處於競爭激烈、產品生命週期短暫和快速變動的時代裡，製程創新活動成為廠商競爭優勢的關鍵因素之一。Pisano（1995）研究指出廠商藉由製程創新活動來強化競爭優勢，包括：加速產品上市時間、加快爬坡速度、提高使用者接受性、強化專利產品地位等，其他學者也認為廠商應該重視製程創新活動，以因應未來的環境趨勢。國內製造業向來以製造能力見長於國際舞台，近年來半導體產業和資訊電子產業的表現更顯示廠商優異的製造實力。儘管如此，有關這方面的研究仍然非常少，因此本研究的目的是探討我國廠商製程創新活動之重要關鍵因素，期望能對這方面進行較為整體性的分析。
根據技術創新相關理論，本研究以技術網路、人員、組織和制度四構面探討半導體產業和主機板產業製程創新活動之重要因素和差異性，所得到的研究發現如下：
1. 製程創新活動可區分為四類型：獨立型、依賴型、主導型和協調型。獨立型廠商傾向於獨自開發新製程技術，依賴型廠商則傾向於透過技術網路提升製程技術水準；在對內和對外的製程創新活動上主導型廠商的整合能力較強，協調型廠商則較弱。
2. 不同製程創新類型有不同的製程知識來源。在來源方面，半導體產業（流程產業）顯示出較集中的現象，主機板產業（非流程產業）則顯得較分散。
3. 與設備供應商的互動關係為製程創新活動之重要影響因素，不同類型的廠商與設備供應商的互動關係不同。
4. 主機板廠商（非流程產業）藉由製程知識輸出來提高外包廠商的製程品質，製程創新程度越高的廠商與外包廠商的關係越密切。
5. 人員的技術和經驗為製程創新活動中重要的因素之一，半導體廠商（流程產業）特別強調研發人員的量產經驗。
6. 製程創新程度越高，廠商的製程技術單位之主導權越大。
7. 製程創新程度越高，廠商越傾向於設立製程技術協調單位。
目錄 / Abstract
In highly competitive, short product life cycle and quickly changing environment, process innovation is one of a firm’s key competitive advantages. Pisano & Wheelwright (1995) consider that firms which do their best in process innovation can enhance their competitive advantages, including shortening time to market, increasing ramp-up speed, enhancing users’ acceptance, increasing product’s patent status and so on. Hayes & Wheelwright (1984) point out the concept of manufacturing strategy, consider that firms should escalate the role of the manufacturing division to decision-making on top management level, and claim that competitive advantages which are based on manufacturing capabilities will direct the decision-making process of marketing and engineering in future. To catch up adaptability for the trend of the future environment, other scholars also suggest that firms should actively make efforts to execute process innovation activities.
Manufacturing firms in Taiwan display their manufacturing competence on international status, especially in IC industry and in information technology industry. Therefore, Taiwan is always named as “manufacture kingdom”. In the past, industrial firms’ process innovation is mainly thinking about employing cheaper labors and buying newer equipment. However, now they pay more attention to research and develop process technology, to enhance production process integration capabilities, to increase production flexibility and so on. For example, TSMC and UMC in Taiwan have more advanced process technology, which is about at the same technological level as IC industrial leading firms oversea. Their advanced process technology not only creates many benefits but also drives the development of other related industries. Their success shows us that process innovation will bring firms continuously high growing rate and take long-run competitive advantages.
By forgoing observation, this paper wishes to discover what makes Taiwan the manufacturing kingdom and how do firms increase process advantages and execute process innovation activities. So the purpose of this paper is to find out what influences a firm’s performance of process innovation and how foregoing factors affect new process innovation and existing process innovation. Utterback (1994) finds assembled product and non-assembled product have different characteristics in innovation activities. Skinner (1992) explores how stakeholders are within their cognizance about a firm’s process innovation, and finds that there are different focuses between process industry and non-process industry. Therefore, this paper will go further to study how foregoing factors influence process performance in process industry and in non-process industry.
According to some related technology innovation theories and innovation theories, this paper is conducted based on four key dimensions: technology network, people, structure and management. Then, this paper infers some important items of forgoing dimensions from past studies to build the research framework of the paper. These items in technology network dimension are equipment suppliers, material and component suppliers, satellite factories, group/strategic leaguer/consumer and research institutions. In people dimension, this paper mainly wants to explore how personnel’s skills and experience influence process performance. Structure dimension contains three items, which are organizational structure, task allocation and strategy. This paper lists important items in management dimension, including rewarding system, training & education, information system and coordination mechanism.
Because related studies in the past explore only a part of process innovation, this paper employs case study to examine process innovation more systematically and completely. To explore a firm’s process innovation of high-tech industry in Taiwan, this paper chooses four IC manufacturing firms (process industry) and four motherboard firms (non- process industry) as research samples, which have better performance than others in their industry. Moreover, this paper classifies these samples into four groups according to the industrial characteristics and the process innovation level. In the field of IC industry (process industry), Fab-T and Fab-U are famous for advanced process technology and continuous research on advanced process technology. So this paper explores the development of the new process technology in Fab-T and Fab-U, and the improvement of existing process technology in Fab-M and Fab-K. In the field of motherboard industry, MB-A is the only motherboard firm in Taiwan, which has process patents in Taiwan now. And MB-G actively executes process innovation recently, including package and product vibrating tests. So this paper properly classifies MB-A and MB-G as a group with higher process innovation level, and explores their advanced process innovation activities. Then MB-T and MB-E are classified as lower process innovation on lower level group, and this paper explores how they improve existing process innovation.
By a series of analysis about primary and secondary data of eight firms, the conclusions of this paper are:
1. There are four types in process innovation: Independent Firms, Dependent Firms, Directing Firms and Coordinating Firms. In IC industry, the Independent Firms almost develops new process innovation alone; the Dependent Firms tend to properly aided by members of technology network to enhance process innovation level. In motherboard industry, the Directing Firms have stronger relationship with menders of process innovation activities, which actively respond to the process technology unit, the Coordinating Firms have weaker relationship.
2. Different types in process innovation have different sources of process-related knowledge. The sources of IC Firms are more convergent, however the sources of motherboard firms are more divergent.
3. One of the key factors in process innovation is equipment suppliers, with which different types have different interaction.
4. Motherboard firms actively enhance the production quality of satellite factories through process knowledge output. Motherboard firms with higher process innovative level have more closely cooperating relation with their satellite factories.
5. The people is one of the key factors in process innovation. IC firms put more emphasis on the mass-production experience of engineers.
6. Whether it is in IC industry (process industry) or in motherboard industry (non-process industry), firms with higher process innovation level tend to give the process technology unit more power to integrate activities among different departments.
7. Whether it is in IC industry (process industry) or in motherboard industry (non-process industry), firms with higher process innovation level tend to set up the technology coordination unit.
Finally, this paper has some advises from forgoing conclusions, and wishes to efficiently enhance a firm’s performance and production yields. These advises are:
1. The Depending Firms should do their best to improve relations with members of technology network.
2. To efficiently use resources and to increase performance in short terms, the first thing of the Coordinating Firms should do is to enhance process capabilities, instead of building good cooperative relation with members of technologic network.
3. Firms should set up a special technology-coordinating unit, which can efficiently increase interaction among different departments.
4. Firms should give more power to the process technology unit, so that it can cooperate with other departments more efficiently.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:CHENGCHI/B2002001458 |
| Creators | 黃怡芳, Yi-Fang Huang |
| Publisher | 國立政治大學 |
| Source Sets | National Chengchi University Libraries |
| Language | 中文 |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Rights | Copyright © nccu library on behalf of the copyright holders |
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