Industrial International Competitiveness Research Articles

Developing an Engineering Data Bank Service for the Precision Machinery Industry Cluster Using the Living Lab Concept

In Taiwan the precision machinery industry has always played an important role in promoting important industrial upgrades. Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) account for the vast majority of participants in this industry. Because of their size and number they face a number of problems. These include difficulty in responding quickly to market demand, a low level of collaboration, and insufficient interaction between designers in central factories and the subcontractors who manufacture components for them. Taiwan’s i236 initiative applied a Living Lab Concept, along with information and communication technology (ICT), to develop a cloud-based ‘Engineering Data Bank Service’ to act as a hub for gathering data together from a local precision machinery industry ecosystem. The Taichung City Precision Machinery Innovation Technology Park was selected as the test site. After deploying the service to more than 400 SMEs, it is found that this service has a low deployment cost, and can indeed effectively enhance the working efficiency of R&D personnel and increase the interaction between central factories and subcontractors, thereby enhancing the international competitiveness of the precision machinery industry in Taiwan.

International Competitiveness of Japan's Petroleum Industry: A View from Applied Business History

This study uses historical analyses to offer recommendations on developing the international competitiveness of Japan’s petroleum industry. The choice was made to focus on historical processes in discussing this contemporary subject, as this study uses applied business history to perform analyses.

Evaluation Framework and Model of Oil Industry's International Competitiveness

In the occasion of economic globalization, competitiveness of the pillar industry has become the core of the regional competitiveness. As the largest industry in the world, oil industry’s international competitiveness is referred to as the important figure of one country’s comprehensive competitiveness. So it may discovery a large of information for people by structuring an evaluation framework of oil industry. We need create a set of evaluation index system when structuring an evaluation framework, so it means that the first step for us to do is to find suitable evaluation indexes. In this paper authors created an evaluation index system of oil industry to evaluate its international competitiveness, which was structured from the aspects of current competitiveness, potential competitiveness and environmental factors. Then a fuzzy evaluation model based on two-base-point method was designed to act as the evaluation model. And we can evaluate oil industry’s international competitiveness of any country by the model. An empirical analysis was made by several selected well-known oil-producing countries, and it showed a good result of evaluation. Key words : Well-known Oil-producing Countries, Industry competitiveness, AHP, Evaluation Framework and Model

International Competitiveness of Japanese, Korean and Chinese Automobile Industries

International Competitiveness of Japanese, Korean and Chinese Automobile Industries

Evaluating competitiveness using fuzzy analytic hierarchy process—A case study of Chinese airlines

SUMMARYWith the development of a national market economy, the Chinese aviation industry is now confronted with international competition. Therefore, it is necessary to research the competitive status of Chinese national aviation, as well as advice on how to enhance the competitiveness of the Chinese aviation industry. The main objective of this paper is to propose FAHP as an effective solution for resolving the uncertainty and imprecision in the evaluation of airlines' competitiveness. In this paper, we review the research of industrial international aviation competitiveness at both home and abroad, discuss a theoretical framework for the study of aviation competitiveness, establish an index system with five first‐order indicators and 17 second‐order indicators, set up a Chinese aviation competitiveness model based on simple fuzzy numbers from the fuzzy analytic hierarchy process, and evaluate the competitiveness of five major Chinese airlines. The results showed that this model and these indicators are scientific and practical, with a wide range of application prospects for the purpose of improving and increasing Chinese airline competitiveness in the international market. The effective approach presented in this paper is especially applicable when subjective judgments on performance ratings and attribute weights are not accessible or reliable, or when suitable decision makers are not available. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

La política de apoyo a clusters en Francia

Clusters are networks of firms interacting with themselves and other agents, both scientific and organisational. Politics to support clusters are recent. Those implemented in France are analysed. They are developed in two stages, based in two different mechanisms, the local productive systems and the competitiveness poles. The conclusions are that these politics have got the national goal of improving international competitiveness of French industry from mobilisation of local initiatives; at the same time they have effectively contributed to territorial balance.

Two‐dimensional governances and industrial international competitiveness

PurposeMassive increases in international trade and investment extend industries beyond national borders, so states and enterprises have become the two critical players in the boundary of industries. The purpose of this paper is to provide a new conceptual framework to analyze the role of states and enterprises in enhancing the industrial international competitiveness (IIC).Design/methodology/approachBeing a research‐based paper, the topic is approached by theoretical analysis and conceptual development. The paper reviews IIC literature and argues for a rational study ICC in the context of global value chain. Next, the paper puts forward a two‐dimensional governance model and five typical governance systems of the industries of developing countries. Examples of typical governance system are given based the practice of Chinese industries, such as appeal, rare earths, automotive, etc.FindingsThis paper constructs an industrial two‐dimensional governance model of the developing countries in the context of global value chain based on the interaction between industry governance and market governance, and also presents five typical governance systems – free to market, public governance, industrial governance, joint governance and network governance. Different governance system reflects different roles of states and enterprises played in the global value chains and result in different IIC in the end.Research limitations/implicationsThe limitation is based primarily on methodology. The two‐dimensional governance model provides target‐oriented guidance for foresting international competitiveness of different types of industries. Future studies should include more in‐depth case studies on different governance system.Originality/valueThe paper presents a framework of the industrial two‐dimensional governance model, which emphasizes the important role of both states and enterprise in the IIC in the context of global value chain.

An Assesment on International Competitiveness of Chinese Agriculture Industry with TSI(Trade Specification Index) - Focused on Regions, Continents and Items

An Assesment on International Competitiveness of Chinese Agriculture Industry with TSI(Trade Specification Index) - Focused on Regions, Continents and Items

Look out Mickey Mouse, the Russian Smeshariki are going to Market

The case describes the popular Russian children's animated TV series named the Smeshariki, its parent company (Marmelad), the domestic animation industry, and the principal international rivals and their respective animated products and/or services. The series' success led to the organic growth of vertically and horizontally related business units. Marmelad's business units' scope included producing more than 200, six and one-half minute episodes of the Smeshariki, branded children's products (e.g. educational games), granting licenses to manufacturers, establishing a network of kindergartens, and licensing the Smeshariki animated series to exhibitors in international markets. Key issues the company faces include: brand management for the Smeshariki and Marmelad, domestic and international competition in the Russian animation industry, and the need for professional management. The case provides instructors with a range of options including a holistic marketing case, or one that concentrates on focused marketing issues (i.e. all or parts of the marketing mix, brand architecture, brand equity and brand management).

A case study of socio-economic returns from farm forestry and agriculture in south-east Australia during 1993–2007

In Australia, a national policy was launched in 1997 to enhance regional wealth and international competitiveness of forest industries through a sustainable increase in plantations. An element of the policy was the development of a commercial forestry and farm forestry culture. In this context, farm forestry was intended to provide the opportunity to integrate smaller-scale plantations into agricultural landscapes on private land. Against this background, a study was undertaken to analyse the socio-economic returns from farm forestry in a case study in south-east Australia. Financial information during 1993–2007 for livestock grazing and 8 ha of blue gum ( Eucalyptus globulus) was analysed to compare the profitability of farming and farm forestry. During this period, a full cycle of blue gum (14 years) to produce pulp logs was completed with a forestry company under a tree farming agreement. The blue gum was integrated with the livestock enterprise by planting the trees in belts that were mostly 10 rows or 30 m wide positioned 250–300 m apart and located strategically on productive agricultural land along land-class boundaries. For the blue gum farm forestry, the net present value to the farmer expressed in 1993 dollars was $1236/ha compared to $768/ha for livestock grazing during 1993–2007. The farmer reported they had successfully integrated farm forestry as a land-use, and that the farm forestry had provided important environmental benefits and social benefits. The farmer was committed to farm forestry being part of the diversified farming business into the future, with the management of a second crop of blue gum on the farm underway.

Intelligent Design and Metrology for Higher Quality, Accuracy and Improving Production Efficiency

Adequate knowledge in the areas of intelligent metrology and design are important presuppositions to achieve waste free production and low costs of manufacturing and accuracy at the same time within the sophisticated production systems. This is of extreme importance in present time of worldwide international competition in industry and production engineering and at the same time increasingly higher costs of energy and raw material. The prescription and consumption of material and energy to achieve the necessary and required workpiece accuracy in series manufacturing depends to a great extent from the (geometrical) workpiece tolerances of any kind (roughness, form, positional, dimensional) which are prescribed for the production and the fulfillment of these tolerances and therefore for the function of the produced workpieces and their fitness for practical application and none the less of the economy of production altogether. This requirement is of great importance at the time being which is characterized as described above.

Tariff liberalization and trade specialization: Lessons from India

This paper analyzes the effects of policy reform on the structure of India’s trade in manufactures, from 1990 to 2006. It computes comparative advantage indicators on the basis of disaggregated trade flow data and assesses the effects of trade liberalization on the evolution of India’s pattern of trade specialization. Industries where import tariffs have been reduced the most have experienced the highest increase in specialization. Moreover, trade liberalization has helped India improve its comparative advantage in industries with medium- to high-technology content, as well as in some of the industries enjoying the most robust growth in global demand. Liberalization policies have been instrumental in enhancing the international competitiveness of industries.

The Study of Effect of Carbon Tax on the International Competitiveness of Energy-intensive Industries: An Empirical Analysis of OECD 21 Countries, 1992-2008

Abstract Carbon tax as a GHG-emission-reducing measure is strongly recommended by scholars and international organizations. But many countries are concerned about the potential negative impact of carbon tax on their international competitiveness of energy intensive industries. This paper analyzes this issue empirically. Based on the basic gravity model used by Harris, Konya, and Matyas (2002) and the World Bank report (2008), this paper improved the model by introducing a set of carbon tax p olicy variables to measure the impact of carbon tax on international competitiveness of energy-intensive industries using data of 21 OECD countries and 9 sample energyintensive industries. The result shows that carbon tax has a statistically negative impact on the international competitiveness of energy-intensive industries. This is particularly true when the focus is on the non-resource based industries, which is possibly because different levels of subsidies and exemptions are granted for different industries affected by the carbon tax.

Automotive industry in Malaysia: an assessment of its development

This paper explains the evolution and assesses the development of the Malaysian automotive industry within the premise of infant industry and trade protection framework as well as extended arguments of infant industry using a global value chain perspective. The Malaysian automotive industry expanded in terms of sales, production, employment and local content, but failed in industrial upgrading and international competitiveness. The failures can be attributed to (a) lack of political promotion for high challenge-high support environment, (b) low technological and marketing capabilities and (c) limited participation in the global value chain. Although the Malaysian infant industry protection policy comprised many promising initiatives, the national and the overall domestic automobile industry ended up as a captive of the regionalised Japanese keiretsu system in automobile manufacturing. A new transformation is required to push the industry beyond its current performance through a more strategic productive coalition with multiple stakeholders including trade unions.

A Royal Society for technology

In the early 1960s the Royal Society came under increasing pressure to be seen to be fostering the applied sciences and technology. This was perceived to be a key element in improving Britain's industrial performance and international competitiveness. The Society was regarded as the body best able to raise the status of technology, just as it had raised the status of ‘pure’ science. The default position would be to create a separate, parallel body for technology, and a vigorous public debate from late 1963 raised this as a real possibility. This paper traces the Society's efforts through the rest of the decade to support technology with sufficient visibility and commitment to avert the creation of what might have been a rival academy. It succeeded—for a while.

An Analysis on the International Competitiveness of China’s Traditional Medicine Industry Based on the SWOT Model

Traditional Chinese medicine is a rarity contributed by Chinese people to the whole human world as well as a crystallization of Chinese people's wisdom accumulated over thousands of years. Since the seventh five-year plan, China's traditional medicine industry has kept fast development, forming its special industrial system and groups. Based on the SWOT model, this paper analyzes the international competitiveness of China's traditional medicine industry in the aspects of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. As a common analysis tool for corporate strategy research, the SWOT model combines enterprises' strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats formed in their internal and external environments to have relevant analysis in order to establish operation strategies conforming to their reality. Nowadays, this model has been widely employed in corporate strategic management, market research and analysis on competitiveness. This paper plans to introduce the SWOT model into the analysis on industrial competitiveness and to have empirical analysis on China's traditional medicine industry. The analysis on strengths and weaknesses are mainly focused on the strength of China's traditional medicine industry and a comparison with other rivals, while that on opportunities and threats is devoted to the changes in the external environment and their potential impact on this industry as well as the establishment of proper industrial strategies based on it (Zou, 2005). 1. The SWOT Model SWOT analysis means analyzing the factors closely related to the subject investigated and setting out them in matrix form in a certain order, then matching these factors with the systematic analysis method for analysis and drawing a series of corresponding conclusions finally. Actually, SWOT analysis is a method to sum up all the internal and external conditions of the object investigated and then to analyze corresponding strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. With the analysis on strengths and weaknesses focused on enterprises' power when compared with their rivals, that on opportunities and threats is contributed to the changes in the external environment and their possible impact on enterprises. However, the same change may bring about totally different opportunities and threats to enterprises with different resources and abilities. Therefore, they have close relations (Song, 2007).

Analysis of the International Competitiveness of Chinese Medicine Industry Based on the Diamond Model

The Chinese medicine industry always holds the balance in the Chinese medicine market of China. At present, the medicine industry has gradually formed the special industry system and group. By Porter’s “Diamond Model” theory, the international competitive advantages and disadvantages of Chinese medicine industry are analyzed in this article, and corresponding suggestions about the industry development are provided.

An Empirical Study of OEM in Taiwan's Apparel Industry

This paper has examined the effectiveness of the original equipment manufacturing (OEM) system in Taiwan's apparel industry from the perspective of international competitiveness. For that purpose, this study uses the following three definitions as the dependent variables in the empirical analyzes: namely, the ratio of apparel's export value to real gross domestic product (GDP); apparel's export value per unit of labor cost; and trade specialization index of Taiwan's apparel industry. The indices constructed for statistical analysis in this study illustrate clearly that international competitiveness of Taiwan's apparel industry has deteriorated from 1989 to 2005. In addition, in order to clarify those factors that have influenced the fall of international competitiveness, this study identifies three important factors—namely, wage, labor productivity, and the real effective exchange rate (REER)—and four structural and policy dummies, and then conducted multiple regressions to clarify their statistical relations with each of the dependent variable. The analytical findings show that the Taiwanese apparel industry has lost its attractiveness as an OEM production base because of the rise of wages and the fall of labor productivity. In addition, our findings show that the appreciation of the New Taiwan Dollar (NTD) in terms of REER does not influence the movement of international competitiveness in Taiwan's apparel industry.

Zur Internationalisierung des Dienstleistungssektors

Summary Advances in information and communication technology and especially the Internet have increasingly facilitated the provision of services across national borders. To a growing extent, foreign trade in services is also indispensable to the proper functioning of international value-added chains in both the goods and the services sector. At the same time, while the internationalisation in services has been proceeding even faster than that in goods, its degree is still relatively low, which indicates a high potential for further growth. The removal of the many barriers that still obstruct international services trade would produce substantial and widely spread welfare gains. Due to the intermediary function of services, liberalisation in this area would also boost the international competitiveness of goods-producing industries. This mostly holds for manufacturing in developing countries. On the other hand, the argument that the outsourcing or offshoring of services might involve major employment losses in industrialised countries appears to be ill-founded. The liberalisation of trade in services could be greatly enhanced through a shift in multilateral negotiating techniques: replacing the positive-list approach, which currently prevails, through a procedure primarily relying on negative lists with closely specified exceptions could contain the negative influence of vested interests in this trade policy field and thus aid the common welfare.

Development and Distribution of Standard Reference Data on Physical and Chemical Properties of Plasma

To store, retrieve, and digest vast quantities of data have been of great interest since the need of scientific and technical data are explosively increased with a remarkable growth of industry. Also, the demands of reliable and accurate data have been greatly increased. A great while ago, advanced countries have archived and distributed data which are evaluated on accuracy and reliability and authorized by government. These activities are strengthening the international competitiveness of industry. For keeping pace with advanced countries, Korean government established National Center for Standard Reference Data (NCSRD) and started to develop and distribute SRD. Especially, in semiconducting industry, physical and chemical property data of plasma are key parameter to developing semiconducting device and semiconductor production technology. With these demands of reliable and accurate data, NCSRD is developing and distributing SRD Database for physical and chemical properties of plasma for strengthen international competitiveness of industry.In this paper, it is introduced that the overall national system of standard reference data and the development and distribution of SRD for physical and chemical property of plasma.