Taiwan and Korean are in fierce competition in the LCD panel industry and together dominate over 70% of the international market share. Business strategies in Taiwan rely on Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) whereas Korea focuses principally on vertical integration, including development of its own international brand architecture. Taiwan is one of the world’s largest providers of LCD panel. In 1998, Taiwan accounted for only 1% of market share worldwide, but by 2002 its market share was over 30%. This study examines the causes behind Taiwanese LCD makers, CMI, AUO, growth and analysis their competitors (Korean makers). TFT-LCD manufactures’ strategies and activities help to develop a greater understanding. With respects to the Taiwanese LCD industry, many previous studies have concluded that the Taiwanese government played a major role in the initial stages of development. - Government support, Tax incentive - LCD manufacturer’s activities on marketing and cost effectiveness With regard to recent business movement between LCD manufacturers, strategic alliance is to be a popular way to enhance their competitiveness. But common alliance among same business fields is not good enough to be a market leader. Based on supply chain analysis and case study, intimate cooperation with other business field is proved as more powerful competitive strategic alliance. This new alliance will lead more efficient development lead time and productivity.

<p>This master thesis is a result of the work carried out for Research Electronics at Siljansnäs. The company develops customized electronical systems. Because of the rapidly increasing interest in colour displays there has been a desire within the company to represent information from sensors and electrical systems in a more advanced way.</p><p>Due to the mentioned reason above we were given the assignment to solve how a colour display using the STN technique works. The technique is used by small displays, the size of QVGA. Our ambition of this diploma work is to develop a fully functionally test prototype to evaluate the LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) and the LCD controller. The most important results from this study is the documentation of how a LCD controller works and how the pixels are addressed. We succeded in showing all the pixels we were able to address at the right place on the LCD wich indicates that there is a compatibility between the LCD and the LCD controller . A replacement of the LCD is recommended because of the difficulties working with it. Precisely wich LCD it should be replaced with is not mentioned in this report because of the extent of the work. One of the aims was to evaluate the function of the LCD, not to find an alternative LCD.When studiyng the LPC2129 and MC68K it emerged that both suits well as controlling units for this application, but an implemention with LPC2129 involves greater diffculties because of the absence of external system bus. Our aim is that this work will function as a starting point to further development leading to a controlling unit in working order, and that it will be implemented in other products the company develops.</p> / <p>Föreliggande rapport behandlar vårt magisterarbete på 20 poäng. Arbetet är gjort åt Research</p><p>Electronics i Siljansnäs som utvecklar skräddarsydda elektroniksystem. På grund av den ökade efterfrågan av färgdisplayer från marknaden har det länge funnits ett behov av att presentera information från givare och mätinstrument på ett mer avancerat sätt.</p><p>Av ovan nämnda skäl fick vi i uppdrag att undersöka hur en färgdisplay av typen STN (Super Twist Nematic) fungerar. Det är oftast små displayer som använder den här tekniken. Målet från början var att utveckla en fungerande testprototyp för att testa grafikcontrollern och displayen. De viktigaste resultat som framkommit efter arbetet är en dokumentation på hur en grafikcontroller fungerar och hur adressering av pixlar sker. Vi har visat att det är möjligt att använda den givna grafikcontrollern tillsammans med den display som köpts in då alla pixlar som gick att adressera visats på önskad plats på skärmen. Det finns också en rekommendation av byte till en annan display som är enklare att arbeta med. Exakt vilken anges inte i rapporten eftersom det inte har ingått i arbetet att ta hitta en alternativ display utan att undersöka den befintliga. Studien av mikrocontrollern LPC2129 från Philips och processorn MC68K från Freescale visar att båda är bra för applikationen. LPC2129 blir svårare att arbeta med till följd av att det saknas extern systembuss. Våra förhoppningar är att examensarbetet ska bli en god grund för fortsatt arbete som leder till en färdig produkt, och att den används i övriga tillämpningar i företaget.</p>

<p>Detta examensarbete var en del i ett större projekt på ProElec AB i Söderhamn. Företaget ville ta fram en ny produkt i form av en displayenhet som ska kunna kommunicera med ett annat system via en operatör och ett CAN-protokoll. Användargränssnittet (GUI) i produkten understödjer växelverkan mellan en operatör och exempelvis ett hydrauliskt system på en grävskopa. Syftet med detta arbete var därför att hitta en bra metod som kan användas för att utveckla ett applikationsinterface (API) som sedan används för att implementera detta GUI på displayenheten. Enheten består av en mikrodator och en LCD-skärm och är ett system som har begränsat med minne och resurser. Därför så fanns det krav på att applikationen som använder detta API får snabba svarstider och bra prestanda, men även att den blir användarvänlig. För att kontrollera om resultatet blev bra så gjordes också en test för att se om alla krav uppfylldes. Här visade testet att resultatet blev väldigt bra och att inga kvarstående problem fanns kvar att rätta till i det API som togs fram för displayenheten.</p>

Allting började med att jag fick i uppdrag av Euromaint Industry i Skövde att konstruera en alfanumerisk display i syfte att ersätta en utgången display som inte längre nytillverkas. Jag fick i uppdrag att välja ut en modern, lämplig grafisk display och bygga ett interface mellan den nya displayen och den industriella maskin som displayen skall sitta på. Efter att ha letat hos någraelektronikleverantörer kom jag fram till att en TFT-skärm från det japanska företaget Kyocera var den som passade bäst. Skärmen hade ett VGA-liknandeinterface och min uppgift blev att sätta mig in i hur VGA fungerar. Efter att ha konstaterat att det krävdes en snabbare krets än en microcontroller för att använda VGA, var det endast en programmerbar logikkrets, en FPGA, som gällde. Denna FPGA sköter nu ensam om såväl VGA-interfacet som inläsningen av informationen från den industriella NC-maskinen. / Everything started when I got a task from Euromaint Industry in Skövde, Sweden, to develop an alphanumerical display that could replace an old one, which was sold out. I got a task to choose a modern, suitable, graphical display and develop an interface between the new display and the industrial machine, which the old one was connected to. I have searched for a display at some suppliers of electronic components and I have found a TFT-display from the Japanese company Kyocera. The display had an interface similar to VGA so I had to study VGA to see how it works. Then I realized that I needed a faster circuit than a microcontroller. Then I chose a programmable logic circuit, an FPGA, to control the VGA-sweep. Today the FPGA-circuit controls the whole system.

In this study, a liquid crystal display (LCD) is proposed to have a capability of viewing-angle-switching in all directions. In the proposed LCD, a three-electrode structure is used to control the viewing angle of the LCD. By using a bi-direction slit type electrode, fringe fields with two different directions are generated. The fringe fields cause a light leakage of the dark state in all directions. Experimental results reveal that the proposed LCD has viewing angle within 40o in both vertical and horizontal directions when the area ratio of the vertical and horizontal slit is 1:1. Furthermore, contrast ratio (CR) of the proposed LCD increases as cell gap increases. When the angle between polarizer axis and LC is 0, the proposed LCD has the highest CR in the normal direction. The personal privacy is protected based on the proposed LCD due to the all-direction light leakage in the dark state.

Based on the analysis of value chain and value system, this research investigated the multi-tiered supply chain industry, which are four processes to be followed. First, the research analyzed the value chains and value system in one industry to find out the critical value activities. Second, this research probed into the supply chain integration strategy to plan the future business strategies, which were divided into the upward and downward integration strategies. Third, the interaction of the enterprises in the industry supply chain was investigated by the process analysis approach to draw up the appropriate supply chain processes. Finally, after the strategy analysis of the supply chain, simulation tools were utilized to simulate the real situations in the multi-tiered industry, which could be one basis of solving the suffering problems.

Bullwhip effect is the situation that the order information distortion resulted from time delay and expectation of the demand. Through the order information distortion, the inventory of upstream suppliers raised and fluctuated, thus the operation cost of suppliers increased. Although the down stream customer seems to exempts from such disaster, but the cost increase in the upstream supplier will cause the raising of the purchasing cost of those downstream customers. The raising cost and inefficiency will be the burden of whole supply chain and not single party can exempts such result. Supply chain collaboration is aimed to solve such problems. This study explode the operations of supply chain collaboration from a integration perspective to understand the value of collaborative forecasting for the supply chain operations. Taiwan TFT-LCD industry will be the platform of this study, base on the platform, system dynamics models will be build up and simulated to analyze the effectiveness of collaborative forecasting model under different demand patterns. The result of this study can be the reference when adopting collaboration in Taiwan TFT-LCD industry.

Abstract This dissertation explores the strategy of entering a high ¡Vbarrier industry for a conventional resin company. By analyzing the competitive advantage of nations in LCD industry, followed by comparisons made based on Resources Based View among the leading LCD chemical companies and the emerging Korea chemical firms in this industry ,the author analyzed the key successful factors of these firms and assemblied a set of strategies for the local players. The results leads to conclusions as follows: 1. The Taiwan LCD industry will have limited future ,without local LCD chemical companies. 2. The key successful factors of first movers are intensive R&D activities, aggressive participation in customers¡¦new projects, strategically alliance with important customers, and products portfolio being based on core technology of polymers, colorants or microlithography and also with organizational capabilities and long histories in chemical industry. 3.The Korean late-commers have similar KSFs with their Japanese competitors ,except that they focus their resources on fewer products portofolio and are more aggressive for faster response to customers¡¦ needs by adopting the culture of electronic industry¡¦s fast tempo. This dissertation is a case study on the competitive advantages of sampled chemical firms. By collection of related papers and reports and talks with experts in the field ,the key successful factors of the foreign competitors are summarized and the counter strategies for the local player are thus formulated. A business plan was proposed to prove the feasibility of the strategies. Key words: TFT LCD,follower¡¦s strategy,first-mover advantage, aggromeration economy,resource based view.

Polarizers are key components of TFT-LCD panels. Because their production demands high technical know-how and the supply of their raw materials was under the control of Japanese companies, these companies used to have few competitors and enjoyed good profits. Recently, however, panels have been mass-produced. Since their investments that often amount to hundreds of billions of NT dollars, panel producers have undertaken vertical integration in order to reduce costs for production. In order also to avoid being limited by the shortage of TAC¡Xan important component of polarizers-- panel producers have been reaching into the polarizer industry one after another. It takes a relatively long time to be able to control the quality of polarizers and to produce a large amount of them. At the present time, the leading companies are Nitto Denko and Suwitomo in Japan, and Optimax in Taiwan. Though the new comers to the polarizer industry so far pose no big threat to these well-established companies, their joining in means a warring age has set in for the polarizer industry. And this study of mine tries to analyze what cutting edge Taiwan¡¦s polarize companies have over their competitors. To understand how cluster influences investments in and development of TFT-LCD industry, I study this industry in Taiwan. I use the Five ¡VForce Model and the Diamond Model proposed by Michael E. Porter to analyze the data. And then I study six polarizer companies in Taiwan, analyzing their developments and the turning points of their strategies. I hope I can make some contributions to the TFT-LCD industry in Taiwan. In my research, I find that this industry has become an oligopoly. The important factors that determine a company¡¦s competitiveness are its R&D abilities, manufacturing technology, and policies in forming strategic alliances. I also find that local Taiwanese companies do not have an advantage over those leading Japanese companies in either their R&D abilities or their access to raw materials. Their hopes of survival lie in the differentiation of their products and in forming good strategic alliances with their clients. The purposes of this thesis are four: (1) analyzing the polarizer industry in Taiwan and their competitiveness, (2) studying the key factors of their success or failure, (3) understanding why their CEOs decide to enter this industry, and (4) getting to know why they decide to leave this industry by being merged. My study has successfully fulfilled these purposes and in it are also several suggestions for the reference of those CEOs who are planning to enter this industry.

From the perspective of contingency theory, this study investigates the governance change of the organization value chain between upstream and downstream firms in three most important high-tech industries in Taiwan: PC, semiconductor, and TFT-LCD. Many scholars and experts have thoroughly studied governances of value chains. Their findings are valuable to the competitiveness of organizations and industries. However, most of them are focused on the Western industries. Very few studies are based on Taiwanese industries. Besides, most of these researches on the characteristics of Taiwanese organizations and industries emphasize the flexible production collaborative networks and the quick responses of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Even fewer studies have recognized that Taiwanese high-tech industries have evolved into large integrated business groups. This study complements previous literature from a different perspective. Employing case research method, this research has interviewed 20 experts that are familiar with the operation of these three high-tech electronic industries. It is found that all PC, IC and TFT-LCD industries adopted network models at the emerging stage. When these industries getting matured, however, the IC industry adopted the market model, while the PC and TFT-LCD industries moved to hierarchy models. Using Boolean method, this study has reached four major findings for Taiwan¡¦s high-tech industries: 1. The industries¡¦ governance of organization value chain moved toward the personal network model at the emerging stage due to technology uncertainties, relatively high profitability and not enough capital munificence. 2. The industries¡¦ governance of organization value chain moved toward the impersonal network model at the emerging stage due to technology uncertainties, low complexity of technology, relatively high profitability, and enough capital munificence. 3. The industries¡¦ governance of organization value chain moved toward the market model at the mature stage due to technology certainties, enough capital munificence, high complexity of technology and relatively high profitability. 4. The industries¡¦ governance of organization value chain moved toward the hierarchy model at the mature stage due to technology certainties, enough capital munificence, low complexity of technology and relatively low profitability. In the concluding chapter, this thesis presents management implications and future researches based on this study.