Sustaining development is becoming one of the challenges to enterprises because concerns to the natural and human environments are always being overlooked by the enterprises which intend to get sustaining advantages, especially at the globalization competing situations among enterprises. In general, only part pictures of the sustaining development can be observed by the first department (personal department) from a private viewpoint. The second department (government) is always a stumbling block to the enterprises which intend to move to foreign countries. The third department (nonprofit organization) dedicates to the development of human well-beings and citizen aesthetics which can eventually become a part of business culture. Enterprises with the concept of sustaining development for environments should agree to the viewpoints of the second and the third departments and would like to melt those into their business cultures. By the melting, a coexistence concept for the enterprises, the society and the consumers can be developed, and the social responsibilities and duties may be brought into the enterprises further. Finally, it will become an active motivation force which accelerates business development and their social responsibility mission, and eventually becomes a global sustaining development for human beings. Taiwan¡¦s leading position of synthetic leather manufacture in the world has been replaced due to its higher domestic labor, land costs and enterprise out-moving. However, some companies of the industry is still developing and promising by taking the policies of producing centralization, variety, and high value-additive products. For facing world-wide competition in the future, the industry should have an overall strategy on the viewpoints of business administration and environmental policy. In this study, two approaches, namely business competition strategy and business environmental policy, were adopted to develop subjects for obtaining a sustainable development to the synthetic leather industry. Investigation results indicate that a world-wide plumb-integration on cost competition, and producing centralized, high-variety, and high value-additive products might be a practical strategy for competing with the world plant mainland China. By a case study in this report, the strategy has been shown to be effective for abating negative impacts from current situations of world trade liberalization, inside cost promotion, and enterprise out-moving Pollution prevention has been regarded as a burden to enterprises. However, investigation results also indicate that by planning and implementation of environmental policies such as process waste reduction, energy saving, clean production, and development of environment-friendly products, the synthetic leather industry can find a more promising way.

台灣合成皮工業，可追溯至1950年代中期石化工業創建，所生產之PVC塑膠皮，直至1969年永豐化工自日本引進之PU合成皮製造技術，廣泛將PU合成皮產品運用於衣、住、行、娛樂等民生消費用品上，PU合成皮產業於台灣發展已有三十年以上的歷史。 PU合成皮產業，屬石化工業的一環，產品仍然是工業產品階段，需交由下游產業加工後，才得以供消費者使用。台灣的合成皮產業與下游製鞋業緊密結合，曾於1990年代，創下世界最大產量的記錄，台灣遂有「製鞋王國」、「合成皮王國」等美譽。 傳統PU合成皮產業，進入障礙低，產品替代性高，競爭在所難免；中國大陸及東南亞合成皮業者引進台灣技術，挾其大量生產低成本優勢，經過10多年來發展，已經成功搶佔一般PU產品的市場，台灣PU合成皮產業面對外來的強力競爭環境，隨時會有被淘汰的危機，在傳統PU製品上，研發創新、提昇品質、降低成本，並不能阻止新產品於發表後即遭仿冒的結果。因應PU合成皮產業少量多樣的趨勢，業者應如何致力於製程的創新，以縮短作業流程，以提昇競爭力。 台灣PU合成皮產業成長停滯，有愈來愈多的企業，被迫面對外移關廠或者轉型到其它具附加價值的產品線，本研究以個案公司為例，探討其轉型策略，其建構自有品牌及行銷通路，與消費者直接接觸，自有品牌可否成為PU合成皮業的轉型契機，以及工業品牌轉型至消費性產品品牌所面臨問題的探討。 關鍵字：合成皮、競爭策略、品牌、普大皮革 / The industry of synthetic leather in Taiwan could trace back to the middle of 1950s which initiated from the PVC production at Taiwan’s new established petrochemistry industry until the Yoong Feng Chemistry Inc has introduced from Japan the technic of PU production in 1969 which has more extensively utilized the PU leather to the usage at garment, household, transportation, and entertainment, etc. In fact, the development of PU leather industry in Taiwan has been undertaking for more than 30 years. PU leather industry is highly related to the petrochemistry industry, its product is so called the material for the downstream to carry out for the consumer’s usage. It is also inseparable between the industry of synthetic leather and shoe manufacturing. Moreover, during the 1990s, Taiwan has achieved the industry of synthetic leather world’s No. 1 in terms of production volume. Therefore, from the time, Taiwan has wined the name as “Kingdom of Shoes” or “Kingdom of Synthetic Leather”. The low entry level of PU leather industry with its high product substitution has inevitably caused high competition in current market. Moreover, in the past 10 years, the mainland China and Southeast Asia with its technic transplanted from Taiwan has also became the major provider in the world of PU product with more competitive cost. As a result, the next move for PU industry in Taiwan has came into an agenda which focus on the innovation of manufacturing and product itself in order to enhance the competitive strength from the market selection. In Taiwan, due to the recession of PU industry, more and more manufacturers have been enforced to remove overseas for cost down or backward for more value addition. Therefore, the purpose of this thesis is trying to probe into the research by case study (as at PONY Leather Corp) of Taiwan’s PU industry. From the past, it studies the possible future through the strategies of brand-name, marketing passage, and consumer approach, etc. Key Words: Synthetic Leather, Competition Strategy, Brand, Pony Leather.

This report covers a preliminary life cycle assessment (LCA) on imitation leather made from hemp fiber (hemp leather) and a comparison to bovine leather, to examine whether hemp leather is an environmentally sustainable alternative. The bovine leather industry is responsible for heavy chemical use and emissions, detrimental effects to the environment as well as to human health. The United Nations (UN) and other organizations call for immediate action against the animal product industry sector to greatly reduce emissions and protect the environment. Hemp is a versatile plant that can be used for many things, including paper, composites, textiles, food and medicine, and is probably a suitable material for imitation leather. The hemp plant requires little inputs, grows fast and without pesticides, has positive effects on the environment and can be cultivated on every inhabited continent. The preliminary LCA was based on a patent describing the manufacturing process of hemp leather completed with data from literature and a few assumptions made. LCA-results for bovine leather were collected from literature and the two leather fabrics were then compared. The comparison showed that hemp leather is superior to bovine leather in all compared categories except for water consumption and hazardous waste. Bovine leather had 99% more energy use, 78% higher acidification potential (AP), 99,9% higher eutrophication potential (EP) and 83% higher global warming potential (GWP) than hemp leather. The large water consumption in the manufacturing phase of hemp leather is possible to be explained by over dimensioning of inputs. The report concludes that hemp leather would be the environmentally and ethically admirable choice between the two leathers and that more research on more modern methods of manufacturing it should be performed. / Denna rapport omfattar en preliminär livscykelanalys (LCA) på syntetiskt läder gjort av hampfiber (hampläder) och en jämförelse med nötskinn, för att undersöka om hampläder är ett miljövänligt alternativ. Nötskinnsindustrin är ansvarig för stor kemikalieanvändning och tunga utsläpp, skadlig inverkan på miljö samt människors hälsa. Förenta nationerna och andra organisationer fordrar till omedelbar handling mot djurindustrisektorn för att drastiskt minska utsläpp och skydda miljön. Hampa är en mångsidig växt som kan användas inom många olika applikationer, såsom till papper, kompositer, textiler, mat och medicin, och är förmodligen ett passande material till imitationsläder. Hampan behöver liten mängd tillförd energi, växer fort och utan bekämpningsmedel, har positiva effekter på miljön och kan odlas på alla bebodda kontinenter. Den preliminära LCA:n är baserad på ett patent beskrivande hampläders produktionsprocess, kompletterat med data från litteratur samt några antaganden. LCA-resultat från nötskinnsproduktion samlades från litteratur och resultaten från de två lädertyperna jämfördes sedan. Jämförelsen visade att hampläder är överlägset nötskinn i alla jämförda kategorier utom vattenkonsumtion och farligt avfall. Nötskinn har 99% högre energianvändning, 78% högre försurningspotential (AP), 99,9% högre övergödningspotential (EP) och 83% högre potential till global uppvärmning (GWP) än hampläder, enligt resultaten. Hampläders produktionsprocess stora vattenkonsumtion kan troligtvis förklaras av en överdimensionering av indata. Denna rapport drar slutsatsen att hampläder skulle vara det mest miljövänliga och etiskt försvarbara valet mellan de två lädertyperna och att modernare produktionsmetoder för hampläder bör studeras.