Taiwan has had a strong OEM electronics industry for over 20 years now, but in a time of narrowing profit margins Taiwan has been trying to move to a more OBM oriented strategy. In this study I have shown that even though Taiwan has been able to create several globally recognizable and –in the eyes of consumers- high quality consumer electronics brands its worldwide image as a country has not improved among consumers. Taiwanese products are viewed as being only slightly superior to Chinese brands. This means that new and established Taiwanese brands don’t have the advantage that Japanese brands have just by coming from a country with a good reputation. Consumers in Europe and North America have less knowledge of the country of origin when it comes to Taiwanese brands compared to Japanese and Korean brands. Because of the bad reputation of Taiwanese products brands are hesitant to associate themselves with Taiwan creation a vicious circle. Taiwan’s rival Korea however has been making progress, it’s brands are more recognizable as Korean and the image of Korean products is also better even though the individual brands are not necessarily rated more favourably by consumers. It’s not recommended for individual Taiwanese brand owners to associate itself with the country as this would in most cases negatively affect its brand value. It’s also found that Chinese, Korean and Taiwanese brands with a high perceived quality are often mistaken as Japanese. It may therefore be helpful to for Asian brands to try to associate themselves more with Japan or East-Asia in general. As for improving the country image of Taiwan, the Taiwanese government should redouble its efforts to improve the country’s image to a level it deserves according to the technological advances made in Taiwan in the past decades.

Mass customization is promoted in manufacturing industry as a way to satisfy individual customer requirements in a flexible, efficient and cost effective way. However, mass customization within the specific sector of &lsquo / electronic consumer goods&rsquo / is relatively underdeveloped, whilst the contributions of industrial designers to mass customization remain quite unclear. This research redresses both of these issues, elaborating on the possibilities of mass-customization in the electronic consumer goods sector, and explaining how industrial designers can take a central role in implementation. Chapter 2 contains a literature review on key terms related to mass customization. A portfolio of mass customization case studies, from both within and outside electronic consumer goods, are presented and analyzed in Chapter 3, which also reports on a new classification system to define six discrete customization types. User needs research methods, including IDEO methods, are reviewed in Chapter 4 to determine those methods most applicable for use in the pilot (Chapter 5) and main (Chapter 7) &lsquo / research through design&rsquo / customization projects. The pilot project, conducted with METU industrial design undergraduates, explored opportunities and barriers for mass customization of electronic consumer goods / the main project, carried out by the Vestel ID Team under the SAN-TEZ scheme, resulted in a new mass customized all-in-one (AIO) PC for Vestel Electronics. In Chapter 6, results of interviews with Vestel staff are presented, uncovering the current situation within Vestel Electronics for implementing mass customization. Chapter 8 contains the research conclusions, including discussion of a proposed design-based mass customization design and development procedure.

Mass customization is promoted in manufacturing industry as a way to satisfy individual customer requirements in a flexible, efficient and cost effective way. However, mass customization within the specific sector of &lsquo / electronic consumer goods&rsquo / is relatively underdeveloped, whilst the contributions of industrial designers to mass customization remain quite unclear. This research redresses both of these issues, elaborating on the possibilities of mass-customization in the electronic consumer goods sector, and explaining how industrial designers can take a central role in implementation. Chapter 2 contains a literature review on key terms related to mass customization. A portfolio of mass customization case studies, from both within and outside electronic consumer goods, are presented and analyzed in Chapter 3, which also reports on a new classification system to define six discrete customization types. User needs research methods, including IDEO methods, are reviewed in Chapter 4 to determine those methods most applicable for use in the pilot (Chapter 5) and main (Chapter 7) &lsquo / research through design&rsquo / customization projects. The pilot project, conducted with METU industrial design undergraduates, explored opportunities and barriers for mass customization of electronic consumer goods / the main project, carried out by the Vestel ID Team under the SAN-TEZ scheme, resulted in a new mass customized all-in-one (AIO) PC for Vestel Electronics. In Chapter 6, results of interviews with Vestel staff are presented, uncovering the current situation within Vestel Electronics for implementing mass customization. Chapter 8 contains the research conclusions, including discussion of a proposed design-based mass customization design and development procedure.

This paper investigated the relationship between e-service quality and consumer loyalty in the context of consumer electronic retail industry in Sweden. E-service quality is found to be a prime determinant of consumer loyalty which is very important for the growth of any business regardless of the industry. On this study, we have selected four most important dimensions of e-service quality which are: Reliability, Responsiveness, Ease of use, and Security. We adopted a quantitative approach for this study and our survey took place in the area of Umea University. We reached a total of 200 respondents who are used to with purchasing electronic products online. After collecting the data we analyzed it with the help of statistical tools and then interpreted the results in connection to our theoretical framework. We found that all the four dimensions of e-service quality have strong relationship with consumer loyalty which means that they have considerable impact on building and maintaining the loyalty of consumers in electronics retail industry. We found out that the consumers give the highest priority to the organization of website contents and security of transaction. If the company present the e-retailing website convincingly and ensure safety of transaction, the consumers are more likely to show loyalty towards that company. We also found that reliability is less important than the three other factors according to multiple regressions analysis result; though all the four factors found to be significant according to simple regression. This study fulfills the lack of industry-specific study on the relationship between e-service quality and loyalty for consumer electronic goods industry. However, the study suggests a number of future research possibilities including reassessment of the e-service quality dimensions, measurement of the impact of social media on the relationship between e-service quality and consumer loyalty and so on.

Development and enhancements in Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) is following a high level trend promising many opportunities to the economy, environment and society. Utilizing ICTs to enable improvements in the field of energy efficiency is becoming a very hot topic across the globe in this context. In this study both the enabling role of the ICTs for ensuring energy efficiency and the carbon footprint of ICTs considering also the rebound effects was analyzed as a case study for Turkish consumer electronics sector. Desktop research and in depth interviews with representatives of the sector, aimed at assessing current situation and trends in the field, provided a basis for a qualitative analysis. In our assessment main focus was put on the enabling role of ICT in achieving energy efficiency gains and / thus, we intend to explore whether utilization of ICTs can help improving energy efficiency in consumer electronics sector in Turkey. Results of the analysis showed that there is a limited inclusion of ICT directly enabling energy efficiency in the sector. Moreover, there is a lack of awareness on the concept of ICT for energy efficiency concept in the sector. Discussion of the results was followed by policy recommendations for the enabling role of ICTs for achieving energy efficiency targets in Turkey. We argue that, by increasing the awareness on the topics, utilizing the potential strength of R&amp / D capacities of the firms and deployment of links between the sector and global context on the ICT for energy efficiency, ICT can help improving energy efficiency in Turkish consumer electronics sector.

Bakgrund: Framväxten av Internet hade stor inverkan på många branscher. Det talades både om den potential som E-handeln hade och det hot den utgjorde mot traditionella butikshandlare. Att E-handel har förändrat många branscher är tydligt men också att återförsäljare börjar kombinera E-handel med fysiska försäljningskanaler. Traditionella företag har i många fall öppnat en E-handel för att svara på konkurrensen och en hel del har skrivits om detta i forskningen. Vad som dock fortfarande är relativt outforskat är E-handlare som väljer att öppna fysiska försäljningskanaler. Syfte: Syftet är att studera hur ett E-handelsföretag inom återförsäljning går till väga när det öppnar butiker och skaffar sig en hybrid distributionsstruktur. Genomförande: Vi har valt att göra en fallstudie av företaget Scandinavian Photo som i huvudsak baseras på intervjuer genomförda på deras huvudkontor i Jönköping samt i deras butik i Stockholm. Resultat: Vad som karaktäriserat strategin för fallföretaget är att den verkar ha vuxit fram över tid snarare än yttrat sig som ett rationellt vägval. Det har påståts att det skulle vara lättare för stora, traditionella återförsäljare att skapa och integrera hybridstrukturer men fallföretaget och dess marknad vittnar om något annat. Fallföretaget visade även att en telefonavdelning kan vara en viktig resurs då en E-handlare integrerar en fysisk kanal. / Background: The emergence of Internet had a major impact on many industries. Research was made of both the potential in E-commerce and the threat it posed to the traditional retailers. It is clear that E-commerce changed many industries but also that companies is starting to combine E-commerce with physical sales channels. In many cases, traditional retailers have started E-commerce in order to respond to the competition. However, what is still relatively unexplored is E-retailers who choose to open physical channels. Aim: The aim is to study how an E-retailer makes the transition towards a hybrid structure. Completion: We have chosen to do a case study of the company Scandinavian Photo, primarily based on interviews conducted at their headquarter in Jönköping and in their store in Stockholm. Findings: What seemed to characterize the strategy in the case company was that it emerged over a long period of time rather than being a rational choice. It has been claimed that it would be easier for large, traditional retailers to create and integrate a hybrid structure but the case company and its industry indicate something else. The case company also revealed that a phone service may be an important resource when an E-­‐retailer integrates a physical channel.

I here have been very few studies carried out on enhancing CFC (Cross-functional Collaboration) for the product design development. nevertheless there is a clear consensus among researchers that this issue is a critical one in ne product design development. Besides, almost all of the research work, which attempted to encourage CFC in NPD situations, was carried out focused on the cross-functional team which is the most effective organisation type to encourage collaboration between other functional groups, rather than the functional organisation, which is difficult organisation to facilitate collaboration between other functional groups. On the other hand, there is still no clear evidence which proves that CFC improves the performance of' design development. Nevertheless, this proof is essential premise to support the value of producing the information to improve CFC for product design development. This research attempts to fill in this gap in the deficiency of research. This longitudinal research has been conducted with complementary research methods: a qualitative research and a quantitative research in the field. As the main body of this research, 15 key -decision makers for new product design development were interviewed and 243 questionnaires from eight leading consumer electronics companies in three countries (Korea, Japan. UK) were analysed. In conclusion, firstly, this research has proved there is a plus correlation between the level of CFC and several dimensions of the design development performance of consumer electronics products. Furthermore, a new framework model is developed and proposed after compressing and combining all vital findings of this research work. This developed model presents three major findings of this research. Firstly, the factors affecting CF C for design development of consumer electronics products, secondly, the priority of importance of these factors, and finally, factors directly contributing to design development performance in several dimensions. Overall, the findings of this research help to people what are valuable factors for building CFC climate and what are prior factor in a quandary concerning, where to concentrate their efforts so as to successfully implement their (TV to improve their design development performance. In particular, the findings of this research could further help designers and design managers who lack the experience and knowledge of collaboration situations in the rigid functional organisational boundaries, which many consumer electronics companies face.

Design needs to collaborate with many other disciplines to achieve success. Ergonomics is one of these disciplines that design needs its collaboration. A designed object should be in good relation with the human body and cognitive system to be effectively used by its potential users. Changes in the competitive market have forced firms to enhance product differentiation for achieving market success. Design is widely used as one of the differentiation tools. As a component of design, ergonomics should also be integrated into the design process to fulfill the user requirements. There are success stories of companies integrating ergonomics into their design process and achieving differentiation and success on their products through the results of this integration. Even their marketing strategies are based on this integration. It is observed that there are some missing points in the integration of ergonomics into consumer electronics design which make results in poor interaction with the end users. The background of this problem is investigated by reviewing design processes of four different firms and integration of ergonomics into these processes. The information on the cases is collected by literal information for the former three companies and information based on the participant observation results and company reports for the last company.

[pt] Visando reduzir a quantidade de substâncias nocivas descartadas no meio ambiente, a União Europeia (UE) elaborou a Diretiva Restriction of The Use of Certain Harzardous Substances in Electric Electronic Equipment (RoHS) para mitigar os danos ambientais resultantes do descarte de resíduos sólidos eletrônicos no meio ambiente. A Diretiva RoHS restringe a quantidade de certas substâncias consideradas tóxicas nos materiais que compõem os equipamentos eletroeletrônicos (EEE) produzidos, e a serem adquiridos, pelos Estados-membros da UE. As empresas fabricantes de equipamentos eletroeletrônicos se esforçam para alinhar seus produtos à Diretiva RoHS, garantindo suas permanências no mercado fornecedor de EEE para a UE. O Ministério do Planejamento Orçamento e Gestão (MPOG) emitiu em 19 de janeiro de 2010 a Instrução Normativa número 01 que dispõe sobre critérios de sustentabilidade ambiental na aquisição de bens pela Administração Pública Federal Direta. Pelo seu artigo quinto, inciso IV recomenda atendimento à Diretiva RoHS. Este tudo faz uma análise sobre a viabilidade técnica e econômica da inclusão de critérios de sustentabilidade ambiental a serem considerados na aquisição de equipamentos eletroeletrônicos de emprego dual (emprego civil e militar) das áreas de navegação, acústica e de detecção radar por Organização Militar da Marinha do Brasil (MB), tendo a Diretiva RoHS e o Modelo Militar de Decisão (EMA-332) como referência. Academicamente, a Diretiva RoHS foi desvinculada da diretiva europeia de descarte de resíduos eletroeletrônicos. O trabalho sofreu limitações devido à falta de dados estatístico ambientais sobre equipamentos utilizados na esfera da Defesa. Foi verificado que a MB já utiliza equipamentos submetidos à Diretiva RoHS com boa resposta técnica e econômica. Considerada viável, foi concebido modelo de fluxograma de decisão para verificação da necessidade de inclusão dos fundamentos da Diretiva RoHS nas especificações para aquisição de EEE e seus sobressalentes. / [en] Because of the large volume of Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) produced worldwide, and its low rate of reuse and recycling, it was observed that the control and the effective reduction of harmful impacts to the environment produced by a particular product should be performed at the begining of lifecycle, controlling your production process The idea propagated by centuries of the earth s natural resources were inexhaustible no longer holds because these are finite. The growth of cities, added to the great technological advances and population growth in the twentieth and twenty-first, caused negative environmental impacts of great intensity. This context made the European Union (EU) to develop a specific standard, the Restriction of Certain Hazardous Substances (RoHS) Directive for restricting the use of certain hazardous substances in electrical and electronic equipment (EEE) in order in this way ensure a reduction in the poisoning potential due to human handling EEE, as well as reducing of the amount of toxic waste released into the environment. maximum concentration of toxic substances by weight is determined for homogeneous materials, i.e., materials that can not be mechanically divided into various others. Maximum concentration recommended for cadmium is 0.01 percent while for lead, mercury, hexavalent chrome, polybrominated (PBB) and polybrominated diphenyl echers (PBDE) is 0.1 percent.

E-handel mellan företag som säljer hemelektronik och svenska konsumenter har blivit vanligare de senaste åren. Trots den kraftiga tillväxten är konsumenter fortfarande ifrågasättande till tryggheten med att handla över Internet. Med hjälp av teori har aspekter identifierats som påverkar konsumentens förtroende till en webbutik. Aspekterna delas in i fyra kategorier; influensbaserade faktorer, upplevelsebaserade faktorer, personlig inställning och erfarenhetsbaserad inställning. Med en kvantitativ studie har vi undersökt vilka faktorer som är viktiga för att konsumenten ska känna förtroende till en webbutik när den handlar hemelektronik. Studien undersökte även den svenska konsumentens inställning till att handla. Undersökningen visade att i stort sett samtliga faktorer inom den upplevelse- och influensbaserade kategorin är viktiga för konsumentens förtroende. Svenska konsumenter har överlag positiva erfarenheter av att handla hemelektronik på Internet och de känner sig trygga. Undersökningen visade dock att kvinnor inte har lika god vana som männen av att handla över Internet och tenderar att uppleva mindre förtroende. / E-commerce business selling consumer electronics to Swedish consumers have become more common in recent years. Despite rich growth, consumers are still questioning the safety of shopping over the Internet. Using the theory has identified aspects that affect consumer confidence to an online store. The aspects are divided into four categories: Influence-based factors, cognitive-based factors, personal-oriented aspects and experience-based aspects. In a quantitative study we have investigated which factors are important for consumer confidence to an online store and the context of consumer electronics. The study also examined the Swedish consumer’s attitude to shopping. It turns out that almost all factors in the experience and influence-based category is important for consumer confidence. Swedish consumers have a generally positive experience of shopping consumer electronics in the Internet and they feel safe. The study showed that women are not as good as men accustomed to online shopping and tend to experience less confidence.