Because the business environment has changed (e.g., volatility in demand, curtailment of product life cycle, changing of information technology, and so forth), corporate supply chains become more network-connected and involve more business partners. Whether the company has the capability to operate well in such supply chain network becomes a significant issue. To fulfill this need, this research aims to develop a framework for measuring the supply chain capability. The literature review and company interviews allow us to propose four capabilities and relative measurements. A field survey is then conducted in the Taiwan PC industry to assess the measurements. To ensure the measurements are valid, we apply two-step measurement assessments: the factor analysis and initial reliability are first conducted and then followed by item-total correlation, optimal reliability coefficients, convergent validity, and discriminant validity. The resulting model is an 18-item and three-dimension construct. The three dimensions are: (1) reducing transaction related risk, (2) promoting good relationship, and (3) managing environment change. The confirmatory factor analysis then suggests us to arrange the three dimensions in two groups. The first group includes the first dimension, indicating the firm capability, and the second group includes the other two, expressing the inter-firm capability. We further explore the relationships between the supply chain capabilities and IOS adoption, as well as supply chain roles. It is interestingly to note that different IOS requires different capability and so does different supply chain roles. Therefore, the contribution of this research can be two-folded: first, the managers can use this reference framework to diagnose the supply chain capability of their own firms, finding their strength and weakness. Second, managers can use the framework to evaluate the capability of their partners and better gauge the characteristics of the supply chain collaboration. This research can also contribute to the IT literature as the researchers can build upon this model to further examine of the factors that are discovered.

This thesis is focused on case study research of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in the Taiwanese OEM/ODM corporation Lite-On. Lite-On provides a representative sample of Taiwan’s key industry - the high-tech industry with OEM/ODM manufacturers supplying to global brands. The study has two objectives. The first objective is to introduce the CSR instruments currently used in electronics industry, with a special attention paid to their usage among Taiwanese companies. How successful is the implementation of CSR in the electronics supply chain? The second objective is to study the current status of CSR in Taiwan, while considering a wider context of business ethics and management practice in the Chinese communities. What factors shape the CSR in Taiwanese-invested corporations? After examining these objectives, the key research question of this study is to find out why Taiwanese companies facing harsh competition in the supply chain engage in implementation of corporate social responsibility programs. The thesis is divided into five chapters. First, theoretical concept of CSR and new role of multinational corporations in the global supply chain are introduced. The next chapter recounts the story of Lite-On corporation and its CSR practices, thereby offering a valuable micro-perspective on CSR in Taiwan. The study continues with analysis of legal and voluntary instruments that attempt to address the CSR issues. The final section portrays current status and understanding of CSR in Taiwan’s business community and draws on CSR challenges.

Firms outsource productive tasks to different locations in order to exploit factor price differentials and gain efficiencies from specialization. However, the benefits of outsourcing come with two risks. The first problem occurs when firms share their pre-existing intellectual property (IP) such as database and trade secrets with contractors. While IP is shared to facilitate the outsourcing project, the contractor may behave opportunistically and misappropriate the IP for its own benefit. Since firms derive significant value from their IP, this can lead to severe economic damages in terms of reduced market share and brand value. The second agency problem arises due to non-contractible effort exerted by the contractor. Depending on the outsourced task, shirking can lead to higher costs and poor quality product. In this dissertation, contractual solutions are developed to mitigate these agency problems associated with outsourcing. First, several IP misappropriation cases are enumerated in the context of outsourcing. The existing literature is reviewed and the limitations are addressed in the light of these actual cases. Second, theoretical models are developed by considering two forms of IP misappropriation, depending on whether a R&D contractor emerges as a direct competitor of the principal firm, or the contractor sells the principal?s IP to a competitor. Contracts are developed to implement a ?carrot and stick? strategy, whereby firms share limited IP with their contractor and also provide incentive payments to deter shirking problem. It is shown that complementary strategies like product differentiation, task modularization, and investment in technological solutions can be useful when legal enforcement is weak. It is also demonstrated that even under the possibility of IP misappropriation; firms may gain from outsourcing if in-house inefficiency is high. However, if legal enforcement is weak, outsourcing would entail higher transaction costs. Finally, an event study is conducted to examine the effect of trade secret misappropriation on the value of Lexar. While Lexar is still outsourcing, it is explored how Lexar survived the IP misappropriation problem through product differentiation and marketing strategies.

This research aims to examine how, and to what extent, the advanced network technology such as custom-built large-scale network, or internet-based technology contribute to the correlations between supply chain drivers and performance measures. The uniqueness of the research is to use network technology as a leverage factor, instead of merely one of the supply chain drivers, to analyse how it would impact on the correlations between supply chain drivers and performance measures. Through literature review, we identified the key drivers in supply chain and the key performance indicators as independent and dependent variables respectively for data analysis in the research. We consider the utilisation of network technology as a selection variable in the analysis. We also proposed a set of research questions and hypotheses resulting from the literature review. The subsequent data analyses attempted to find answers for these questions and test the validity of the hypotheses. This was achieved by a field survey for 1035 major Australian firms through a structured questionnaire. The response rate of the survey was 20.8%. All these data were analysed with statistical models such as reliability test, multi-collinearity test, MANOVA procedures, factor analysis, and multiple regression modelling to validate whether the survey was robust and how the leverage factor (network technology) would impact on the correlations between supply chain drivers and performance measures. Each research question and hypothesis was reviewed, validated, and concluded based on the results from data analysis. The key findings from the data analysis support the perception that the network technologies with their external customers and suppliers dramatically affect the correlations between supply chain drivers and performance measures. Statistically it actually determines whether the supply chain will success or fail when comparing firms using the technologies with firms not using them. In general, the impact on the correlations is directional and positive. A set of validated theoretical models was also proposed to depict the dynamics between supply chain variables under the influence of network technology. Implications of the findings are also provided in the thesis.

No description available.

München, Techn. Universiẗat, Diss., 2007.

Zugl: Bayreuth, Univ., Diss., 2004

Zugl.: Augsburg, Univ., Diss., 2005

Zugl.: Köln, Univ., Diss., 2005 u.d.T.: Poluha, Rolf G.: Analyse der Supply Chain von Unternehmen mittels des Supply Chain Operations Reference (SCOR-)Modells

Zugl.: Erlangen, Nürnberg, Univ., Diss., 2005 u.d.T.: Krupp, Thomas: Benchmarking als Controlling-Instrument für das Kontraktlogistikgeschäft der Logistkdienstleister - Einsatzmöglichkeiten und Potentiale des Prozessbenchmarking am Beispiel von Lagerdienstleistungen