Taiwanese Semiconductor Industry Research Articles

The Role of Labour Market Intermediaries for Migrant Workers in Global Production Networks: The Example of Filipino Migrant Workers in the Taiwanese Semiconductor Industry

ABSTRACTThis article contributes to the literature at the intersection of migration and global production networks (GPNs) by examining the role of labour market intermediaries (LMIs) for migrant workers. It demonstrates mediation processes by LMIs and elaborates on migration networks in the global labour market through qualitative and quantitative data. It examines the role of LMIs in responding to mechanisms in GPN, including zero inventory and just‐in‐time production, and the impact of private employment agents on migrant workers, particularly on their career paths. The article found that LMIs play an active role in the mediation and cooperation between migrant labour and firms and in shaping structural conditions for migrant workers in response to global competitive pressures. However, LMIs play a controversial role in social upgrading. Private LMIs are identified as having a negative impact on career paths of migrant workers.

The migrant labour regime and labour market intermediaries in the Taiwanese semiconductor industry

This article aims at developing a conceptual framework of the migrant labour regime (MLR) to better understand the agency of migrants in the semiconductor industry and illustrates this by the example of Filipino migrant workers in the Taiwanese semiconductor industry. Based on semi-structured interviews with key persons in the semiconductor industry, the study demonstrates the different roles of actors and connections within the global production network (GPN). With regard to the theoretical contribution, this article develops a conceptual framework of the MLR and addresses three central actors in multi-scalar networks, that is, state, firms, and LMI. The framework proposed in this article offers more analytical clarity to the primary empirical contribution. Therefore, the article identifies three key factors of dynamics in GPNs. First, it emphasises the importance of the state and firms in shaping the MLR. Regulatory institutions at the national level hinder upward mobility of migrant workers and long-term employment relationships because working contracts do not allow employees to change job tasks or employers freely. Second, the coordination between contract manufacturers and lead firms in the GPN leads to a transformation of the workplace, for example, intensification and increased flexibility. Third, LMIs play a role in facilitating and mediating migrant labour in the transnational labour market.

Revenue recognition and channel stuffing in the Taiwanese semiconductor industry

This paper examines whether a new revenue recognition standard, namely International Financial Reporting Standard 15 Revenue from Contracts with Customers (IFRS 15), incentivizes Taiwanese semiconductor companies to employ channel stuffing (CS) to meet or beat their earnings targets. By using a sample comprising 1399 firms listed on the Taiwanese Stock Exchange and over-the-counter markets between 2013 and 2019, we find that compared with Taiwanese firms in other sectors, semiconductor companies in Taiwan are more likely to employ CS to meet their earnings targets. Moreover, Taiwanese semiconductor companies have become more likely to use CS to meet their earnings targets since the implementation of IFRS 15. The obtained results pass a series of robustness checks and may help the potential driving forces for CS to be understood.

Social Networks and Dynamic Firm Performance: Evidence from the Taiwanese Semiconductor Industry

Redes sociales y rendimiento dinámico de la empresa: Evidencia de la industria de semiconductores de Taiwán. Este estudio examina la relación entre la interconexión del consejo directivo y el rendimiento de la empresa. Utilizando datos de la industria de semiconductores de Taiwán de 2013 a 2015, este estudio utiliza la centralidad, los agujeros de la estructura y el número de interconexiones entre consejos directivos como proxies de la interconexión de los consejos directivos. Este estudio también evalúa el rendimiento de la empresa a largo plazo mediante un modelo de análisis envolvente de datos dinámicos. donde se concluye que la interconexión de los directivos mejora la eficiencia dinámica. Utilizando un análisis de la red social de los directivos, también identificamos las cinco mejores empresas con mejor interconexión del consejo directivo en términos de centralidad, agujeros estructurales, y el número de directores interconectados. En general, este trabajo es novedoso en la vinculación de la interconexión de los directivos con la eficiencia dinámica. El estudio enriquece la literatura contable existente sobre el papel de los directivos para influir en el rendimiento de la empresa y evaluar éste desde una perspectiva de eficiencia multidimensional. This study examines the relationship between board interlock and firm performance. Using the Taiwanese semiconductor industry’s dataset from 2013 to 2015, this study uses centrality, structure holes, and the number of interlocking boards as proxies of board interlock. This study also evaluates firm performance over a long-term period through a dynamic data envelopment analysis model. which concluded that board interlock improves dynamic efficiency. Using a directors’ social network analysis, we also identified the top five companies with the best board interlock in terms of centrality, structural holes, and the number of interlocking directors. Overall, this paper is novel in linking board interlock to dynamic efficiency. The study enriches the extant accounting literature regarding the role of directors in influencing firm performance and evaluate firm performance from a multidimensional efficiency perspective.

The R&D efficiency of the Taiwanese semiconductor industry

The aim of the study is to explore the Research and Design (R&D) efficiency of the semiconductor industry in Taiwan from a patent perspective. Six evaluation indices are selected as inputs (total assets, staff numbers, and R&D expenditure) and outputs (return on assets (ROA), earnings per share (EPS), and patent number), and then the 4-year annual data of the listed 42 semiconductor companies of the semiconductor industry in Taiwan are obtained. The Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) is utilized for the efficiency computation among 42 semiconductor companies. Based on the research results, recommendations for semiconductor companies and suggestions for future studies are provided.

Effects of R&D intensity on firm performance in Taiwan’s semiconductor industry

This study examined the impact of research and development (R&D) investment behaviour on the corporate performance of the Taiwanese semiconductor industry, which faced the economic downturn caused by the global financial crisis of 2008, for the period 2005–2016. A dynamic panel data model was used to empirically analyse the impact of R&D intensity on business performance. A generalised method of moments estimator was adopted to avoid endogeneity problems caused by adding dynamics to the model. Further, the model was used to explore the impact of the lag effect of R&D investments on business performance. It was found that significant R&D investments in a given period may reduce business performance in the same period and continue to influence it in the next few periods, thus indicating the presence of a positive and lagged effect of R&D investments in the high-tech industry. Firm size was also found to be positively correlated with business performance, that is, the larger the firm size, the greater is the use of resources for R&D, which, in turn, leads to more sophisticated technologies and profitable outcomes, forming a positive cycle. This indicates that R&D expenditures affect firms’ sustainable management.

研究部門による技術と事業の統合 : 黎明期の台湾半導体産業における工業技術研究院(ITRI)の役割

研究部門による技術と事業の統合 : 黎明期の台湾半導体産業における工業技術研究院(ITRI)の役割

State transformation and the evolution of economic nationalism in the East Asian developmental state: the Taiwanese semiconductor industry as case study

This paper empirically highlights the role of nationalism in the development of the semiconductor industry in Taiwan. First, it demonstrates how the pre‐1980s Taiwanese developmental state mobilised Chinese economic nationalism against Japanese colonialism and Chinese communism and adopted the strategies of graduated sovereignty, selectively subsidising certain areas and sectors, and promoting national (homogeneously imagined) territorialisation to integrate with the international market. Second, the paper exhibits how in the late 1980s, when the outflow of capital to Mainland China became a compelling phenomenon and Taiwan democratised, popular sovereignty became the norm and Taiwanese nationalism emerged. In response, the democratised state started employing Taiwanese economic nationalism and implementing populist territorial policies to consolidate the support of ‘us’ (the Taiwanese/Taiwan) versus ‘them’ (the Chinese/China). This made China and everything related a security concern that had to be excluded as ‘the other’. This paper responds to the appeals of political geographers to give nationalism a central place in contemporary theories of the nation‐state and contributes to the theory of the developmental state by bringing ‘the nation’ back. While most of the existing developmental state literature focuses on how the roles and effects of ‘the state’ influence economic development, taking ‘the nation’ seriously can provide more accurate explanations for how and why the state focuses on development or not. Accordingly, through valuing the nation this paper promotes a theory of the developmental nation‐state.

Technology Evaluation and Selection of 3DIC Integration Using a Three-Stage Fuzzy MCDM

For the purpose of the sustainable development in the global semiconductor industry, emerging three-dimensional integrated circuit (3DIC) integration technologies have demonstrated their importance as potential candidates for extending the lifespan of Moore’s Law. This study aimed to explore a technology selection process involving a three-stage fuzzy multicriteria decision-making (MCDM) approach to facilitate the effective assessment of emerging 3DIC integration technologies. The fuzzy Delphi method was first used to determine the important criteria. The fuzzy analytic hierarchy process (fuzzy AHP) was then adopted to derive the weights of the criteria. The fuzzy technique for order of preference by similarity to ideal solution (fuzzy TOPSIS) was finally deployed to rate the alternatives. Empirical results indicate that market potential, time-to-market, and heterogeneous integration are the top three decision criteria for the selection of 3DIC integration technologies. Furthermore, 2.5D through-silicon interposer (TSI) is of primary interest to the Taiwanese semiconductor industry, followed by 3DIC through-silicon via (TSV), 3D packaging, and 3D silicon TSV (Si TSV). The proposed three-stage fuzzy decision model may potentially assist industry practitioners and government policy-makers in directing research and development investments and allocating resources more strategically.

Organizational commitment, knowledge sharing and organizational citizenship behaviour: the case of the Taiwanese semiconductor industry

The semiconductor industry has made great contributions to Taiwan’s economy in the past 20 years. Because of competitive salaries and generous fringe benefits, some famous semiconductor manufacturers have become the best choice for students right after graduation. However, such magnetic effect has gradually faded away in the face of implementation of expensive employee bonuses. In a changeable environment, sharing knowledge will maintain organizational competitiveness and improve employees’ cohesion. As the semiconductor industry is characterized by a low-wage and high-turnover rate, the incurred job insecurities and career uncertainties have begun to force employees to change their cohesion, loyalty to organizations and even to reduce their willingness to share knowledge with others. This study aims to explore the relationships among organizational commitment (OC), knowledge sharing (KS) and organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) in the Taiwanese semiconductor industry. On the basis of 428 subjects, the results show that KS has a partial mediating effect on the OC–OCB relationship.

How supplier exercised power affects the cooperative climate, trust and commitment in buyer-supplier relationships

Facing rapid changes in technology and the globalisation of markets, it is now increasingly important for firms to work together to survive. Cooperation between buyers and suppliers helps to improve the efficiency of a supply chain as a whole for the benefit of all the parties involved, the exercise of power by suppliers is a critical factor that influences such cooperation. This study aims to investigate how supplier use of power affects the cooperative climate between a buyer and a supplier, buyer trust in the supplier, and buyer commitment, all from buyer's perspective. The relationships are hypothesised and investigated based on the empirical data collected from companies in the Taiwanese semiconductor industry. The results demonstrate that the supplier's use of non-coercive power can improve cooperation and trust between the buyer and supplier, and this can then enhance buyer's commitment. Practical suggestions are made based on the insights derived in this paper with the aim of achieving closer buyer-supplier relationships in highly competitive environments.

Applying Hybrid-Quantity Analysis in the Asia Semiconductor Industry

The semiconductor market has gradually transitioned from advanced countries to the Asian-Pacific region. Since the 1980s, Taiwan has been developing its own semiconductor industry, and after 20 years of effort, has become one of the world's major exporters of semiconductor products. Therefore, to position Taiwan in relation to other countries for competitive advantage, as defined by technology and industrial development, requires a better understanding of the developmental trends of the semiconductor technology of major competing countries in the Asian-Pacific region. This can further provide the Taiwanese government with additional strategic development proposals. We used a combination of patents, data-mining methods [multidimensional scaling (MDS) analysis, and K-means clustering] to explore competing technological and strategic-group relationships within the semiconductor industry in the Asian-Pacific region. We assessed the relative technological advantages of various organizations and proposed additional technology development strategy recommendations to the Taiwanese semiconductor industry.

How cognitive coordination promotes collaborative knowledge-sharing performance: the mediating role of interorganisational knowledge flows

In this research, we conceptualise quasi-integration, learning by interaction, shared meaning and shared values as mechanisms that managers can deploy or influence in order to align cognitive frames (i.e., achieve ‘cognitive coordination’) and thereby foster knowledge flows in the context of alliances and other inter-firm relations. The empirical setting is the Taiwanese semiconductor industry. Based on a sample of 353 firms in the vertical chain of this industry we test proposed relationships between the above mechanisms and knowledge-sharing performance. Structural equation modelling largely supports the theoretical predictions.

The Relationships Among Leader Social Support, Team Social Support, Team Stressors and Team Performance

While workplace stress often leads to poor employee performance, this predicament can be improved through the use of social support and reward mechanisms. This study tests two models to investigate the relationships among support, reward, team stressors and team performance. In model 1, leader social support, team social support, and team reward plays an antecedent role in the relationship of team stressors and performance. In model 2, the tree variables have the moderating effect on the relationship between team stressors and performance. Data are collected from NPD team members of Taiwanese semi-conductor industry. The regression analyses are used for the tests of alignment hypotheses. The Model 1 provides the better explanation of relationships between the above-mentioned variables. This study contributes new evidence to disputed views in previous studies and offers important implications for both research and practice.

Controlling the Uncontrollable

This paper summarizes preliminary findings of a contextually rich case study that explores the link between globalisation and security. Following a broad-based and multidisciplinary widener’s approach, namely a broad-based and multidisciplinary approach, the paper explores the strategic aspects of the migration of the Taiwanese semiconductor industry to China as part of the globalization processes. Based on a triangulation of interviews and secondary data analyzed so thus far, the paper first explores the drivers of the industry migration and the means by which Taiwanese state regulations are violated by related business operations. It then contends that these profit-driven activities have triggered multi-layered strategic challenges for Taiwan and the USA involving technological and defences security. Four inter-linked aspects of the strategic ramifications are analyzed. They are: industrial base concerns; technological y-related risks associated with the dual-use nature of the chip technology and the issue of foreign supply of critical chips; concerns reinforced by mainland Chinese institutional reforms and perceptions; risks reinforced by the Taiwan factor. The paper concludes by calling for an embrace of a widener’s approach to the study of security.

Service quality and ERP implementation: A conceptual and empirical study of semiconductor-related industries in Taiwan

This paper examines the effectiveness of the implementation of enterprise resource planning (ERP) in improving service quality in the Taiwanese semiconductor industry by assessing the expectations and the perceptions of service quality from the perspectives of both upstream manufacturers and downstream customers. The study first establishes a modified service quality gap model incorporating: (i) the downstream customers’ expectations and perceptions, and (ii) the upstream manufacturers’ perceptions of the customers’ expectations and perceptions. An empirical study by questionnaire survey is then undertaken to investigate the gaps proposed in the research model. The results show that service quality gaps do exist in the Taiwanese semiconductor industry between upstream manufacturers that are implementing ERP and their downstream customers. The study shows that the proposed model provides valuable guidance to manufacturers with respect to the prevention, detection, and elimination of the demonstrated service quality gaps. The model thus helps manufacturers to evaluate the contribution of various ERP modules to improved customer satisfaction with service quality and also provides guidance on improvement strategies to enhance service quality by eliminating quality gaps.

A system dynamics model of the semiconductor industry development in Taiwan

Taiwan has become the fourth largest semiconductor manufacturer worldwide within only 25 years. Taiwan’s success in developing its semiconductor industry has been widely recognized. Building a semiconductor industry in a developing country is costly, risky, and requires long-term accumulations of capital, technology, human resources, and production capacity. The development process depends on environmental interactions, which should be studied in an integrated and holistic manner. Using system dynamics methodology, this study analyses the development experience of the Taiwanese semiconductor industry, in order to provide better insight into the long-term industrial development process. The study also simulates the proposed model in one historical setting and two future scenarios. Implications for the development of the semiconductor industry in Taiwan and other Asian countries are discussed.

Performance evaluation of introducing QS-9000 to the Taiwanese semiconductor industry

According to the survey conducted by AIAG in 1999, significant effects of QS-9000 certification included average cost savings of over 6%, a 38% improvement in defect rate and a 23% increase in market share on OEM. However, few manufacturers in semiconductor related industries in Taiwan have been QS-9000 certified to date. The major reason is there is not a complete and efficient set of implementation procedures for introducing QS-9000 and the certifying process. Consequently, methods of performance evaluation based on multiple goals and principles must be applied to assess the performance of the process of introducing QS-9000 to the Taiwanese semiconductor industry. First, the performance index and the performance matrix presented by Hung, Huang, and Chen are applied to assess the certifying importance and ease of implementation of each directive item (goal). Next, related correlation and weighted values among directives (objectives to be improved) of low importance and high easiness, and also of high importance and low easiness, are established using fuzzy measures. Finally, the directives to be improved (goals to be improved) are transformed to an overall performance value during the implementation process (strategy) by fuzzy integrals to define the critical implementation process (strategy) when QS-9000 is introduced to the semiconductor industry, and also to increase the timeliness of system introduction and certification. Management is expected to find the objectives and strategies to be improved related to the introduction of the QS-9000 system, and to certify this process through the complete assessment model presented here. Subsequently, the performance of introducing QS-9000 and certification may be increased after taking into consideration cost and time factors .

`Special Things in Special Ways': National Economic Identity and China's Special Economic Zones

Previous articleNext article No Access`Special Things in Special Ways': National Economic Identity and China's Special Economic ZonesGeorge T. CraneGeorge T. Crane Search for more articles by this author PDFPDF PLUS Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail SectionsMoreDetailsFiguresReferencesCited by Volume 32Jul., 1994 Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.2307/2949828 Views: 16Total views on this site Citations: 12Citations are reported from Crossref Journal History This article was published in The Australian Journal of Chinese Affairs (1979-1995), which is continued by The China Journal (1995-present). Copyright Australian Journal of Chinese AffairsPDF download Crossref reports the following articles citing this article:William J. Norris China's Post-Cold War Economic Statecraft: A Periodization, Journal of Current Chinese Affairs 50, no.33 (Jan 2022): 294–316.https://doi.org/10.1177/18681026211058186Cinzia Losavio China’s Internal Migrants: Processes of Categorisation and Analytical Issues, China Perspectives 2021, no.22 (Jun 2021): 49–60.https://doi.org/10.4000/chinaperspectives.11750Erik Post, Filipe Calvão Mythical Islands of Value: Free Ports, Offshore Capitalism, and Art Capital, Arts 9, no.44 (Sep 2020): 100.https://doi.org/10.3390/arts9040100Young-Chan Kim Assessing the Role of Local Governments in Line with the ‘Special Economic Zones’ Agenda: Case on Shenzhen in Guangdong and Kandla Export Processing Zone in Gujarat, India, (May 2020): 139–156.https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-44425-9_8Darcy Allen, Aaron M. Lane Cryptodemocratic Governance of Special Economic Zones, SSRN Electronic Journal (Jan 2019).https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3491481Madeleine Martinek China’s Experimentalist Approach to Reform, (May 2018): 57–120.https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-77616-3_3Jiaxiang Hu A Retrospective View on the First Three Years of China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone, The Chinese Economy 50, no.44 (Jul 2017): 225–237.https://doi.org/10.1080/10971475.2017.1321458Jinn-yuh Hsu State transformation and the evolution of economic nationalism in the East Asian developmental state: the Taiwanese semiconductor industry as case study, Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers 42, no.22 (Jan 2017): 166–178.https://doi.org/10.1111/tran.12165LOTTA MOBERG The political economy of special economic zones, Journal of Institutional Economics 11, no.11 (Jun 2014): 167–190.https://doi.org/10.1017/S1744137414000241JONATHAN BACH “THEY COME IN PEASANTS AND LEAVE CITIZENS”: Urban Villages and the Making of Shenzhen, China, Cultural Anthropology 25, no.33 (Jul 2010): 421–458.https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1548-1360.2010.01066.xEric Florence Migrant Workers in the Pearl River Delta: Discourse and Narratives about Work as Sites of Struggle, Critical Asian Studies 39, no.11 (Mar 2007): 121–150.https://doi.org/10.1080/14672710601171756Marco Bellandi, Marco R. Di Tommaso The case of specialized towns in Guangdong, China, European Planning Studies 13, no.55 (Jan 2007): 707–729.https://doi.org/10.1080/09654310500139244