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2016年3月27日 星期日

Taiwan 2.0

Taiwan 2.0

The island’s electronics firms are in need of an upgrade





... Of all the countries dependent on purchases by China, Taiwan has most to lose as the mainland’s electronics industry becomes more self-sufficient, says Angela Hsieh, an economist at Barclays, a bank. South Korea also depends on China, but its firms sell a wider variety of goods there, such as cars and cosmetics.
Becoming more innovative is easier for some than others. Hon Hai, which has its eye on Sharp’s research into advanced OLED display screens, is big enough to absorb the struggling Japanese firm, and to keep throwing money at developing its technology. Likewise, South Korean firms such as Samsung Electronics, which belong to giant conglomerates, can afford the R&D and marketing budgets needed to remain globally competitive. But many of Taiwan’s electronics firms are, thus far at least, small, anonymous links in other companies’ supply chains.  
Starting to sell gadgets under their own brands might offer these firms far higher profit margins, allowing them to pull themselves up by their bootstraps. But past experience shows that it is hard to do this without going into competition with the more famous customers that they rely on. Some Taiwanese firms, including HTC and Asus, have produced branded products—such as phones and notebook computers—only to be deserted by the customers to whom they sell components.
Raymond Hsu, an analyst with Taiwan Ratings, an affiliate of Standard and Poor’s, thinks Hon Hai would only try to make money from Sharp’s brand if it could attach it to products that wouldn’t upset its existing customers. The Taiwanese firm may be more interested, in the short term, in being able to offer brand-owners like Apple a wider range of components, and thus to increase its bargaining-power with them. Mr Hsu says Apple would prefer not to buy OLED displays from Samsung, which is a rival producer of smartphones.
Taiwan’s president-elect, Tsai Ing-wen, has promised to reshape its economy by “shifting from an efficiency-driven model to an innovation-driven one.” Ms Tsai also wants to reduce reliance on China and promote greater technology ties with America and Japan. The question is how. Taiwanese firms have already been encouraged by the outgoing government to flirt with the likes of cloud computing, the “internet of things”, 3D printing, biotechnology and renewable energy. Some are showing potential, but there will be no quick fixes. Meanwhile, prospering rivals on the mainland enjoy the benefits of a vast home market, and a government with lots more money to throw around.












經濟學人:台灣該升級了
作者:陳竫詒編譯  經濟學人
鴻夏戀也許是台灣電子廠走向全球化的好典範,但是對於更多台灣企業,生死存亡之際,搶蘋果單,更能夠快速活下去,台灣的創新之路,到底該怎麼辦?
鴻夏戀,天價交易背後,郭台銘看重的是夏普的品牌和技術,這對於鴻海提供像是蘋果等大客戶,將更具有競爭力,也有可能使鴻海成為創新的消費品賣家,經濟部長鄧振中認為這將成為台灣電子廠希望走向全球化的好典範。

台灣的出口有4成仰賴電子廠,同時貢獻了15%的台灣GDP,這幾十年來,作為歐美企業的組裝、代工廠商,獲得相當的成功。中國改革開放,台灣廠商移到中國大陸設廠,台灣的生產專業加上中國的廉價勞力,成為台灣電子廠的競爭力。

但是現在,紅色供應鏈的崛起,正在迎頭趕上,台灣的半導體製造商像是台積電,還保持強勁的優勢,但是其他像是面板廠,例如鴻海集團的群創光電、友達光電等等,正受到中國大陸的京東方、華星光電威脅。與去年同期相比,台灣2月的出口總額跌了12%,在面板和其他光學儀器驟降34%。

中國建立自有供應鏈  台灣損失最重

巴克萊經濟學家Angela Hsieh分析,所有依賴中國市場的國家當中,台灣受到中國電子廠崛起,建立自有供應鏈的損失最大。南韓對中國的依賴也很深,但是南韓的產業相對多元,還有汽車和化妝品等等產業支撐。

能夠創新的公司,是相對容易存活的。鴻海看準了夏普對於 OLED的先進研究,同時也足夠出手併購掙扎中的日本企業,投資技術發展。南韓的大型企業像是三星,投入在R&D和行銷的預算,讓他保持國際的競爭力。但是許多台灣的電子廠商,規模小,就隱身在其他企業的供應鏈裡代工。

開始銷售自有品牌的小產品,可以提高這些企業的利潤空間,但是如何不依賴那些大品牌客戶,過去種種經驗顯示很難做到。包括像是宏達電、華碩這些已經生產自有品牌的企業,只會被原先購買零組件的客戶所遺棄。

標準普爾信評分析師Raymond Hsu認為,短期內,台灣企業更有興趣的,還是如何拿下蘋果這類大廠的訂單,畢竟蘋果就比較不想從競爭對手像是三星那邊買下OLED。

台灣總統當選人蔡英文承諾要從「效率」驅動,轉為由「創新」帶動經濟動能,希望能減少對中國的依賴,促進與美國和日本更緊密的技術關係。問題是「怎麼做」?

馬政府時代提了雲計算、物聯網、3D列印,生物可既和再生能源,有些已經看出發展的潛力,但是都不會有什麼快速地解決辦法,畢竟在此同時,面對的中國競爭者擁有的是廣闊中國市場,還有中國政府到處灑錢的大力支持。

©The Economist Newspaper Limited 2016
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