abstract: This thesis investigates whether mergers and acquisitions (M&As) help increase the competitive advantage and core competency of Chinese securities companies. Although M&As among Chinese securities companies were almost exclusively guided by the Chinese government in the earlier years, they have increasingly become more market-driven in recent years. Many large Chinese securities companies have engaged in horizontal mergers, cross-industry mergers, and cross-border mergers to increase their market positions. However, there is little up-to-date evidence about how these market-driven M&As influence the competitive advantage and core competency of securities companies in China. I seek to fill this gap by conducting a systematic analysis about whether M&As increase the core competency of the acquiring companies using data collected over a five-year window from 2010 to 2014. On the basis of prior research findings and the current situation of the Chinese securities industry, I first develop a theoretical model about the sources of competitive advantage for Chinese securities companies, and then compile a comprehensive list of observable indicators that can be used to assess a Chinese securities company’s core competency. Next, I conduct a quantitative analysis to assess the core competency and relative market positions of the leading Chinese securities companies using data from 2010 to 2014. Overall, the results suggest that market-driven M&As increases the core competency of the acquiring securities companies. I then conduct four in-depth case analyses to better understand the mechanisms through which M&As can help increase the acquiring firms' core competency. I conclude with a discussion of the findings and their implications for Chinese securities companies and the overseeing governmental agencies. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Business Administration 2016

無論是台資企業、陸資企業、國外的百年企業，都有其興衰的過程，有的企業還在困境中找出路，有的企業正開始扶搖直上向高峰發展，有些百年企業經過組織變革重新調整戰略而存活下來，但也有不少品牌企業最後走向衰敗。古希臘哲學家赫拉克力特說：「唯一持續不變的事情就是變」，當環境在變、科技在進步、人類的消費行為在改變時，企業該如何掌握未來，並得以在詭變的環境中開創新局。 本研究在探討個案公司成長轉變的歷程，由貿易商一路演進到有研發能力的製造商，其發展的過程中，不斷的累積資源、吸收市場資訊、透過與顧客的合作開發提升自身的研發技術能力，透過學習來強化其核心能力，並在快速變遷的產業環境中，隨時調整其應變能力，來因應環境的考驗，有學者稱此能力為「動態能力」，透過動態能力在定位、程序及路徑的持續演進與發展來累積及強化企業競爭的核心能力，漸漸地與競爭對手拉開距離。 近來大陸的競爭對手陸續冒出，以削價競爭方式掠奪市場，在低階產品已成一片紅海。個案公司有鑑於消費者對於更小且更快的電子產品需求，將會帶動新的創新進展，並進一步由於電腦、通訊設備產業上溫度控管解決方案的需求擴大面向及LED照明散熱墊、熱傳導材料的需求增加，很多民生用電子產品和通訊設備、電源單位、航太等各種產業都需要導熱介面材料。削減能源消費量的節能型設備的需求，使得市場需求愈來愈大。個案公司該如何避開紅海競爭，並在專注核心產品的開發、核心能力的積蓄及動態能力的培養，這將是促成其成長的主要動能。

企業轉型是許多傳統企業必經的過程，往哪個方向去轉型，往往取決於企業經營者的決定，而像此篇研究所探討的A公司，所屬的產業是傳統營造與建築產業，A公司在經營的42年也因為大環境的改變，而歷經了二次轉型，經由不斷的改變商業模式，以維持企業的競爭優勢。在轉型的過程中，從原本的營造業跨足到建設業做產業價值鏈上的整合，Ａ公司在台灣的營造與建設產業上，已站穩自己的腳步。 但面臨了整體大環境不佳的情況之下，營造與建設產業市場開始緩慢的在萎縮，此時不論是向上向下整合，對於Ａ公司無法出現立即性的效益。而也在此時平台議題興起，許多傳統企業紛紛轉向平台經營。 當平台模式的出現，帶給了許多傳統產業價值鏈的破壞，例如：Uber 的出現，徹底的顛覆計程車產業原有的商業模式，但即便是運用平台的概念，與顧客接觸的渠道依然沒有改變，消費者還是跟以往的方式一樣搭程計程車。實體的銷售渠道在某些傳統產業中，還是佔了很重要的角色。這也讓傳統產業在轉型的過程中，比起從無到有的企業，來得更具有優勢。 此研究希望可以了解，傳統產業轉型平台時，是否已擁有特定的核心能耐，並與平台所需擁有的能力具有高度配適度、而這樣子的企業是否更適合去轉型成平台。除此之外，也進一步的研究，當傳統產業轉型時，該以何種方式進入平台，才可確保在新舊業務上有更好的協同效果。 / Enterprise transformation is a process that most traditional companies have to face. The type of transformation is usually decided by the person who operates the company. The traditional industry of Company A as discussed in this article is Building and Construction. Because of the changing environment, Company A has gone through Enterprise transformations 2 times by changing its business model to maintain competitive advantage in its 42 years running of business. During the transformation process, Company A has branched out its business from Building to Construction to integrate the value chain. Company A has a firm status in the Building and Construction industry. However, facing with an unsatisfactory overall business environment and the shrinking market of Building and Construction, Company A couldn’t make instant profit by neither forward nor backward integration. Meanwhile, the rise of the platforms forced enterprises to change the original business model of many traditional businesses. The presence of platform is undoubtedly a shock to traditional value chain. Take Uber for example, it has changed the business model of Taxi. Although Uber is based on the concept of the platform, it has not change the way to serve customers by providing transportation service. In some traditional industries, substantial sale channel still plays an important role and has more advantages than those virtual channels. This study aims to find whether the core competence of the traditional enterprise is correlated to the ability of running a platform, and whether such enterprise is better-off if transform to run through platform. Moreover, this study also seeks to find that by which way an enterprise use the platform when they set out to transform could create synergy in existing and new businesses.

本研究探討之個案公司正面臨臺灣證券業高度競爭，業務高度同質性、經營無差異化，獲利不佳、薪資福利低於整體金融業，產業前景黯淡不明，無法吸引年輕人投入及引進優質創新金融人才，此外，既有證券從業人員邁入老化、對於新種業務與創新產品學習不佳，整體證券業之經營競爭力出現下滑之嚴峻的挑戰。 本研究針對臺灣證券市場與證券業發展概況，及以麥可•波特五力分析瞭解證券產業之競爭情形，與證券業之經營困境及問題所在。另外因證券商之設置及經營範圍受法令的規範，大型證券商之經營業務項目及策略定位，趨近一致，本研究認為應探討個案公司之核心能耐及競爭優勢，結合政府對證券業開放業務現況及主要推動政策，以此有系統架構之分析，試圖找尋，主要仰賴經紀業務創造營收之經營模式，如何藉由多年累積之核心能耐及競爭優勢，以不同的執行方式之差異化發展策略，創造成長契機優勢，並且延伸及建構個案公司之長期競爭優勢。

A gestão da informação e do conhecimento (GIC) emerge em um contexto socioeconômico no qual a informação e o conhecimento são reconhecidos como um recurso. Um bem imaterial, inesgotável e com alto potencial para geração da sustentabilidade organizacional. Assim, vislumbra-se que este modelo gerencial atende as demandas de um novo comportamento organizacional, que busca compreender os impactos da criação e do uso da informação sobre a vantagem competitiva. Nessa linha, e tendo como objeto de estudo a relação entre a GIC e as competências organizacionais, buscou-se verificar o impacto da GIC sobre o surgimento de competências organizacionais, especialmente considerando a utilização do Dspace, um repositório digital. Por meio da aplicação da metodologia exploratória-descritiva, elaborou-se um estudo sobre a experiência do uso da plataforma Dspace em um Tribunal da Justiça Trabalhista. A análise da literatura e do relato de experiência permitiu identificar que as técnicas de GIC colaboram para o estabelecimento das competências organizacionais, especialmente quando estas são consideradas a partir de uma visão holística que integra a necessidade informacional, os fluxos informacionais, a cultura informacional, o comportamento informacional e o uso da informação. Também identificou-se que os repositórios digitais podem ser um fator de influência para o desenvolvimento das competências organizacionais, uma vez que sua principal função é estruturar os ciclos informacionais para a geração de novos conhecimentos e, finalmente, constatou-se que o Dspace é uma ferramenta que apoia o desenvolvimento das competências organizacionais, pois permite criar um estoque de informações e/ou conhecimentos produzidos ou adquiridos pelas organizações, favorecendo o estabelecimento de um contexto capacitante ideal para aquisições de novas capacidades de agir. / The information and knowledge management emerges in a socioeconomic context in which information and knowledge are recognized as a resource. An immaterial and inexhaustible asset that has a high potential for generating organizational sustainability. Probably, this management tool meets the demands of a new organizational behavior, which seeks to understand the impact of the information creation and use on competitive advantage. Thus, and having as object of study the relationship between the information and knowledge and core competence, we sought to verify its impact on the emergence of core competence, especially considering the use of DSpace, a digital repository. Through the application of exploratory-descriptive methodology, a study about the experience of using the DSpace platform in a court of Labor Justice was done. The analysis of literature and experience report identifies that the techniques of information and knowledge management collaborates to establish the core competence, especially considering an integration between the informational needs, the information flows, the informational culture, information behavior and the use of information. In addition, it was found that digital repositories can be a factor of influence for the development of core competence, especially because its main function is structuring the informational cycle for generating new knowledge and, finally, it was found that the DSpace is an important tool, which supports the development of core competence. It allows creating a stock of information and/or knowledge produced or acquired by organizations, better supporting the establishment of an optimal enabling environment for acquisition of new capabilities to act.

A gestão da informação e do conhecimento (GIC) emerge em um contexto socioeconômico no qual a informação e o conhecimento são reconhecidos como um recurso. Um bem imaterial, inesgotável e com alto potencial para geração da sustentabilidade organizacional. Assim, vislumbra-se que este modelo gerencial atende as demandas de um novo comportamento organizacional, que busca compreender os impactos da criação e do uso da informação sobre a vantagem competitiva. Nessa linha, e tendo como objeto de estudo a relação entre a GIC e as competências organizacionais, buscou-se verificar o impacto da GIC sobre o surgimento de competências organizacionais, especialmente considerando a utilização do Dspace, um repositório digital. Por meio da aplicação da metodologia exploratória-descritiva, elaborou-se um estudo sobre a experiência do uso da plataforma Dspace em um Tribunal da Justiça Trabalhista. A análise da literatura e do relato de experiência permitiu identificar que as técnicas de GIC colaboram para o estabelecimento das competências organizacionais, especialmente quando estas são consideradas a partir de uma visão holística que integra a necessidade informacional, os fluxos informacionais, a cultura informacional, o comportamento informacional e o uso da informação. Também identificou-se que os repositórios digitais podem ser um fator de influência para o desenvolvimento das competências organizacionais, uma vez que sua principal função é estruturar os ciclos informacionais para a geração de novos conhecimentos e, finalmente, constatou-se que o Dspace é uma ferramenta que apoia o desenvolvimento das competências organizacionais, pois permite criar um estoque de informações e/ou conhecimentos produzidos ou adquiridos pelas organizações, favorecendo o estabelecimento de um contexto capacitante ideal para aquisições de novas capacidades de agir. / The information and knowledge management emerges in a socioeconomic context in which information and knowledge are recognized as a resource. An immaterial and inexhaustible asset that has a high potential for generating organizational sustainability. Probably, this management tool meets the demands of a new organizational behavior, which seeks to understand the impact of the information creation and use on competitive advantage. Thus, and having as object of study the relationship between the information and knowledge and core competence, we sought to verify its impact on the emergence of core competence, especially considering the use of DSpace, a digital repository. Through the application of exploratory-descriptive methodology, a study about the experience of using the DSpace platform in a court of Labor Justice was done. The analysis of literature and experience report identifies that the techniques of information and knowledge management collaborates to establish the core competence, especially considering an integration between the informational needs, the information flows, the informational culture, information behavior and the use of information. In addition, it was found that digital repositories can be a factor of influence for the development of core competence, especially because its main function is structuring the informational cycle for generating new knowledge and, finally, it was found that the DSpace is an important tool, which supports the development of core competence. It allows creating a stock of information and/or knowledge produced or acquired by organizations, better supporting the establishment of an optimal enabling environment for acquisition of new capabilities to act.

未來企業競爭優勢的來源必須來自於本身的核心競爭力及必須建構新的核心競爭力，國內外專家學者對於核心競爭力的意義和來源以及探討核心核心競爭力的發展的過程已有一些研究，但是當外在環境改變時，企業如何能夠繼續運用原有的核心競爭力及如何建構新的核心競爭力方面的研究卻較少。因此，本論文就以擁有創新研發、製造技術、速度、規模與彈性的Intel公司為例，針對面對現有的競爭廠商及當未來環境的發展及應用延伸到寬頻、無線通訊及資訊家電等多元應用領域時，Intel如何延伸原有的核心競爭力和適當維持與運用其資源與能力來建構新的核心競爭力而能夠延伸成為其新的長期核心競爭力並爭取到進入新的市場的機會，創造新的競爭優勢。本研究歸納的研究發現如下　: 　　一、企業的研發單位可以把研發經費放在推動技術的商業化上來累積資源和增加及鞏固企業內部的核心競爭力。 　　二、核心競爭力的延伸可以從未來的角度看產品和技術，而不是根據以往的經驗看待下個世代的產品或技術。 　　三、運用產業規格的制定和繼續不斷的投資才能鞏固和建立企業的核心競爭力，也才有機會延伸企業原有的核心競爭力到下一個新市場來制定新的規格。 　　四、產品規格的市場因素是影響核心技術開發創造成功的重要因素。 　　五、核心競爭力具有延展性，核心競爭力的創造與累積在於企業內部資源的有效運用與共享。 　　六、核心競爭力的建立靠著長時間學習的累積多過發明的躍進。 　　七、企業領導者的願景和價值觀，企業的管理制度和組織文化對延伸企業的核心競爭力有很大的影響。 　　八、路徑相依度高，知識的擴散與移轉將變得更容易。 　　九、面對未來的新產業，成立新事業部門是建構新的核心競爭力的重要方法。 　　研究結果發現，Intel能夠成功適當地運用企業原有的內部核心競爭力（資產能力和管理制度）並能夠建構新的核心競爭力而能夠有能力延伸到新的網路無線通訊市場領域。Intel的企業優勢主要為能夠繼續投資創新研發在晶圓廠和半導體製程，領先競爭對手的研發製程技術，擁有經濟規模而有產業規格制定的能力來主導市場，能夠提供完整平台解決方案的能力，‘Intel Inside’行銷策略的成功，領導者和管理制度及企業文化價值觀的結合。當外部環境朝向無線網路通訊新領域發展時，Intel仍然繼續投資新的研發技術以開發新產品並降低成本，並且運用行銷策略聯盟、併購及轉投資新技術和成立新事業部的方式來建構及延伸其核心競爭力而進入新的無線網路通訊領域。 　　在微處理器市場的競爭，Intel是先佔廠商，採用的是大幅躍進在製程、速度及效能表現上大幅超越競爭對手的方式。而面對已有先佔廠商且許多新規格仍未明確的無線通訊網路市場，Intel是利用自行研發和外部取得新技術加上原有的研發創新製程技術以及配合原有的內部核心競爭力繼續建構成為新的核心競爭力而延伸到新的市場。 / The source of future corporate competitive advantages must come from their own existing core competence and also from building new core competences. Some scholars have already explored the meaning, source and process of the core competence, but when the outside environment changes, few scholars have studied how a corporation continually uses its original core competence and how it builds new core competences. Therefore, this thesis is a case study of Intel Corporation, which is a corporation with innovation R&D, manufacturing technology, speed, scale and flexibility. This thesis will focus on how Intel extends its original core competence, leverages resources and capability to build new, long-lasting core competences, thus seizing the opportunity of entering new markets facing today's competitive environment and future potential markets, including broadband, wireless communication and IA field. We could summarize this thesis to the following findings: 　　1. The corporation's R&D department may spend their R&D expenditures on the commercialization of technology in order to accumulate resources and also to increase and strengthen the corporation's inner core competence. 　　2. The extension of the core competence can help forecast the next generation of product and technology by a future perspective instead of past experience. 　　3. The establishment of the industry standards and continuous investment can help build and strengthen the corporation's core competence, and as a result, gives the corporation the chance to extend original core competences to the next new market and set up new industry standards. 　　4. The market factor of the product specification is a key success factor of core technology development. 　　5. Core competence is extensive, and the creation and accumulation of the core competence is based on effective leverage and sharing of corporate inner resources. 　　6. The building of the core competence is based more on the accumulation of long time learning than leapfrog inventions. 　　7. The vision and values of the corporate leader, the management style and the organizational culture all have great effect on extending the corporation's core competence. 　　8. The higher the extent of path dependence, the easier the knowledge spreading and transferring. 　　9. In the new future business, forming a new business group is an important method of building new core competence. 　　This thesis finds that Intel not only is able to successfully use its original core competence, it is also able to build new core competences enabling Intel to expand its market realm to broadband and wireless communication fields. Intel's corporate advantages mainly lie in continuous investment of IC and wafer manufacturing technologies; leading R&D and manufacturing processes; scale of economy; the establishment of industry standards therefore giving Intel the ability to dominate the industry; the capability of providing a total solution platform; the success of the “Intel Inside” marketing strategy; and the perfect combination of leader vision/value, management systems and corporate culture. When the outside environment changes and wireless communication seems to be the next gold mine, Intel continues to invest in new technology and new product development, cut down costs, extending core competences and entering new markets using various means including strategic alliances, merge & acquisitions, investing in new technology fields, and forming new business units or groups. 　　Intel is a first-mover and a dominant firm in the CPU market, and it stays on the edge by substantially staying ahead of competitors in manufacturing technologies, speed and efficiency performances. While facing the new wireless communication market, which already has a dominant firm but not yet a dominant industry standard, Intel chooses to use internally developed inventions and externally obtained technology, in coordination with existing advantages in manufacturing processes and original core competences, thus extend to the new markets.

Bakgrund: Svenska banker och försäkringsbolag spenderar stora summor och resurser på sina IT-system, vilka oftast sköts internt. IT-kostnaderna utgör för banker den näst största kostnadsposten i resultaträkningen och därmed utgör över 20 procent av den totala kostnadsmassan. Marginalerna inom bank och försäkringsbolag minskar i Sverige samtidigt som ITs komplexitet ökar med krav på integrering medgamla bank- och försäkringssystem. IT-outsourcing och joint venture med ett IT-företag är vanliga organiserings former och inget nytt fenomen i Finland inom bank och försäkringsbolag. IT-outsourcing har både för- och nackdelar. Syfte: Att beskriva och analysera begreppet outsourcing kopplat till hur aktörerna på den finansiella marknaden i Sverige hanterar och bör hantera sin IT-verksamhet. Metod: Vi har använt oss av en tvärsnittstudie och intervjuat de högsta ansvariga för IT inom bank och försäkring i Sverige och Finland. Vi har även intervjuat divisionschefer och IT-leverantörer på den nordiska marknaden. Resultat: IT är inte för banker och försäkringsbolag någon kärnkompetens och utgör heller ingen hög specifik tillgång och är därför lämplig för en viss sorts outsourcing. De flesta svenska banker har uppnått skalfördelar inom IT- drift, men försäkringsbolagen är inte lika kostnadseffektiva och har inte uppnått skalfördelar i samma utsträckning som bankerna. IT-driften är en standard tjänst som är lättare att specificera i kontrakt och därmed är en god kandidat för outsourcing. IT-förvaltning och utveckling ligger närmare bankernas och försäkringsbolagens kärnkompetens och bör inte outsourcas. Däremot utgör vissa delar inom IT-utveckling och förvaltning inget unikt värde och är i princip en standard för alla aktörer och kan därmed outsourcas. Detta förutsätter att företaget bygger en professionell inköpsorganisation som kan hantera problemet. Genom att IT-utvecklingen blir mer komplex är ett joint venture förhållande med ett IT-företag en bra lösning. Den finska IT- outsourcing marknaden skiljer sig från den svenska på grund av att svenska banker och försäkringsbolag är större än de finska motsvarigheterna och de svenska aktörerna tappade förtroendet för IT-outsourcing på grund av dåliga avtal under början av 90-talet. / Background: Swedish banks and insurance companies have spent considerable amounts of money and resourceson their IT-systems. IT-costs constitute the second largest cost after personal costs for banks, which mean over 20 percent of the total costs. The margins in banking and insurance industry are diminishing in Sweden, and at the same time they are facing more complex applications that have to be integrated into 30 years old IT-systems. IT- outsourcing and joint ventures are common in Finland, whereas Swedish banks and insurance companies have the IT-function in- house. IT-outsourcing is not a new phenomenon, and it has both advantages and disadvantages. Purpose: The purpose of this study is to investigate if IT-outsourcing is suitable for banks and insurance companies with a focus on the Swedish and Finnish market. Furthermore, analyses on which part of the IT-function is core and strategically important for banks and insurance companies, and which part of the IT-function is a standard procedure that does not create value. Method: The paper has been carried out as a survey and interviews with the IT- responsible and divisional heads from the biggest Swedish and Finnish banks and insurance companies. Results: IT-production is not a core competence nor high asset specificity for banks and insurance companies. Swedish banks have reached economic of scale in their IT-production, but insurance companies do not possess the high cost effectiveness that banks have in their IT-production. IT-production is a standard service and easy to specify in contracts, which have an effect on outsourcing decisions. Application management and development is near the core business and should not be outsourced. However, some parts in development are standard and could be outsourced if the company can build a good and competitive purchase organisation. Application development is such a complex matter and that is why joint venture with an IT-supplier will be preferred in the future. The Finnish IT-outsourcing market differs from the Swedish, because the Swedish companies have bigger IT-organisations, furthermore the Swedish IT- outsourcing market was destroyed in the beginning in the 90s. The bad experience in Sweden has led to loss of faith in IT-suppliers on the market, this has a large influence on outsourcing decisions.

Abstract Since the beginning of this new century, global steel industries have gone through dramatic change. From the researches we have observed, the following major changes have taken place. Number one, the¡¥death spiral¡¦in 2001 to the¡¥volcanic eruption¡¦in 2003; steel prices appeared as V shape fluctuations. Global steelmakers¡¦ raw materials, including iron ore, coking coal, hot-rolled band, pig iron and even steel scrap, prices are constantly on the rise; Survival Success Surprise was what many people in this business were saying. The second, reflecting this late-2001 pricing catastrophe, steel mills began to adopt new behavior patterns of rationalization¢wSmall is Beautiful ¡¥. In order to survive in some cases, and to win in others, the steelmakers: a) implemented more rapid production cutbacks once steel prices started to fall; b) closed marginal facilities and c) increased M&A activity.It suddenly became an international trend to merge and merge again;and the appearance of the Acelor Mittal giant steel company, people called this the Metal Mettle Mittal phenomenon. The third was that the Flying-geese Theory and steel industries began to spread across Asia, from Eastern Japan, Korea, and Taiwan, to Northern China, and to Southern India. Asia became the world¡¦s steel industry center. Just as the book,¡mChina Shakes the World: the Rise of a Hungry Nation¡ndescribes, China has became a ¡§magnetic field¡¨ in the global steel industry. China¡¦s steel production increased rapidly and caused supply to exceed demand. The fourth is that global steel industries are now ushered in the energetic resource constraints era, and not the capital constraints anymore. Upstream mine sources are monopolized, more than 70% of global mining sources are owned by three major companies. In the future, global crude steel manufacturing bases will leave the main steel consuming countries and settle down in countries that are rich in mine resources to produce steel. The fifth is identical with what¡mThe Age of Discontinuity¡npointed out. The beginning of a Sigmoid Curve includes Modern Imperatives, Market Smart, and Future Scenarios; the discontinuity of global steel industry and major changes are hard to predict. The demand, growth, and price change models are not the same anymore. However, perhaps there will be a stable New Continuum when discontinuity comes to an end. The local structure of steel industries is also going through dramatic change; it used to resemble a giraffe, now it looks like Steven Spielberg¡¦s ET! Local upstream cannot provide enough semi-product steel, imports of 7 to 8 million tons of semi-product steel manage to keep this in balance. Midstream steel industries, especially single rolling mills flourish. Yet the sizes of downstream processing industries are small with low added value. The demand is not enough to absorb the production of midstream mills, causing midstream steel rolling mills to rely on massive exports. A small head with a big body and skinny legs is like a giraffe, which is just the case in Taiwan¡¦s steel industry. Whenever local steel market is sluggish, the prices are subject to change. Taiwan¡¦s steel is mostly localized in the Asia area, while joining the WTO, internationalization, and globalization will only make competition worse than ever. The plans for a big steel mill in Yunlin and expansion of another large steel mill in Taichung will cause them to face local production surplus problems; the head has become larger than the body, just like ET. Asia¡¦s steel is mainly consumed by China, yet China is constantly increasing production capacity, causing the Taiwan steel material export and domestic market to shrink. If political factors are added into the mix, the market will become even harder to predict. The competition of steel mills in Taiwan faces with China, India, Japan, and Korea steel mills shall prove to be a very harsh test. They made NT $45.1 billion in 2003, NT $65 billion in 2004, NT $65.1 billion in 2005, NT $47.7 billion in 2006; estimates say they will make NT $60¡ã70 billion in 2007. At least one amount of capital can be made every two years in the Steel Mill C, causing them to have a global leading profitability. Their strategic management is something we should look upon and conduct research on; this also includes their learning and application of strategic planning, their sharing and exchanging of strategic execution experiences, and their innovation or revolution in visions or goals, etc. They are considered a capital and technology intensive industry, and with adequate management systems, they have become the role model of a sustainable competitive advantage and a perpetual operation and sustainable development. High-ranking finance personnel in the government point out that anybody can make money out of the Steel Mill C. Is that really so?! Our research reveals the sustainable competitive advantage of enterprises with high profit and low growth rates, we used the Steel Mill C as an example; the only integrated steel mill in Taiwan that makes everything on its own has a very high productivity that made it become one of the worlds most competitive steel mills. They constantly maintain high productivity with low costs. Thus, their core competence is actually their sustainable competitive advantage in long-term, and not their high market share. When an enterprise develops, it should focus on increasing its profit and growth at the same time; when the profit condition is better than growth, start focusing on growth (and vice versa). According to the World-Class Steelmakers¡¦ rankings by World Steel Dynamics, we find the mill is trying to be far away from a haze of low growth by expanding capacity. To come up with the following five internationalization strategy suggestions is that we give to our steel mill subject: 1. Construct competitive powers and strategies of growth with quantity and quality of production at the same time. 2. Maneuver to enter international markets.of low cost product and high growth boom 3. Focus on strategic products and valuable international product strategies. 4. Take control of multi-national vertical integral investment mineral related strategies. 5. Come up with the positioning strategies of a perpetual operation and sustainable development. within the global steel industry value chain. Have a vision, persist on fulfilling the core values, grasp hold of core abilities, construct a competitive edge, seize chances, actively plan beforehand, and take control of the future. Choose the right time, use the right tactics, and do the right things to survive and succeed as a going concern of world class steelmaker.

Abstract Facing the advent of the knowledge-based economy, enterprises realization that the continuous competitive advantages are no longer land, labor and capital, but have been replaced by knowledge capital such as intellectual and innovation. Knowledge has become the critical core capital in the age of a knowledge economy flowing from information technology. The sole source of competitive advantage today is an organization¡¦s capability to learn through value cognition to create innovation value. Knowledge management has become the primary focus for enterprises in the 21st century. Enterprises shall review the informative degrees of production and working process for the implementation of knowledge management. China Steel already has all production and working process data digitalized and acts as an e-business pioneer among domestic peers in the implementation of knowledge management. This study establishes knowledge management documentation as the basis for questionnaire design. The relationships among knowledge management, engineering professionals¡¦ core competence and job performance for engineers at China Steel were studied through quantitative analysis and case study with moderating variables such as personal initiative and contextual factor. After analyzing the data, the results of the study indicate that: 1.Variations from different educational levels: For the task performance, personal performance is higher when the educational level of the engineering professionals¡¦ is lower. For the operation consciousness, although all are willing to take action for the benefit of the organization, the engineering professionals¡¦ with a lower educational level is the more enthusiastic. 2.Variations from different seniority: For the control cognition, people of higher seniority are more capable of forecasting the relationship between effort and performance, are more confident in judging an event, and are under less stress to carry out a task. While people of lower seniority are the opposite. 3.Variations from different age: In the task performance, the personal performance of older staff is superior. In control cognition, older staff is more capable of forecasting the relationship between effort and performance, are more confident in judging an event, and are under less stress to carry out a task. 4.Variations from different positions: Staff holding managerial positions above superintendent typically shows the leadership ability to influence job performance and motivate the changing. 5.A significant positive correlation was identified among knowledge management, engineering professionals¡¦core competence and job performance. 6.Knowledge management and engineering professionals¡¦core competence was positively significant to job performance. 7.Engineering professionals¡¦core competence was found to have a significant mediating effect between knowledge transfer and job performance. 8.Personal initiative and contextual factor were found to have a significant moderating effect among relationships of knowledge management, engineering professionals¡¦core competence and job performance.