As the rises of the market and industry cluster of China, the importance of the Taiwan¡¦s cluster effect to multinational corporations¡]MNCs¡^will have the changes. And the changes of cluster effect between Taiwan and China have had the impact on MNC Taiwan subsidiary¡¦s role. This thesis focuses of the cluster effect between Taiwan and China that changes the MNC¡¦s Taiwan subsidiary¡¦s role. With regard to the factors affecting cluster of industries, previous studies have based mainly on Porter¡¦s Diamond Model, which includes factor conditions, demand conditions, related and supporting industries and firm strategy, structure and rivalry. Besides, according to the series research by Birkinshaw, the HQ assignment and the subsidiary¡¦s behavior will also have the impact on subsidiary¡¦s role. This thesis will study the changes between these three dimensions and MNC¡¦s Taiwan subsidiary¡¦s role. This thesis uses the case study in order to support the formation of research structure and hypothesis, which also survey to collect data. The population is the list of foreign enterprises in Taiwan published by Dun and Bradstreet, 2000. The subsidiaries belong to manufacturing industry and service industry. The subsidiaries are owned by foreign MNC which must operate over one year in Taiwan. We use multi-regression to examine the relationships between the dependent variables and the changes of MNC Taiwan subsidiary¡¦s role. After analyzing 60 MNC¡¦s Taiwan subsidiaries, the results reveal that HQ assignment, the subsidiary¡¦s initiative behavior and the changes of cluster effect between Taiwan and China will have the influence on MNC¡¦s Taiwan subsidiaries¡¦ roles. Therefore, these dissertation results respond to Birkinshaw¡¦s perspective. The subsidiary behavior is simultaneously influenced by HQ, subsidiary and local environment.

This study examines the linkages and factors influencing relationships between universities and companies in Thailand’s automotive cluster and seeks applicable models and ways to improve the linkages among government, universities, national research institutions and firms in order to enhance innovation and competitiveness in the industry. Based on the ideas of the knowledge economy and a “triple helix model” of relationships among government-industry-university, this study uses multiple data collection methods, including questionnaires and in-depth interviews, with descriptive analysis to investigate the relationship among government, university and industry in Thailand’s automotive cluster in Samutprakarn province which emerged in 1990s to become a leading industrial sector of the country that the government has emphasized on. Findings from this research show universities, as important players in the knowledgebased cluster, have three major schemes to serve the cluster, in collaboration with government, organization/institute and industry. Those are 1) to produce graduates highly relevant to the need of related sectors and 2) to conduct basic and applied research, and 3) to collaborate with organization/institute and industry to create new technology/innovations. However, there are challenges for any university to substantially support the cluster. These challenges are 1) universities do not produce highly qualified and industrially relevant graduates, 2) universities do not understand and accommodate the nature of industry, 3) universities do not have sufficient resources, 4) universities are not recognized as a critical player in economy, and 5) universities do not seriously cooperate among themselves and with other related sectors. To deal with the challenges above and to enhance universities’ competitiveness/ relevance in the automotive industry, my study recommends that universities could be improved by establishing a track record, culture and strategic plan to enhance trust and mutual recognition from the Thai automotive cluster. It is this trust and recognition that could lead to collaboration and eventually transform the automotive cluster into a knowledge-based and competitive cluster. In the longer-term, universities that adopt a mission to serve industry should be developed to become an effective component of the ‘triple helix’ or an entrepreneurial university by 1) committing themselves towards collaboration with industry and other players for mutual benefit and industrial growth, 2) understanding the demands and culture of industry, 3) developing niche technology and translating this into patents/licensing, 4) providing consultancy and collaborating with industry and government through an entrepreneurial spirit, 5) supporting business incubation services and spin-offs, 6) enhancing continuity of cooperative and entrepreneurship education, 7) recruiting and developing industrially-experienced and research-active staff, and 8) accommodating competitive facilities for R&D. In addition, a governmental intermediate organization (such as Thailand Automotive Institute) should be identified as the central organization in improving competitiveness of the cluster that should be given greater autonomy and flexibility to support the coopetition of different players with greater efficiency and effectiveness.

Abstract The major economic competition is industry cluster, for example: Italy¡¦s shoemaking, North Carolina¡¦s house furnishings, Germany¡¦s chemical industry, UK¡¦s financial service industry. In Taiwan, Hsinshu Science Park and Taichung¡¦s machinery industry show strong competition. In sum, It provides access to more suppliers and customized support services, to experienced and skilled labor pools, and to the inevitable transfer of knowledge that occurs where people casually meet and talk business. Concentration, or clustering, gives businesses an advantage over more isolated competitors. Clustering enables companies to focus on what they know and do best; they need not do things they do not do well. Companies able to operate more or less as a system can use their resources more efficiently and collectively produce more than the sum of their individual outputs. Jacobs(1985) referred that the relevant geographical unit from a clustering point of view is not the nation but rather the city/region. core metropolitan areas in particular are the well-spring of economic dynamism and innovation, and exert a profound influence on the prosperity of the nations in which they are located. Wang Guo Gang (2003)also referred, there are many financial institutions and securities firms and in financial centre, it also borrowed or lent money across countries. In 21 century, global economic situation changed quickly, and Taiwan faced the challenge of Asia Pacific Zone¡¦s economic grew and integrated quickly. It is far influence to develop international commerce between Mainland China and Taiwan. The government draw up economic construction plan to make economical development breakthrough. It has the blueprint of Taipei finical centre, the fund could in-out freely, and build financial system of international standard. The study would analysis financial industry space distribution by location quotient. And it concluded eight important variable (infrastructure, human resources, knowledge resources. capital resource, market demand, group learning, related and supporting industries, government )by industry cluster theory and Asia financial centres(Singapore, Hong Kong, Shanghai). And it analysis Taipei financial industry by depth interview. Finally, it provide financial industry strategies to the government. Key Words :Industry Cluster Financial Centre Location Quotient

No description available.

Now the motel industry in Taiwan is increasingly sophisticated, and even some motels are positioning themselves as the boutique hotels,so the business model has been out of the previous framework, like the hotel, with the high texture, on the other hand, beyond the hotel, with rich diversity. Now the motels are no longer set up near highway ramp to pursue convenience and privacy, but to find good location near department stores, metro, and science-based Industrial Park. Now the motel industry places more emphasis on the freshness and characteristics of the product, so in addition to the pursuit of convenience and practicality, motels now focus more on entertainment features. On the other hand, the motels are almost everywhere in high competition status, it is not difficult to find many cluster regions all over Taiwan. In the circumstances, consumers have clear and close impression to link the image between these cluster regions and the motels inside the regions. However the reason why motels usually were gathered and formed to be a cluster.What motivations resulted in industry cluster? What characteristics are shaped inside? How the cluster effect be developed and influence the relations of motels in the same cluster region. These questions are be researched in this thesis. In this study,I selected three major and representative motel clusters in Taiwan: Dazhi Land Consolidation of Taipei City, 7th Land Consolidation of Taichung, 16th agricultural Land Consideration of Kaohsiung City, mainly by interviewing with executives of the motel industry in order to understand the causes of industrial clusters,the competition and cooperation relation in motel clusters, and cluster effect in the industry. And exploring and analyzing the environment of these three cluster regions through observation method, in order to understand the correlation of regional environmental and development of clusters. Finally, the results of this study found that: (1) the main cause of motel cluster, is not because of being attracted by the cluster effect, but the similar needs for location. (2) There are seldomly cooperative behaviors in the motel industry, because the motel industry is very secretive and motels in the same cluster tend to imitate each other, so these results deepen the intensity of competition. (3) The causes of motel cluster are hoping for attracting more customers and finding the appropriate operating environment. (4) Because the industry become saturated and sophisticated, it is very important to make prudent cost-benefit assessment. Besides, it is better to reassess influences of the cluster and try to be aware of the direction of government policy to evaluate the future and the development. (5) Consumer loyalty in motel industry is low, therefore, the latecomers usually have more competitive advantage, and the cluster effects are positive. (6) Although the surroundings are important to all the motels, but there are some different connotations, meanings, and expectations for different motels. (7) The quality of the cluster effect, can not only be evaluated from the perspective of cluster itself, but also be judged from the consideration of the motel itself in one cluster with relative strengths or weaknesses.

With globalization and knowledge economy, although distance between spaces and obstacles to social and economic activities are reduced, does variation of space not exist in regional space anymore? Has effect of regional space on economic development changed? Many economic activities, especially research and development, still rely on face-to-face communication, but geographical link is still beneficial to technology sharing and decrease in cost. It¡¦s observed that research and development that knowledge economy relies on still emphasizes geographical link, localization of learning networks, and face-to-face communication, so clustering of high-tech industry is still popular in the world. In order to solve the abovementioned questions, this research reviews and discusses the theory and research of clustering economy, and analyzes the relationship between clustering of high-tech industry and innovation on the basis of Taiwan¡¦s cities or counties with last twenty¡¦s survey of industrial, business, and service industries. This research discusses effect on clustering of technology industry and its innovative variants. In addition, it¡¦s hypothesized that clustering level of technology industry and innovation of industry are interfacing with each other, in other words, it¡¦s hypothesized that variants as Taiwan¡¦s technology industry and innovation are interfacing with each other instead of being independent. The relationship between clustering of Taiwan¡¦s technology industry and innovation is investigated by 2SLS. The result shows that clustering of technology industry and innovative production have positive correlation, that is to say, clustering of technology industry is beneficial, and it¡¦s also beneficial to innovation of industry, so clustering of industry speeds up. Results of this research show that technology industry on this island has notable MAR professional dynamic external economics, implying that the more professional clustered one region¡¦s technology industry is, the more beneficial to one region¡¦s professional growth of technology industry is. The more noticeable Porter regional competitive dynamic external economic effect on technology industry is, the more competitive a technology industry is, and the more prevalent one region¡¦s technology is. Technology industry has noticeable human resource dynamic external economics, showing that the better educational background of one region¡¦s population is, the more growth of one region¡¦s technology industry will be. Clustering industry of agglomeration economy is the primary reason of formation of cities or space centering of economic activities, and it motivates innovation of an industry and development of a city. This research suggests that government should take advantage of clustering knowledge capital of space to multiply effect of clustering and knowledge capital to do space management in terms of future urban space management.

Since 1990 Porter has advert the conception that cluster could improve the competitive strength of textile industry, it has arouse highly attention of academe, also a lot of developed countries took this appearance of assemblage policy as the development policy for their industries. The textile industry of Taiwan has been developed around 50 years ago, in nearly years, ascribe to the rise of cost, the value of export continually decrease and the increase of abroad competitors, the textile industry has been considered as a declined industry. However, according to the research it¡¦s still one of the most important industry which can create a lot of foreign exchange; on 2001 Council For Economic Planning And Development has planned to build a silk and filament district in Yunlin particular for the textile industry , for assemble the textile industry and push Taiwanese industries into the textile center of Asia-pacific. According to this research we would like to know how the cluster strategy could improve the development of textile industry in Taiwan. Mainly use Location Quotient analysis to know if the textile industry is the most important basal industry in this area, and with all the related documents we could realist the crux element of the development of cluster strategy, then we could have talk with related industries and companies, in this way we may have a complete view of the whole situation in this industry and the project of having this special area. The combination of above descriptions, we could understand this special area of the textile industry and the production environment, find out the lack part and create a millennium for the development of textile industry. The result of this research discovered that according to the analysis of this industry, the textile industry has highly central tendency and it is the main industry of this area; but according to the crux element of the development, it does not have strong enough connection between local companies and it does not have good enough interactive with schools in this area, it may cause the lack of talent people, knowledge and research. In the future, it is going to be a very important issue that we have to consider about, aggrandize the connection between the local companies and the interactive with schools.

Due to the transformation of worldwide economy focus to Asia, many multinational corp. put resources to the eastern market, which is blooming very fast especially in Mainland China. By considering the potential hudge market, plenty of labor supply, and the future investments from the strategic point of view, so, a lot of MNCs aggressively invest in Asia & China directly in order to find the better position. But it seems that Taiwan is out of this great mass fervor. This research is based on a case study by a special chemical company. It contains the discussion of current investment projects among Asia and the interviews with many top managers. This analysis is according to Porter¡¦s diamond model, the influence of industry cluster, the organization & control model of MNC between the parent company and the subsidiary and the industry analysis, to see whether there are influences for the future developments of subsidiary in TW. Based on the result of intetrviews and the cross check with the theories, here are some conclusions. 1.There are some influences for the project selection and development strategy for the subsidiary based on the adopted organization especially for the relationship between parent ompany and the subsidiary and the control model. The subsidiary needs to have the visible exposure in the organization. It¡¦s better to have some internal speakers for the subsidiary to do the internal public relationship. 2.The key factors for considering about the investment are depending on industries. In chemical industry, the most important criteria are the cost & the source of raw materials, the market place and the quality of human resource not the cost of human resource. 3.In future, the Taiwaness industries could not compete with the others by mass productions. They need to differentiate themselves or to upgrade the ndustry. The strategy of the subsidiary of MNC in TW is also need to be adopted. 4.The working people in MNC TW need to compete with the others. They need to have the basic capability of communication, profession and the second speciality. Teamwork spirit and the enjoying in the work are welcomed. 5.The government has the responsibility to build up the fair and competitive investment environment to attract the foreign investment to form the industry clustries, in order to keep the growth force of economy.

No description available.

Master of Regional and Community Planning / Department of Landscape Architecture/Regional and Community Planning / Katherine Nesse / The following report examines the craft beer industry as a major component of the beverage production cluster in Northern Colorado. By using the four locational determinants derived by Porter (1990) as a framework, this study evaluates the role of geography as a key component in an industry’s ability to foster a competitive advantage. Despite his focus on national competitiveness, Porter's diamond model has influenced strategic thinking on a regional scale (Stimson, Stough & Roberts, 2006). In turn, it can help us to understand the interactions that underlie localized cluster dynamics. The cluster conception in economic development literature assumes that each of Porter's components is equally spatially connected. Resources are focused towards building assets in a region defined by analyzing the cluster. However, factors of the craft beer industry in Northern Colorado did not completely adhere to the traditional parameters of regional cluster geography. Personal interviews with key actors involved in the craft beer industry, along with economic data revealed that local factors are not always the driving force behind the development of the craft beer industry. In addition, the data analysis indicates that determinants of cluster success may be significant at various geographic scales. Locational determinants may not operate within the same area as defined by cluster analysis. Thus, this report closes with a recommendation to consider the significance of proximity when looking to increase the competitiveness of a given industry cluster—for the relationship between locational determinants and geography varies between factors.