon Valley <strong>in</strong>dustrial modelspurred the <strong>in</strong>troduction of the PC and <strong>in</strong>itiated a radical shift to a morefragmented <strong>in</strong>dustrial structure organized around networks of <strong>in</strong>creas<strong>in</strong>glyspecialized producers (Bresnahan, 1998).Today, <strong>in</strong>dependent enterprises produce all of the components that wereonce <strong>in</strong>ternalized with<strong>in</strong> a s<strong>in</strong>gle large corporation.The number of actors <strong>in</strong> the <strong>in</strong>dustry has <strong>in</strong>creased dramatically andcompetition with<strong>in</strong> many horizontal layers as well. Yet this is far from aclassic auction market alone. Other important factors <strong>in</strong> this are crosscutt<strong>in</strong>gsocial structures and <strong>in</strong>stitutions that facilitate the coord<strong>in</strong>ation ofthis decentralized system (Aoki, 2000). The deepen<strong>in</strong>g social division oflabour <strong>in</strong> the <strong>in</strong>dustry creates opportunities for <strong>in</strong>novation <strong>in</strong> formerlyperipheral regions – opportunities that did not exist <strong>in</strong> an era of highly<strong>in</strong>tegrated producers.The HSIP offers firms attractive work<strong>in</strong>g environment and liv<strong>in</strong>gconditions, <strong>in</strong> contrast to Taipei and some other large cities, as well asproximity to technical expertise and design and manufactur<strong>in</strong>g facilities.4.6 <strong>Taiwan</strong>’s aerospace sectorThe aircraft or aerospace <strong>in</strong>dustry is the ‘archetypical knowledge-<strong>in</strong>tensivesector’ (Samuels 1994, p. 278). It has a potential for l<strong>in</strong>kages and spill overto other sectors, which few other <strong>in</strong>dustries can match. It is not one <strong>in</strong>dustrybut a compound of several that share an <strong>in</strong>terest <strong>in</strong> produc<strong>in</strong>g aircraft, spacevehicles and missiles.The aerospace <strong>in</strong>dustry is characterised by complex, very high-value addedproducts <strong>in</strong> relatively small quantities, produced by relatively few players.41


Products have long development periods, i.e. extremely long product lifecycles, and high development costs. The <strong>in</strong>dustry is also characterized byvolatile markets with orders affected by a variety of f<strong>in</strong>ancial and politicalfactors. The high technology requirements necessitate a high level ofresearch and development. No other <strong>in</strong>dustry exhibits more of <strong>in</strong>terdependenceand cross-fertilization of advanced technology than theaerospace sector. Consequently most of the world’s large aerospacecompanies are located <strong>in</strong> advanced economies such as the USA, the UK,France, Germany, Canada, Japan, Italy and Sweden. They are also to befound <strong>in</strong> Russia, and former Soviet Republics, and to an <strong>in</strong>creas<strong>in</strong>g degree<strong>in</strong> Develop<strong>in</strong>g and Newly Industrializ<strong>in</strong>g Economies (Eriksson, 1995) TheBrazilian manufacturer Embraer developed <strong>in</strong>to one of the most importantmanufacturers of turboprop commuter aircraft, and <strong>in</strong> recent years largescaleproduction of jet-driven commuter/short haul aircraft.Indonesia is another develop<strong>in</strong>g country which <strong>in</strong>vested heavily <strong>in</strong> civilaircraft development and manufactur<strong>in</strong>g. Dur<strong>in</strong>g Suharto’s rule theestablishment of IPTN/IAe was the largest and most ambitious <strong>in</strong>vestmentby the Indonesian government to promote technology development <strong>in</strong> thecountry. Despite huge <strong>in</strong>vestments <strong>in</strong> eng<strong>in</strong>eer<strong>in</strong>g and production facilitiesand impressive technology resources, the company is now struggl<strong>in</strong>g toright itself with state fund<strong>in</strong>g dry<strong>in</strong>g up, the company now faces thechallenge of def<strong>in</strong><strong>in</strong>g its own ´raison d`etre`, away from the politicalmotivation of national prestige (Eriksson, 2003a). Develop<strong>in</strong>g countriesenter<strong>in</strong>g R&D high-technology <strong>in</strong>dustries have an extremely demand<strong>in</strong>gtask of try<strong>in</strong>g to compete with the lead<strong>in</strong>g companies <strong>in</strong> the <strong>in</strong>ternationalarena. Several major reasons can be cited for the failure of IPTN. These<strong>in</strong>clude a lack of bus<strong>in</strong>ess, management and market<strong>in</strong>g competence and thedecision to go it alone, a strategy contradictory to the situation <strong>in</strong><strong>in</strong>ternational aerospace manufactur<strong>in</strong>g (ibid).Today, <strong>in</strong> the early 21th century, we see a global overcapacity, due tomilitary disarmament, too many production facilities <strong>in</strong> develop<strong>in</strong>gcountries and a general downturn <strong>in</strong> aircraft orders. This implies that newactors <strong>in</strong> emerg<strong>in</strong>g economies have to compete with companies <strong>in</strong>developed, develop<strong>in</strong>g as well as transitional economies <strong>in</strong> the former EastEuropean countries.One of the most significant features of world aerospace manufactur<strong>in</strong>gtoday is production-shar<strong>in</strong>g and subcontract<strong>in</strong>g. The requirements to ‘offset’costly purchases of aircraft and pressures to f<strong>in</strong>d lower-cost sources ofcomponents to lower production costs are the ma<strong>in</strong> reasons (Todd 1992). Astudy by Eriksson (1995) shows extensive subcontract<strong>in</strong>g l<strong>in</strong>kages betweenemerg<strong>in</strong>g aerospace companies <strong>in</strong> East- and <strong>South</strong>east Asia and theestablished aerospace companies <strong>in</strong> Europe and North America. A big42


proportion of these technology l<strong>in</strong>kages are the result of offset policies. Thisdevelopment illustrates that these economies have entered <strong>in</strong>to the globalaerospace production network, which also reflects the <strong>in</strong>tegration of the<strong>in</strong>dustry value cha<strong>in</strong>. However the future success of these technologyl<strong>in</strong>kages at the dest<strong>in</strong>ation level, i.e. Asian economies, is determ<strong>in</strong>ed byother factors, among them the strategy of the sourc<strong>in</strong>g company as well as<strong>in</strong>stallation of technology of the receiv<strong>in</strong>g company (Eriksson 2003b).Aircraft, whether military or commercial, are assembled <strong>in</strong> many countries,but few of them have the capabilities to design, develop and produce anentire aeroplane, i.e. systems <strong>in</strong>tegration. Technology used <strong>in</strong> modernaircraft is extremely demand<strong>in</strong>g due to the high levels of functionalperformance, reliability, safety and efficiency required at the system level.With its <strong>in</strong>tegrated architecture, most functional design specifications andstandards <strong>in</strong> this <strong>in</strong>dustry are imposed by the upper-tier buyers or<strong>in</strong>tegrators. Much of the expenditures to develop a new aeroplane are spenton <strong>in</strong>tegrat<strong>in</strong>g numerous technologies and systems with orig<strong>in</strong>s from variousfields and <strong>in</strong>dustries such as metallurgy, composites, electronics andpetroleum.There are only a few companies <strong>in</strong> the world with the technical expertiseand economic resources to make a new design of a large modern jet-drivenairl<strong>in</strong>er or an advanced, state-of-the art combat aircraft. Companies <strong>in</strong> theemerg<strong>in</strong>g aerospace nations and most of those companies <strong>in</strong> the old<strong>in</strong>dustrial core have to co-operate with the lead<strong>in</strong>g corporations, ma<strong>in</strong>lylocated <strong>in</strong> America and Europe.A similar trend is discernable with<strong>in</strong> the aero-eng<strong>in</strong>e <strong>in</strong>dustry. The costs ofdevelop<strong>in</strong>g a new civil jet eng<strong>in</strong>e are extremely high. Very few companies,if any, have the ability to bear such costs on their own. This has forcedeng<strong>in</strong>e producers to co-operate <strong>in</strong> a network of partnership, ma<strong>in</strong>ly directedtowards risk/revenue-shar<strong>in</strong>g (Eriksson, 2000).This creates webs of collaborative agreements <strong>in</strong>volv<strong>in</strong>g large producers andsubcontractor/alliance partnerships. As a result, the aerospace sector has oneof the densest networks of strategic technology partner<strong>in</strong>g (Hagedoorn1995).The extremely high technology requirements, ris<strong>in</strong>g development costs andtoo many system <strong>in</strong>tegrators have <strong>in</strong> recent years escalated merger activitiesand weed<strong>in</strong>g out of companies. Thus, the system <strong>in</strong>tegrators have drasticallydecl<strong>in</strong>ed and <strong>in</strong> general the entry barriers seem to have become <strong>in</strong>creas<strong>in</strong>glydifficult to conquer. For <strong>in</strong>stance, <strong>in</strong> the large jet airl<strong>in</strong>er market there areonly two companies left, Airbus and Boe<strong>in</strong>g.43


The aircraft <strong>in</strong>dustry <strong>in</strong> <strong>Taiwan</strong> can be traced back to 1946, when theBureau of Aircraft Industry was established <strong>in</strong> Nank<strong>in</strong>g on the ma<strong>in</strong>land.After the Kuom<strong>in</strong>tang Government’s move to <strong>Taiwan</strong>, the Bureau followed.The first military aircraft to be built <strong>in</strong> <strong>Taiwan</strong> was a slightly modifiedversion of the American Pazmany PL-1. It was assembled <strong>in</strong> 1968 by theAeronautical Research Laboratory, then a branch of Bureau of AircraftIndustry. In 1969 the Aero Industry Development Centre (AIDC) wasestablished as a successor to the Bureau of Aircraft Industry. AIDC becamea subsidiary of the Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology (CIST),the government’s ma<strong>in</strong>, defence-related, research and development facility.CIST was created to develop defence technology facilities (Eriksson, 1995).Dur<strong>in</strong>g the Nixon years, the United States´ foreign policy underwent achange with regard to Ch<strong>in</strong>a. The <strong>in</strong>tegration of the People’s Republic ofCh<strong>in</strong>a <strong>in</strong>to the <strong>in</strong>ternational system meant that many nations term<strong>in</strong>ated theirdiplomatic relations with the Republic of Ch<strong>in</strong>a <strong>in</strong> <strong>Taiwan</strong>. Dur<strong>in</strong>g the1970s <strong>Taiwan</strong>’s isolation <strong>in</strong> the <strong>in</strong>ternational community also meant that ithad no access to foreign military equipment. This constituted an importantimpetus to try even harder to develop a domestic military aircraft <strong>in</strong>dustry(ibid)In 1974 AIDC started licence production of Northrop F-5. In 1975 AIDCstarted with the assistance of Northrop to develop a new two-seateradvanced tra<strong>in</strong><strong>in</strong>g aircraft for the Air Force, the AT-3. The biggest projectup to now has been the development of the Indigenous Defence Fighter(IDF). It was designed to replace the American models <strong>in</strong> service. Thedevelopment started <strong>in</strong> 1982 after the US Government blocked the purchaseof the Northrop F-20 Tigershark. The Reagan adm<strong>in</strong>istration also stoppedthe sale of the F-5G under political pressure from the P.R.C.The IDF was designed with the assistance of General Dynamics. It largelyresembles the F-16 (developed by G.D./Lockheed) but is modified to adopta tw<strong>in</strong>-eng<strong>in</strong>e configuration. The first flight took place <strong>in</strong> May 1989. Theaircraft became operational <strong>in</strong> 1993 and orig<strong>in</strong>ally some 250 were expectedto be built. A planned development of the IDF was cancelled as <strong>Taiwan</strong>was f<strong>in</strong>ally able to buy 150 F-16, when George Bush adm<strong>in</strong>istrationreversed commitment it had made to the ma<strong>in</strong>land P.R.C. not to sell arms to<strong>Taiwan</strong>. Due to delivery of the F-16s and an agreement to buy up to 60Dassault Mirage 2000-5s the need for IDFs was slashed to 130 The IDFproduction l<strong>in</strong>e ceased <strong>in</strong> January 2000.Prior to the 1990s <strong>Taiwan</strong>’s aerospace knowledge was heavily centredaround AIDC <strong>in</strong> Taichung. It was based on military aircraft production,where much of the knowledge and technology flows/<strong>in</strong>formation had itsorig<strong>in</strong> <strong>in</strong> the United States (Northrop, Lockheed). AIDC’s ma<strong>in</strong> facilities are44


located at Taichung (head office, parts/components production, avionicsfactory), Sha Lu <strong>in</strong> the outskirts of Taichung (aircraft assembly,development tests facilities, flight test) and Kang Shan, close to Kaohsiung(aero-eng<strong>in</strong>es).In 1990 the government decided to embark on the development of the civilaerospace <strong>in</strong>dustry <strong>in</strong> an effort to upgrade <strong>Taiwan</strong>’s <strong>in</strong>dustrial andtechnological capabilities, with the explicit expectations to foster furthereconomic development and to create “sp<strong>in</strong>-off” effects to other <strong>in</strong>dustriesand sectors. The civil aerospace <strong>in</strong>dustry was listed as one of the top newstrategic <strong>in</strong>dustries to be promoted by the R.O.C. government under the Sixyearnational Development Plan 1991-1996 (Eriksson, 1995).This project required access to advanced foreign technology and a hugeamount of capital. In the projections the output value of the whole<strong>Taiwan</strong>ese aircraft <strong>in</strong>dustry was expected to escalate tenfold from 1989 to2000 (<strong>in</strong>formation from CASID and <strong>Taiwan</strong> Aerospace, August 1991). Thema<strong>in</strong> target was to jo<strong>in</strong> <strong>in</strong>ternational co-operation <strong>in</strong> order to expand sales ofmaterials, components, airframe parts, avionics, eng<strong>in</strong>es and aircraftma<strong>in</strong>tenance works abroad. The strategy was to encourage local companiesto form jo<strong>in</strong>t ventures with foreign companies to implement technologytransfer (ibid). Another aim was to obta<strong>in</strong> offset deals from foreign aircraftmanufactur<strong>in</strong>g companies, such as Boe<strong>in</strong>g, McDonnell Douglas and Airbus.The government <strong>in</strong>troduced the “Aeronautics and Space IndustriesDevelopment Program” to function as a guide to the <strong>in</strong>dustry. Concretemeasures <strong>in</strong>cluded:• Plann<strong>in</strong>g the development of the aerospace <strong>in</strong>dustry• Strengthen<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong>ternational co-operation and expand<strong>in</strong>g the exportmarket• Encourag<strong>in</strong>g domestic research and development• Establish<strong>in</strong>g a government <strong>in</strong>spection and certification system toupgrade the quality of aerospace productsSource: Aeronautics and Space Industries Development Program (Published on August 16,1990 by the M<strong>in</strong>istry of Economic Affairs)The development of the <strong>in</strong>dustry was drawn up by an ad hoc semigovernmentalunit, the Committee for Aviation and Space IndustryDevelopment (CASID), which consists of members from government units,universities, research organisations etc. F<strong>in</strong>ancial support to CASID isprovided by the M<strong>in</strong>istry of Economic Affairs. CASID has four ma<strong>in</strong> roles:1. To act as a bridge between the local companies and the government.45


2. To act as a ‘w<strong>in</strong>dow’ between foreign and local companies, assist<strong>in</strong>gwith market-surveys and various consultancy services.3. As a semi-governmental organization, CASID has to implementgovernment policy. CASID also has to make proposals about plann<strong>in</strong>gand future measures concern<strong>in</strong>g the aerospace <strong>in</strong>dustry.4. To handle offset credits. Offset deals were <strong>in</strong>tended to be one of thema<strong>in</strong> tools to build up the civil aircraft manufactur<strong>in</strong>g capability, at leastdur<strong>in</strong>g the first phase. Insist<strong>in</strong>g on offset agreements when buy<strong>in</strong>gaircraft abroad, the domestic <strong>in</strong>dustry has an opportunity to get access toaerospace technology by learn<strong>in</strong>g from its partnersSource: Interview with Vivian Wang, Project manager, CASID Head Office, Taipei, 6August 1991.Figure 3CASID’s role <strong>in</strong> aerospaceCASID’s RoleGOVERNMENTW<strong>in</strong>dow &coord<strong>in</strong>ationContract & TechTransferForeign Entities CASID Domestic R & DDomesticCompanySource: CASIDPreviously the aircraft <strong>in</strong>dustry had been concentrated on the military sector.Nearly all resources had been allocated to the AIDC. As a result <strong>Taiwan</strong> hadto build up an ‘<strong>in</strong>frastructure’ concern<strong>in</strong>g suppliers. Companies mak<strong>in</strong>gelectronics, metals, and car parts were regarded as potential suppliers ofaerospace components and materials, but there was a need to upgradestandards of precision, quality and management control.S<strong>in</strong>ce only a small number of <strong>Taiwan</strong>ese manufacturers were able to act assuppliers of aircraft components <strong>in</strong> the early 1990s, one important measurewas to create a unit which could take the ma<strong>in</strong> responsibility for the<strong>in</strong>tegration of different subcontractors or suppliers. This unit was also tobecome the focal po<strong>in</strong>t of bus<strong>in</strong>ess transactions for <strong>Taiwan</strong>’s aerospace<strong>in</strong>dustry.46


To fulfil these purposes, a semi-governmental company, the <strong>Taiwan</strong>Aerospace Corporation (TAC), was officially established <strong>in</strong> 1990 andstarted work<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong> July 1991. The government provided 29 per cent of the<strong>in</strong>itial capital, and private <strong>in</strong>vestors, <strong>in</strong>clud<strong>in</strong>g banks and manufactur<strong>in</strong>gfirms, covered the rest (Eriksson, 1995).From the <strong>in</strong>itial stages big expectations were laid on the newly formed<strong>Taiwan</strong> Aerospace Corporation. On November 20, 1991, a sensationalagreement was signed between McDonnell Douglas (MDC) and the newlyestablished TAC. The sign<strong>in</strong>g of the MoU (Memorandum of Understand<strong>in</strong>g)<strong>in</strong>itiated negotiations to set up a new commercial aircraft consortium. Thekey to the relationships between MDC and TAC was the launch<strong>in</strong>g of theproposed MD-12 wide body airl<strong>in</strong>er. It appeared that TAC would buy up to40 per cent of MDC´s commercial transport bus<strong>in</strong>ess by rais<strong>in</strong>g 2 billionU.S. dollar. MDC was to reta<strong>in</strong> at least 52 per cent control, while a share ofup to 9 per cent was aimed at a consortium of companies from <strong>South</strong> <strong>Korea</strong>and Japan (ibid).Wealthy <strong>Taiwan</strong> appeared to be an ideal partner, especially as the MD-12was be<strong>in</strong>g targeted at airl<strong>in</strong>es serv<strong>in</strong>g the Asia-Pacific market to and fromEurope and North America. MDC estimated MD-12 development costs atup to 5 billion U.S. Dollars. Initially MDC was offer<strong>in</strong>g co-development ofmajor airframe sections <strong>in</strong> return for cash <strong>in</strong>vestments from the Asianpartners <strong>in</strong> the project. After several MoU deadl<strong>in</strong>es had been passed, it wasobvious that the negotiations were fac<strong>in</strong>g bigger hurdles than had beenforeseen.There was much criticism of the proposed deal, despite the knowledge thatthe long learn<strong>in</strong>g curve <strong>in</strong> the civil aircraft <strong>in</strong>dustry could be leapfrogged. In<strong>Taiwan</strong> questions were raised whether it was f<strong>in</strong>ancially sound to enter theproposed consortium when there were concerns about the f<strong>in</strong>ancial health ofMcDonnell´s civil aircraft division. Another aspect was that the launch<strong>in</strong>gof the MD-12 came at a wrong time, mak<strong>in</strong>g it uncerta<strong>in</strong> whether the newaircraft could be developed. The MD-12 project was never put <strong>in</strong>toproduction.Many Americans who have regarded aerospace <strong>in</strong>dustries as their specialexpertise feared that the MDC-TAC deal was yet another key <strong>in</strong>dustry to becaught up by Asian competitors. This prompted two U.S. congressionalcommittees to hold hear<strong>in</strong>gs on the deal, the first <strong>in</strong> December 1991, and thesecond <strong>in</strong> March 1992. The <strong>in</strong>terest <strong>in</strong> the deal became lukewarm follow<strong>in</strong>gfurther rounds of talk. In the summer of 1992 the whole deal came tonoth<strong>in</strong>g.47


Instead, a new deal turned up <strong>in</strong> mid-September 1992. British Aerospace(BAe) announced a jo<strong>in</strong>t-venture with TAC. The deal should see TACbecome a risk-shar<strong>in</strong>g partner when the BAe 146 regional jet was relaunchedas the RJ family. The two companies signed a contractualagreement on January 1993. TAC was aim<strong>in</strong>g at a 50 per cent share <strong>in</strong> anew <strong>in</strong>dependent bus<strong>in</strong>ess based around BAe’s Woodford plant nearManchester <strong>in</strong> the U.K. Dur<strong>in</strong>g 1995 it was obvious that also this secondattempt to enter a full-fledged aircraft <strong>in</strong>dustry would not bear fruit (ibid).The first years after the decision to develop a commercial aircraft <strong>in</strong>dustrywere disappo<strong>in</strong>t<strong>in</strong>g. It was much more complicated than anticipated. Despite<strong>Taiwan</strong>’s huge economic resources and its reputation as an economic andcommercial hub, it was much more complicated than the development of thecomputer <strong>in</strong>dustry.It is obvious that <strong>Taiwan</strong> wanted to leapfrog the learn<strong>in</strong>g curve by tak<strong>in</strong>gequity and risk-shar<strong>in</strong>g stakes <strong>in</strong> foreign companies, but the overseas firmsma<strong>in</strong> reason for engag<strong>in</strong>g <strong>Taiwan</strong>ese counterparts was the prospects ofobta<strong>in</strong><strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong>vestment resources for extremely expensive aircraft projects.After discussions (the author) with several high-rank<strong>in</strong>g officials <strong>in</strong><strong>Taiwan</strong>’s aerospace <strong>in</strong>dustry, one obstacle <strong>in</strong> the early 1990s was theobvious difference <strong>in</strong> bus<strong>in</strong>ess culture between foreign and domestic actors.In retrospect, a lack of experience <strong>in</strong> commercial aerospace bus<strong>in</strong>ess on<strong>Taiwan</strong>’s part was a factor which complicated the discussions with foreigncompanies.The failure to move <strong>in</strong>to ma<strong>in</strong> airl<strong>in</strong>er projects with American and Europeancompanies has not dampened <strong>Taiwan</strong>’s ambitions to achieve a developedstatus <strong>in</strong> aerospace bus<strong>in</strong>ess. The government as well as private companiesstill aim at mov<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong>to the <strong>in</strong>dustry. When the orig<strong>in</strong>al strategy todeveloped TAC <strong>in</strong>to a major aerospace company failed, it was taken over byAIDC, almost the only representative of <strong>Taiwan</strong>’s entire aircraft <strong>in</strong>dustry. In1996 AIDC was transformed from a military enterprise directed by theM<strong>in</strong>istry of National Defence <strong>in</strong>to a government-owned corporationsupervised by the M<strong>in</strong>istry of Economic Affairs. In terms of new operationstrategy, AIDC placed its emphasis on both the military and civil sectors(AIDC, 2000). In May 2000 AIDC employed a work force of approximately4000. The first <strong>in</strong>ternational subcontract<strong>in</strong>g was the manufactur<strong>in</strong>g of 7components (offset) for the G.D./Lockheed F-16.Dur<strong>in</strong>g the second part of the 1990s AIDC obta<strong>in</strong>ed a number of foreigncommercial subcontract<strong>in</strong>g work from Airbus, Aero Vodocody, Alenia, BellHelicopters, Bombardier and Dassault.48


Another way to support future technology development with<strong>in</strong> the civilaerospace sector has been the establishment of the Centre for Aviation &Space Technology (CAST) <strong>in</strong>tegrated <strong>in</strong>to the Industrial TechnologyResearch Institute (ITRI). The ma<strong>in</strong> purpose is to develop aerospacetechnology and transfer it to local companies. As small and develop<strong>in</strong>gfirms have small resources to deal with R&D, ITRI give them support.Although ITRI is not a manufactur<strong>in</strong>g/company, it has set up a ‘demofactory’,but will not be <strong>in</strong>volved <strong>in</strong> any ‘mass-production’. The fruits ofresearch and development would then be passed on to privately andpublicly-owned <strong>in</strong>stitutions and companies. The ma<strong>in</strong> fund<strong>in</strong>g comes fromthe M<strong>in</strong>istry of Economic Affair’s (MOEA) ‘Industrial TechnologyDevelopment Program’ and the ‘Technology Transfer Program’ (<strong>in</strong>f.CAST). The first five-year program ran between 1993 and 1997. CAST hasalso supported a number of companies with <strong>in</strong>vestments for develop<strong>in</strong>g newproducts.One may ask what has been achieved after a decade of efforts to developand establish an aerospace manufactur<strong>in</strong>g system? Was it successful <strong>in</strong> itsendeavour? Accord<strong>in</strong>g to CASID there were more than 60 companies<strong>in</strong>volved <strong>in</strong> aerospace manufactur<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong> 2000, but a study (Eriksson, 2002)reveals that it is an exaggeration: field visits and first-hand <strong>in</strong>formationshow that many of these companies are not yet <strong>in</strong>volved <strong>in</strong> anymanufactur<strong>in</strong>g activities and if they do their aerospace related production isvery limited. These companies should be looked upon as future potentialsuppliers <strong>in</strong> the aerospace <strong>in</strong>dustry. The study (ibid) shows that there hasbeen development of new firms <strong>in</strong> the aerospace manufactur<strong>in</strong>g sector aswell as ”old” companies mov<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong>to this <strong>in</strong>dustry. The ma<strong>in</strong> locations forthese new firms are Taichung and Taoyuan. AIDC is still the only companythat has a real system <strong>in</strong>tegration capability (military aircraft), but there aresigns that limited systems <strong>in</strong>tegration knowledge are under developmentthrough CAST, at least some sub-systems. It is clear that most of the newfirms focus on specializ<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong> certa<strong>in</strong> niches, namely metalprocess<strong>in</strong>g/aircraft components, avionics, galley products and ma<strong>in</strong>tenance.49


Figure 4<strong>Taiwan</strong>’s 2000-2001 aerospace clusterChemitsu AviationGalley products,refrigeratorsCh<strong>in</strong>a Airl<strong>in</strong>esMa<strong>in</strong>tenance, overhaul& repairSuper PrecisionVacuum braz<strong>in</strong>g, aeroeng<strong>in</strong>e parts & sparesChen-techAirframe & eng<strong>in</strong>e partssubcontract<strong>in</strong>gChun-YaoAirframe sub-assemblyAsian Compressor TechnologyServicesHigh-pressure compressor(HPC) stator repairs (aeroeng<strong>in</strong>es)Evergreen AviationTechnologiesMa<strong>in</strong>tenance and overhaulFarly TechnologySheet metal process<strong>in</strong>g, wireharness repair/ma<strong>in</strong>tenanceEnsure CompanyAircraft seat components,alum<strong>in</strong>ium alloy components foraircraft <strong>in</strong>teriorsNational AerospaceFastenersAerospace and <strong>in</strong>dustrialfasteners and fitt<strong>in</strong>gsTaoyuanTaipeiFerlix Co.Trolleys, cab<strong>in</strong> products, suchas mealcarriers, tablewareand accessories; ear phones,pillows etcInstitute for InformationIndustry – AvionicsDevelopment CenterATC term<strong>in</strong>al systems,<strong>in</strong>tegrated avionics, computerbased tra<strong>in</strong><strong>in</strong>g systems etcTaichungHs<strong>in</strong>chuCenter for Aviation andSpace Technology(CAST)Aerospace technologyresearch and productdevelopmentAerovision Avionics Inc.Avionics eng<strong>in</strong>eer<strong>in</strong>g, In-Flightenterta<strong>in</strong>ment systemsTa<strong>in</strong>anMasbeCombustor l<strong>in</strong>es, eng<strong>in</strong>emach<strong>in</strong>e parts, alum<strong>in</strong>iumsheet metal parts foraircraft structureAIDCTopkey CorporationComposite production,<strong>in</strong>cl. parts forMDC/Boe<strong>in</strong>g, BellHelicopter, RaisbeckEng<strong>in</strong>eer<strong>in</strong>g andSikorsky.Light’s AmericanSportscopterProduction andmakert<strong>in</strong>g of smallhelicotersGeneral TechnologicalEng<strong>in</strong>eer<strong>in</strong>gEng<strong>in</strong>e parts, missileparts, aircraft partsChenfengSmall parts for Boe<strong>in</strong>g747 and 777 (secondtier manufacturer),Gulfstream (secondtier), Allied Signal,Sikorsky and S<strong>in</strong>oSwear<strong>in</strong>gen<strong>Taiwan</strong> AerospaceCorp.Airframe partsmanufactur<strong>in</strong>g, tool<strong>in</strong>gdesign and production,eng<strong>in</strong>e components,satellite structuresHiw<strong>in</strong> TechnologiesBall screws, l<strong>in</strong>earmotion controltechnologiesAir AsiaMa<strong>in</strong>tenance, overhaul& repairKaohsiungJui LiParts for Boe<strong>in</strong>g757, Boe<strong>in</strong>g 777(second tier), MD-11, F16Source: based on visits, <strong>in</strong>terviews and company <strong>in</strong>formationA view of the firms, which have entered the aerospace sector, shows thatAIDC acts as a spill over source for new firm formation. The authorgathered from his visits to these companies that many employees andexecutives, <strong>in</strong> the new firms as well as old ones enter<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong>to this bus<strong>in</strong>ess,50


had experience from AIDC. This is a spill-over where competent peoplecarry with them technical and management and other k<strong>in</strong>ds of knowledge.AIDC is also the ma<strong>in</strong> source of production and other technologyknowledge. Some of these companies have worked as subcontractors toAIDC thus learn<strong>in</strong>g production and technology from the ma<strong>in</strong> firm.CAST is a new source of technology spill over, support and start-ups of newactivities, although its impact seems to be very limited. The Cheng-KungUniversity, Ta<strong>in</strong>an, is a university with a dedicated aerospace education, andsupplies the firms with eng<strong>in</strong>eers.More <strong>Taiwan</strong>ese firms now work directly with foreign companies than adecade ago, especially those not l<strong>in</strong>ked to the AIDC “network”. This givesthem new access to markets and technology <strong>in</strong>formation/knowledge, and <strong>in</strong>the future enable them to work as domestic diffuser of knowledge. Dur<strong>in</strong>gvisits to <strong>Taiwan</strong> it was also evident that a number of students study<strong>in</strong>gabroad, ma<strong>in</strong>ly <strong>in</strong> the USA, had returned home to take part <strong>in</strong> the process todevelop the domestic aerospace <strong>in</strong>dustry.Other conclusions of the <strong>Taiwan</strong>ese efforts to develop the aerospace sectorare:• The ma<strong>in</strong> strategy was to leapfrog the learn<strong>in</strong>g curve by tak<strong>in</strong>g equitystakes and risk-shar<strong>in</strong>g deals with foreign companies. Although <strong>Taiwan</strong>boasts a unique economic and <strong>in</strong>dustrial development and largeeconomic resources, it is obvious that the development of a successfulcivil aerospace <strong>in</strong>dustry was much more difficult than expected. Withthe astound<strong>in</strong>g success of <strong>Taiwan</strong>’s electronics and computer <strong>in</strong>dustry <strong>in</strong>m<strong>in</strong>d, the government and organizations had no misgiv<strong>in</strong>gs that it waspossible to enter a similar path <strong>in</strong> commercial aerospace.• The aerospace <strong>in</strong>dustry is characterized by extremely high-valueproducts <strong>in</strong> relatively small quantities, produced by relatively fewplayers. Products <strong>in</strong> this <strong>in</strong>dustry have long development cycles,skyrocket<strong>in</strong>g development costs and low company turnover. In the caseof <strong>Taiwan</strong>, the <strong>in</strong>dustry had no experience <strong>in</strong> the civil aerospace, whichoften takes a very long time to develop. There was a very limitedcapability <strong>in</strong> the <strong>Taiwan</strong>ese <strong>in</strong>novation system to support such acomplicated task. <strong>Taiwan</strong>’s <strong>in</strong>dustry has profound experience <strong>in</strong>electronics- and computer <strong>in</strong>dustries with many competitors, shortproduct life cycles and rapid company turnover. Most of <strong>Taiwan</strong>’s firmsare SMEs, while the system <strong>in</strong>tegrators <strong>in</strong> the world aerospace marketsare large or huge companies, such as Airbus and Boe<strong>in</strong>g.• The aerospace <strong>in</strong>dustry is extremely complex and the most demand<strong>in</strong>g<strong>in</strong> terms of system <strong>in</strong>tegration. A large number of different technological51


subsystems must work <strong>in</strong> an <strong>in</strong>tegrated way. This differs a lot frommodularisation and dis<strong>in</strong>tegration, used by <strong>Taiwan</strong>ese companies as away to lower the entry barriers, for their semiconductor <strong>in</strong>dustry. Eventhe development of <strong>Taiwan</strong>’s military aircraft <strong>in</strong>dustry was to a verylarge extent dependent on technology <strong>in</strong>flow (vertical <strong>in</strong>flow) ofknowledge from foreign aerospace companies, ma<strong>in</strong>ly from the U.S. Thedomestic flows of knowledge and technology (horizontal) was more orless non-existent.• After discussions with high-rank<strong>in</strong>g officials <strong>in</strong> <strong>Taiwan</strong>’s aerospacesector one obstacle has been the obvious difference <strong>in</strong> bus<strong>in</strong>ess culturebetween foreign and domestic actors. A lack of experience <strong>in</strong>commercial aerospace bus<strong>in</strong>ess was a factor which complicated thediscussions with foreign companies.• In recent years the overall processes <strong>in</strong> the aerospace <strong>in</strong>dustry arecharacterized by an <strong>in</strong>creas<strong>in</strong>g number of mergers, both domestic andcross-national. This implies a steady decl<strong>in</strong>e <strong>in</strong> the number of systems<strong>in</strong>tegrators. The reasons are high technological requirements, <strong>in</strong>creas<strong>in</strong>gdevelopment costs and <strong>in</strong>ternational competition. It also means thatfunctional and design standards are decided by the <strong>in</strong>tegrators, which <strong>in</strong>turn reduces options for the lower-tier companies, such as the <strong>Taiwan</strong>eseones. Put together, the entry barriers are extremely high, and have<strong>in</strong>creased <strong>in</strong> recent years. On the other hand, an <strong>in</strong>creas<strong>in</strong>g number ofcross-border activities <strong>in</strong> aircraft/aerospace development and productionopen up possibilities for emerg<strong>in</strong>g economies to enter new projects.• The early emphasis to enter the group of system <strong>in</strong>tegrators, i.e.McDonnell Douglas and BAe, was never realized, and it is unlikely tobe considered an option by <strong>Taiwan</strong>ese actors. To develop thecommercial aerospace competence, and thus create new possibilities forthese firms, there is a need to jo<strong>in</strong> large <strong>in</strong>ternational aerospace designand manufactur<strong>in</strong>g networks. Dur<strong>in</strong>g the last few years several newl<strong>in</strong>kages have been made to foreign aerospace companies as well as new<strong>in</strong>novation and manufactur<strong>in</strong>g networks with<strong>in</strong> <strong>Taiwan</strong> itself. Still someserious disadvantages rema<strong>in</strong>: a limited <strong>in</strong>frastructure of supplier andrelated <strong>in</strong>dustries, and lack of bus<strong>in</strong>ess practices.• To be able to enhance an <strong>in</strong>ternationally competitive aerospace cluster<strong>Taiwan</strong>ese firms must develop unique competences or competitiveadvantages <strong>in</strong> an <strong>in</strong>ternational context. Today much of the production<strong>in</strong>cludes components and parts manufacture, which are <strong>in</strong>ternationallyreplaceable, due to the existence of many locations around the worldwith a surplus <strong>in</strong> manufactur<strong>in</strong>g capability. The excess does not onlycome from the mature aerospace actors with<strong>in</strong> the EU and North52


America, but also from countries of Eastern Europe, such as Russia,Czech Republic and Poland. Many develop<strong>in</strong>g and newly <strong>in</strong>dustrializ<strong>in</strong>gcountries have also <strong>in</strong>vested heavily <strong>in</strong> this sector and suffer fromsurplus manufactur<strong>in</strong>g capacity.• The domestic aerospace <strong>in</strong>novation system is still rather weak andcannot support <strong>Taiwan</strong>’s wishes to develop a strong aerospace <strong>in</strong>dustry.The dependence on technology and bus<strong>in</strong>ess l<strong>in</strong>ks to lead<strong>in</strong>g<strong>in</strong>ternational firms is of outmost importance to develop a competitiveaerospace cluster and <strong>in</strong>novation system. Although such l<strong>in</strong>ks have<strong>in</strong>creased <strong>in</strong> recent years, most of them are not of the k<strong>in</strong>d that will haveany major impact on the <strong>Taiwan</strong>ese <strong>in</strong>novation system <strong>in</strong> a short termperspective.53


5 CONCLUSIONS<strong>South</strong> <strong>Korea</strong> and <strong>Taiwan</strong> both belong to the small group of first generation”Asian tigers” also <strong>in</strong>clud<strong>in</strong>g Hong Kong and S<strong>in</strong>gapore. The twoeconomies which are subject of this study share a number of commonfeatures. First, like <strong>Korea</strong>, <strong>Taiwan</strong> was a Japanese colony and was tightly<strong>in</strong>tegrated <strong>in</strong>to the Japanese economic system. A substantial <strong>in</strong>dustrializedbase and physical <strong>in</strong>frastructure was established by the Japanese to utilizelocal labour and materials. Second, both <strong>South</strong> <strong>Korea</strong> and <strong>Taiwan</strong> have adifficult external political situation. In the case of <strong>Taiwan</strong>, there is claim bythe P.R.C. of it be<strong>in</strong>g an <strong>in</strong>tegral part of the ma<strong>in</strong>land, and <strong>in</strong> the case of<strong>Korea</strong> there is external threat from the unstable North <strong>Korea</strong>.Both <strong>South</strong> <strong>Korea</strong> and <strong>Taiwan</strong> can also be described, at least <strong>in</strong> earlierperiods, as be<strong>in</strong>g authoritarian corporatist states. They also share commonfeatures <strong>in</strong> the development path, go<strong>in</strong>g through primary-substitut<strong>in</strong>g<strong>in</strong>dustrialization, primary export-oriented <strong>in</strong>dustrialization and secondaryimport-substitut<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong>dustrialization as well as secondary export-oriented<strong>in</strong>dustrialization.In the early phase of development much of <strong>in</strong>dustrial production tookadvantage of abundant labour supply and later moved <strong>in</strong>to consumer goods<strong>in</strong>dustries and more capital-<strong>in</strong>tensive <strong>in</strong>dustries. These stages <strong>in</strong> <strong>in</strong>dustrialdevelopment correspond rather well to the notion of technological learn<strong>in</strong>gfound <strong>in</strong> the sequences of <strong>in</strong>dustrial development, imply<strong>in</strong>g successivelyhigher capital-ratios and higher levels of technological sophistication (Tier 1to Tier 4), although there are still impediments for these economies to belooked upon as fully-fledged ”Schumpeterian” ones.The role of the state has been fundamental both <strong>in</strong> <strong>Korea</strong>’s and <strong>Taiwan</strong>’seconomic and <strong>in</strong>dustrial development. In general the government <strong>in</strong>fluenceon <strong>in</strong>dustry and trade has been stronger <strong>in</strong> <strong>South</strong> <strong>Korea</strong> than <strong>in</strong> <strong>Taiwan</strong>. Thisis especially true when look<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong>to the strong ties between the chaebols andthe state. Although the large diversified family-controlled chaebols are pureprivate companies, the state deliberately created and nurtured them aslocomotives for economic development. These bus<strong>in</strong>ess groups were thebackbone of <strong>in</strong>dustrialization <strong>in</strong> the labour-<strong>in</strong>tensive <strong>in</strong>dustries and played amajor role <strong>in</strong> expedit<strong>in</strong>g technology learn<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong> the <strong>in</strong>dustry. The chaebolhas been the greatest strength of <strong>South</strong> <strong>Korea</strong>’s <strong>in</strong>novation system, but dueto the recent developments perhaps these bus<strong>in</strong>ess groups have become aserious liability s<strong>in</strong>ce the Asian crisis.54


The <strong>Taiwan</strong>ese <strong>in</strong>dustrial structure is different from that <strong>in</strong> <strong>South</strong> <strong>Korea</strong>. In<strong>Taiwan</strong> there is huge dom<strong>in</strong>ance of SMEs, with a strong entrepreneurialspirit, flexibility and where the <strong>in</strong>dustrial structure is based on bus<strong>in</strong>essgroups structured around the family, although they are much smaller thansuch groups <strong>in</strong> <strong>South</strong> <strong>Korea</strong>. In <strong>Taiwan</strong> the guanxichiye typically occupy aniche with<strong>in</strong> part of one or several commodity cha<strong>in</strong>s, supply<strong>in</strong>g<strong>in</strong>termediate products and services to other <strong>Taiwan</strong> bus<strong>in</strong>esses for eventual<strong>in</strong>corporation with<strong>in</strong> export sectors. In <strong>South</strong> <strong>Korea</strong> the large bus<strong>in</strong>essgroups are much more <strong>in</strong>volved <strong>in</strong> produc<strong>in</strong>g end products aim<strong>in</strong>g at thedomestic and <strong>in</strong>ternational consumer markets.The role of the state <strong>in</strong> <strong>Taiwan</strong> has concentrated more on creat<strong>in</strong>gsupport<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong>stitutions that have focused on build<strong>in</strong>g human resources,acquir<strong>in</strong>g technology from abroad, creat<strong>in</strong>g science and technologycapacities and support<strong>in</strong>g development of commercial products.Despite an impress<strong>in</strong>g long-term economic and <strong>in</strong>dustrial development, botheconomies have weaknesses <strong>in</strong> the their <strong>in</strong>novation systems. In <strong>South</strong> <strong>Korea</strong>it seems that research at universities is relatively weak with a serious lackof <strong>in</strong>terplay between universities and the private sector and a dearth ofdiffusion mechanisms to transfer research results from public researchestablishments to <strong>in</strong>dustry and particularly SMEs . On the other hand onereport states that the SME-oriented <strong>in</strong>novation policies are more stronglydeveloped than one would expect after read<strong>in</strong>g literature on <strong>South</strong> <strong>Korea</strong>.<strong>South</strong> <strong>Korea</strong>’s SME-oriented support is judged variously <strong>in</strong> the literature.Some have negative views. while others are more positive. Another studyexpresses the op<strong>in</strong>ion that different judgements depend on lack ofsystematic evaluation. In general there are signs that <strong>South</strong> <strong>Korea</strong>’stechnology policy is mov<strong>in</strong>g from a mission-oriented to diffusion-orientedone.As <strong>in</strong> <strong>South</strong> <strong>Korea</strong>, research at universities <strong>in</strong> <strong>Taiwan</strong> is relatively weak,but it seems that <strong>in</strong> <strong>Taiwan</strong> there are more developed mechanisms totransfer research results from public research establishments to <strong>in</strong>dustry,especially SMEs, through establishments such as ITRI and science-based<strong>in</strong>dustrial parks. The <strong>in</strong>dustrial and technology policies <strong>in</strong> <strong>Taiwan</strong> havesupported a rather close cooperation between the state and <strong>in</strong>dustry, and<strong>in</strong>creased connection between universities and the state. The weakest l<strong>in</strong>ksseem to be between universities and <strong>in</strong>dustry. Reasons for the weak l<strong>in</strong>kagesare shortage of human resources <strong>in</strong> the eng<strong>in</strong>eer<strong>in</strong>g faculties of universitiesand <strong>Taiwan</strong>’s <strong>in</strong>dustrial structure, with the dom<strong>in</strong>ation of SMEs with verylimited resources for research, both <strong>in</strong> terms and capital and humanresources. An aggravat<strong>in</strong>g circumstance are the difficulties for leave ofabsence for researches to work <strong>in</strong> the <strong>in</strong>dustry.55


An important reason for <strong>Taiwan</strong>’s success <strong>in</strong> the IT-<strong>in</strong>dustry is the modulararchitecture of the products manufactured as modularization can reduceproduct complexity, lower entry barriers and <strong>in</strong>crease <strong>in</strong>dustrial flexibility.This <strong>in</strong>dustry also fits well <strong>in</strong>to the experience of most <strong>Taiwan</strong>esecompanies, with an emphasis on many competitors, short product life cyclesand rapid company turnover. The emergence of new centres of technology,like <strong>Taiwan</strong>, has been possible due to a radical transformation <strong>in</strong> thestructure of the IT-sector. The rise of Silicon Valley <strong>in</strong>dustrial model<strong>in</strong>itiated a radical shift to a more fragmented <strong>in</strong>dustrial structure organizedaround networks of <strong>in</strong>creas<strong>in</strong>gly specialized producers.Another important reason for the emergence of <strong>in</strong>novative regions such asHs<strong>in</strong>chu is the importance of a transnational community that shares<strong>in</strong>formation, trust and contacts. From an <strong>in</strong>novation perspective this force isperhaps as important, or even more important, than government policies andTNCs. The connection to Silicon Valley, <strong>in</strong> particular, expla<strong>in</strong>s clearly how<strong>Taiwan</strong>’s producers <strong>in</strong>novated technologically <strong>in</strong>dependence of their OEMcustomers.<strong>South</strong> <strong>Korea</strong> was one of few countries with restrictions on FDI whentechnology was not a critical element and necessary mature technologiescould be acquired through mechanisms other than FDI, such as reverseeng<strong>in</strong>eer<strong>in</strong>g.As a consequence, the size of FDI was significantly lower <strong>in</strong><strong>South</strong> <strong>Korea</strong> compared with most other newly <strong>in</strong>dustrializ<strong>in</strong>g economies.This implies that FDI had a much smaller effect on the <strong>Korea</strong>n economycompared with the effects from FDI <strong>in</strong> other NIEs.The technology transfer promotion through procurement of turnkey plantsand massive imports of foreign capital goods became a major source oflearn<strong>in</strong>g through reverse-eng<strong>in</strong>eer<strong>in</strong>g until the 1970s and probably evenmuch later. After two decades of restrictive policy toward foreign direct<strong>in</strong>vestment and foreign licens<strong>in</strong>g, <strong>South</strong> <strong>Korea</strong> liberalized its technologytransfer policies <strong>in</strong> the 1980s and 1990s. The U.S. and Japan have been themajor sources for technology transfer and learn<strong>in</strong>g.As <strong>in</strong> <strong>South</strong> <strong>Korea</strong>, much of technology <strong>in</strong>put <strong>in</strong> <strong>Taiwan</strong> has come fromJapan and the U.S. Through much of its early <strong>in</strong>dustrialization, <strong>Taiwan</strong>employed older mach<strong>in</strong>ery and manufactured standardized products thatwere not subject to propriety restrictions. Knowledge about how to improvethe utilization of this equipment as well as modifications of productspecifications were readily available at low cost <strong>in</strong> trade literature andeng<strong>in</strong>eer<strong>in</strong>g publications. Up to the early1990s it seems that reverseeng<strong>in</strong>eer<strong>in</strong>g was still the most common means of acquir<strong>in</strong>g technology.S<strong>in</strong>ce the 1990s the return of nationals who were educated or worked abroad56


had been an important mode of technology transfer as <strong>in</strong>dustrializationproceeds with more emphasis on capital and technology <strong>in</strong>tensive sectors.Like <strong>Korea</strong>, <strong>Taiwan</strong> has controlled the <strong>in</strong>flow of foreign direct <strong>in</strong>vestments<strong>in</strong>to the domestic economy, although much less strictly. Compared with<strong>Korea</strong>, the role of FDIs <strong>in</strong> <strong>Taiwan</strong> has been more important as a source oflearn<strong>in</strong>g and technology transfer. Accord<strong>in</strong>g to one limited study, the largestimpact on the <strong>Taiwan</strong>ese knowledge flow system was made by anInternational Interdependent Laboratory. In general there is consensus thatforeign <strong>in</strong>vestment from the 1960s throughout the last century had a major<strong>in</strong>fluence on the development of knowledge and <strong>in</strong>novation capability <strong>in</strong><strong>Taiwan</strong>. These <strong>in</strong>dustrial connections have provided opportunities for anagile manufactur<strong>in</strong>g system that is capable to cope with the marketfluctuations of cost-competitive and fashion-conscious <strong>in</strong>dustries.In 1990 <strong>Taiwan</strong>’s government decided to embark on the development of acivil aerospace <strong>in</strong>dustry <strong>in</strong> an effort to upgrade its <strong>in</strong>dustrial andtechnological capabilities, with the explicit expectations to foster more of an<strong>in</strong>novation-driven economy. Although <strong>Taiwan</strong> boasts a unique economicand <strong>in</strong>dustrial development, it is obvious that the development of asuccessful civil aerospace <strong>in</strong>dustry has been much more difficult thanexpected. The ma<strong>in</strong> reasons for this are:• The aerospace <strong>in</strong>dustry is characterized by extremely high-valueproducts <strong>in</strong> relatively small quantities, produced by relatively fewplayers. Products <strong>in</strong> this <strong>in</strong>dustry have long development cycles,skyrocket<strong>in</strong>g development costs and low company turnover. <strong>Taiwan</strong>’s<strong>in</strong>dustry has profound experience <strong>in</strong> electronics- and computer <strong>in</strong>dustrieswith many competitors, short product life cycles and rapid companyturnover. Most of <strong>Taiwan</strong>’s firms are SMEs, while system <strong>in</strong>tegrators <strong>in</strong>the world aerospace markets are large or huge companies, such asAirbus and Boe<strong>in</strong>g.• The aerospace <strong>in</strong>dustry is extremely complex and the most demand<strong>in</strong>g<strong>in</strong> terms of system <strong>in</strong>tegration. A large number of different technologicalsubsystems must work <strong>in</strong> an <strong>in</strong>tegrated way. This differs a lot frommodularisation and dis<strong>in</strong>tegration, used by <strong>Taiwan</strong>ese companies as away to lower the entry barriers, for their semiconductor <strong>in</strong>dustry. Eventhe development of <strong>Taiwan</strong>’s military aircraft <strong>in</strong>dustry was to a verylarge extent dependent on technology <strong>in</strong>flow (vertical <strong>in</strong>flow) ofknowledge from foreign aerospace companies, ma<strong>in</strong>ly from the U.S. Thedomestic flows of knowledge and technology (horizontal) were more orless non-existent. Dur<strong>in</strong>g the last few years several new l<strong>in</strong>kages havebeen made to foreign aerospace companies as well as new <strong>in</strong>novationand manufactur<strong>in</strong>g networks with<strong>in</strong> <strong>Taiwan</strong> itself. Still some serious57


disadvantages rema<strong>in</strong>: a limited <strong>in</strong>frastructure of supplier and related<strong>in</strong>dustries, and lack of bus<strong>in</strong>ess practices.• In recent years the overall processes <strong>in</strong> the aerospace <strong>in</strong>dustry arecharacterized by an <strong>in</strong>creas<strong>in</strong>g number of mergers, both domestic andcross-national. This implies a steady decl<strong>in</strong>e <strong>in</strong> the number of systems<strong>in</strong>tegrators. The reasons are high technological requirements, <strong>in</strong>creas<strong>in</strong>gdevelopment costs and <strong>in</strong>ternational competition. It also means thatfunctional and design standards are decided by the <strong>in</strong>tegrators, which <strong>in</strong>turn reduces options for the lower-tier companies, such as the <strong>Taiwan</strong>eseones. On the other hand, an <strong>in</strong>creas<strong>in</strong>g number of cross-border activities<strong>in</strong> aircraft/aerospace development and production open up possibilitiesfor emerg<strong>in</strong>g economies to enter new projects. To develop thecommercial aerospace competence, and thus create new possibilities forthese firms, there is a need to jo<strong>in</strong> large <strong>in</strong>ternational aerospace designand manufactur<strong>in</strong>g networks.• Today much of the production <strong>in</strong>cludes components and partsmanufacture, which are <strong>in</strong>ternationally replaceable, due to the existenceof many locations around the world with a surplus <strong>in</strong> manufactur<strong>in</strong>gcapability. The excess does not only come from the mature aerospaceactors with<strong>in</strong> the EU and North America, but also from countries ofeastern Europe, such as Russia, Czech Republic and Poland. Manydevelop<strong>in</strong>g and newly <strong>in</strong>dustrializ<strong>in</strong>g countries have also <strong>in</strong>vestedheavily <strong>in</strong> this sector and suffer from a surplus manufactur<strong>in</strong>g capacity.The Asian crisis appears to have catalyzed restructur<strong>in</strong>g of <strong>South</strong> <strong>Korea</strong>’seconomy. Reforms <strong>in</strong> the public sector, the f<strong>in</strong>ancial sector, chaebols andlabour market, will probably have major future effects on <strong>South</strong> <strong>Korea</strong>’seconomy, also imply<strong>in</strong>g long-time changes <strong>in</strong> the <strong>in</strong>novation system. Thedown-siz<strong>in</strong>g and the new focus of core bus<strong>in</strong>ess for chaebols, and promotionof SMEs, will also have major future implications of the country’s<strong>in</strong>novation structure, as well as <strong>in</strong>creas<strong>in</strong>g foreign ownership <strong>in</strong> the <strong>in</strong>dustryand bank<strong>in</strong>g sector, imply<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong>troduction of new technologies andmanagement knowledge.<strong>Taiwan</strong> rema<strong>in</strong>ed relatively well-<strong>in</strong>sulated, <strong>in</strong> comparison to <strong>South</strong> <strong>Korea</strong>,from f<strong>in</strong>ancial turbulence that hit the region due to the 1997 East Asiancrisis.Although <strong>Taiwan</strong>’s economy has prospered <strong>in</strong> the past decades, its economynow faces a number of obstacles, such as <strong>in</strong>creas<strong>in</strong>g wages, <strong>in</strong>dustriesmov<strong>in</strong>g out of <strong>Taiwan</strong> and slow down of <strong>in</strong>dustry growth. Another problemis <strong>Taiwan</strong>’s political status <strong>in</strong> the <strong>in</strong>ternational community. On the one hand,the 50-year rule of the authoritarian KMT came to an end <strong>in</strong> early 2000,58


when the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) was elected <strong>in</strong>to government.On the other hand, the DPP is a long-established advocate of <strong>in</strong>dependencefrom P.R.C. and this creates further political tensions. All these changes canhave an <strong>in</strong>fluence on the future of <strong>Taiwan</strong>’s <strong>in</strong>novation system.59


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En studie avtillväxtens utveckl<strong>in</strong>g i Sveriges lokalaarbetsmarknader.VINNOVA ForumVFI 2004:01 Informationssamhället - åter tillframtiden (<strong>Innovation</strong> policy <strong>in</strong> Focus)02 Svensk <strong>in</strong>novationskraft - visionenmåste vara starkare än motståndet(<strong>Innovation</strong> policy <strong>in</strong> Focus)VFI 2003:01 Commercialization of AcademicResearch Results (<strong>Innovation</strong> policy <strong>in</strong>Focus)VFI 2002:01 Betydelsen av <strong>in</strong>novationssystem:utman<strong>in</strong>gar för samhället och förpolitiken (<strong>Innovation</strong> policy <strong>in</strong> Focus)02 <strong>Innovation</strong>spolitik för Sverige: mål,skäl, problem och åtgärder (<strong>Innovation</strong>policy <strong>in</strong> Focus)03 Teknikparkens roll i det svenska<strong>in</strong>novationssystemet - historienom kommersialiser<strong>in</strong>g avforskn<strong>in</strong>gsresultat (<strong>Innovation</strong> policy <strong>in</strong>Focus)VINNOVA InformationVI 2005:01 VINNOVA <strong>in</strong> brief.02 Årsredovisn<strong>in</strong>g 200403 VINNOVA - För ett <strong>in</strong>novativtSverige!04 DYNAMO -Beskrivn<strong>in</strong>gar av de 18projekt som <strong>in</strong>går i programmet05 Under productionVI 2004:01 Årsredovisn<strong>in</strong>g 200303 VINNOVAs activities with<strong>in</strong>Biotechnology.04. VINN EXCELLENCE CENTER.For English version see VI 2004:0505 VINN EXCELLENCE CENTRES.For Swedish version se VI 2004:0407 Kompetenscentrum i siffror08 The Swedish Competence CentresProgramme. Third InternationalEvaluation - Group 2-6 (19 Centres)and Overall Impressions andProgramme-wide Issues.VI 2003:01 Verksamhet <strong>in</strong>om Transporter02 Årsredovisn<strong>in</strong>g 200204 The Competence Centres Programme.Third International Evaluation. Group1 (8 Centres)05 The Concept of <strong>Innovation</strong> Journalismand a Programme for Develop<strong>in</strong>g it.Only available as PDF06 EUREKAVINNOVA PolicyVP 2005:01 Kunskap för säkerhets skull.Förslag till en nationell strategi försäkerhetsforskn<strong>in</strong>g. For English versionsee VP 2005:0302 Strategi för tillväxt - Bioteknik, enlivsviktig <strong>in</strong>dustri i Sverige03 Knowledge to safeguard security.Proposals for a national strategy forsecurity research. For Swedish versionsee VP 2005:0104 Produktionsteknik &Fordonstelematik. Förslag till FoUprogram05 VINNOVA´s views on the EuropeanCommission´s proposal for theSeventh Framework Programmeon Research & TechnologicalDevelopment 2007 - 2013. PositionpaperVP 2004:01 Nationell strategi förtransportrelaterad FUDVP 2003:01 VINNFORSK - VINNOVAs förslagtill förbättrad kommersialiser<strong>in</strong>goch ökad avkastn<strong>in</strong>g i tillväxt påforskn<strong>in</strong>gs<strong>in</strong>vester<strong>in</strong>gar vid högskolor.HUVUDTEXT. For appendixes see VP2003:01.101.1 VINNFORSK - VINNOVAs förslagtill förbättrad kommersialiser<strong>in</strong>g


och ökad avkastn<strong>in</strong>g i tillväxt påforskn<strong>in</strong>gs<strong>in</strong>vester<strong>in</strong>gar vid högskolor.BILAGOR. Ma<strong>in</strong> text see VP 2003:0102 Behovsmotiverad forskn<strong>in</strong>g ocheffektiva <strong>in</strong>novationssystem förhållbar tillväxt. VINNOVAsverksamhetsplaner<strong>in</strong>g 2003-2007. ForEnglish version see VP 2002:04, for fullSwedish version see VP 2002:0303 VINNOVAs forskn<strong>in</strong>gsstrategi.Strategi för hållbar tillväxt04 Nationell <strong>Innovation</strong>s- ochforskn<strong>in</strong>gsstrategi för områdetMiljödriven teknikutveckl<strong>in</strong>g.Only available as PDFVP 2002:02 Nationellt <strong>in</strong>kubatorprogram03 Behovsmotiverad forskn<strong>in</strong>g ocheffektiva <strong>in</strong>novationssystem för hållbartillväxt. En fördjupad version avVINNOVAs verksamhetsplaner<strong>in</strong>g2003-2007. For short Swedish versionsee VP 2003:02, for short English versionsee VP 2002:0404 Effective <strong>in</strong>novation systems andproblem-oriented research forsusta<strong>in</strong>able growth. VINNOVA’sstrategic plan 2003 - 2007. For Swedishveersion see VP 2002:03 and VP2003:0205 Nationell strategi för FoU<strong>in</strong>om området tillämpn<strong>in</strong>g av<strong>in</strong>formationsteknik.VINNOVA ReportVR 2005:01 Effektivt arbete i process<strong>in</strong>dustr<strong>in</strong>Hur man gör. Från strategi tillgenomförande02 Teori och metod för val av <strong>in</strong>dikatorerför <strong>in</strong>kubatorer. Only available as PDF03 Informations- ochkommunikationsteknik i USA. Enöversiktsstudie om satsn<strong>in</strong>gar ochtrender <strong>in</strong>om politik, forskn<strong>in</strong>g ochnär<strong>in</strong>gsliv.04 Information and CommunicationsTechnology <strong>in</strong> Japan. A generaloverview on the current Japanese<strong>in</strong>itiatives and trends <strong>in</strong> the area ofICT.05 Information and CommunicationsTechnology <strong>in</strong> Ch<strong>in</strong>a. A generaloverview of the current Ch<strong>in</strong>ese<strong>in</strong>itiatives and trends <strong>in</strong> the area ofICT.06 Hälsa & lärande. Frågor för hälso- ochsjukvårdssystemet07 Samhandl<strong>in</strong>g för <strong>in</strong>novationsleddtillväxt08 Tekniköverför<strong>in</strong>g från landbaseradefordon till m<strong>in</strong>dre fartyg - fas 1. Onlyavailable as PDF09 Nya emissionskrav för dieselmotorer- en katalysator för svensk <strong>in</strong>dustri?Only available as PDF10 Under production11 ICT-based Home Healthcare. Onlyavailable as PDFVR 2004:01 Nya material och produkter frånförnyelsebara råvaror. En framtidsbildoch vägen dit. For short version see VR2004:0202 Nya material och produkter frånförnyelsebara råvaror. Short version ofVR 2004:01.03 Evaluation of the NUTEK-VINNOVA programme <strong>in</strong> ComplexTechnical Systems 1997-2001.Utvärder<strong>in</strong>g av ett FoU-program iKomplexa Tekniska System 1997-200104 Förnuft och känsla - en narrativ studieom äldre kv<strong>in</strong>nors bilkörn<strong>in</strong>g. Onlyavailable as PDF05 Equipment for Rational Secur<strong>in</strong>gof Cargo on Railway Wagons.Utrustn<strong>in</strong>g för rationell säkr<strong>in</strong>g av lastpå järnvägsvagnar (jvgRASLA). Onlyavailable as PDF06 <strong>Innovation</strong>spolitik för ITS. En studieav aktörsnätverk kr<strong>in</strong>g IntelligentaTransportSystem. Only available asPDF07 Svensk forskn<strong>in</strong>g - rik på upplevelser.Only available as PDF08 Fånga V<strong>in</strong>den! - en klokbok förtillväxt09 Utvärder<strong>in</strong>g av det NationellaFlygtekniska Forskn<strong>in</strong>gsprogrammet10 Forskn<strong>in</strong>g och <strong>Innovation</strong> iSmåföretag. SBIR - Small Bus<strong>in</strong>ess<strong>Innovation</strong> Research. Ett amerikansktprogram för behovsmotiveradforskn<strong>in</strong>g utförd av m<strong>in</strong>dre företag11 Arbetsgivarr<strong>in</strong>gar i Sverige -förekomst, funktion och nytta12 Evaluation of the Öresund contractsfor cross-border R&D cooperationbetween Denmark and Sweden13 Det öppna svenska <strong>in</strong>novationssystemet- en tillgång för SverigeVR 2003:01 Fysisk planer<strong>in</strong>g i det digitalasamhället. Telematik 200402 K<strong>in</strong>a störst på mobiltelefoni -konsekvenser för omvärlden. Telematik200603 Framtidens fordon - mötet mellan tvåmobila världar. Telematik 200604 Efter 11 september 2001: - Kanstorebror hejdas? Telematik 200606 Kunskapskultur och <strong>in</strong>novation.<strong>Innovation</strong>ssystem kr<strong>in</strong>genergirelaterad vägtransportteknologi.Förstudie. Only available as PDF07 Förändrad f<strong>in</strong>ansier<strong>in</strong>g avtranportforskn<strong>in</strong>gen. Only available asPDF08 Inledande laboratorieförsök - ProjektAIS 32. Delrapport 1. Only available asPDF09 Inledande fältförsök - Projekt AIS 32.Delrapport 2. Only available as PDF10 Hur går det till i verkligheten?<strong>Innovation</strong>sprocessen utifrån 18 fall11 Returlogistik - Utveckl<strong>in</strong>g avlogistiksystem för returgodsflöden.Only available as PDF12 Genusperspektiv på <strong>in</strong>novationssystem- exemplet svensk musik<strong>in</strong>dustri


Production & Layout: VINNOVA´s Communication DivisionJuly 2005


VINNOVA´s mission is to promote susta<strong>in</strong>able growthby develop<strong>in</strong>g effective <strong>in</strong>novation systemsand fund<strong>in</strong>g problem-oriented researchV E R K E T F Ö R I N N O V AT I O N S S Y S T E M – S W E D I S H A G E N C Y F O R I N N O V AT I O N S Y S T E M SVINNOVA, SE-101 58 Stockholm, Sweden Besök/Office: Mäster Samuelsgatan 56Tel: +46 (0)8 473 3000 Fax: +46 (0)8 473 3005 VINNOVA@ VINNOVA.se www.VINNOVA.se

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