Business Groups in Taiwan

Abstract

This article examines the formation and evolution of the one hundred largest business groups in Taiwan from the 1970s to the 2000s. It first provides a brief description of the formation process of business groups in Taiwan. Specifically, it refers to the main arguments related to the emergence of business groups in the literature, market power, state and policy targeting, and persistent social systems. Furthermore, it investigates the strategy and structure of Taiwanese business groups. It develops indicators and studies the trends of product diversification and internationalization of the groups. In terms of group structure, it discusses inter-firm ties among affiliates within the groups and how the diversification strategy and inter-firm ties have co-evolved. The next area of discussion concerns the governance structure of the group. Finally, it considers the competitive capabilities of the group.