PCB産業早已是知識型產業,隨著專業分工的越精細、產品生命週期的短縮,利潤主要來自於「管理財」,除了價格以外,速度與彈性也是關鍵競爭要素。產業競爭主要取決於價值鏈活動的「生產力」,而「生產力」建立在公司的競爭方式而非單純的企業規模或所處的競爭領域。公司要發揮競爭力,除了內部的核心技術與管理能力外,外在的環境對整體價值鏈活動的支援亦十分重要。 大陸華東和華南地區以計畫經濟與民間自然力量整合的方式,把握了全球業者生產基地外移蔚爲風潮的良好機會,吸引了許多業者前往投資設廠。科技演進更讓業者能夠更有效地複製母國優勢,在短短十年左右的時間內發展出完整的 PCB產業聚落,成為全球 PCB主要的生產基地。群聚環境使公司之間可以因地利之便,彼此密切交流,從而建立更好的默契與信賴關係,降低交易成本與投資風險。對提供服務的外包廠商來說,有助於發展出單一製程或價值鏈活動的「專業化」與「規模經濟效益」;對需要委外加工的PCB廠來說,則是提供了外包選擇的多樣性(Variety ),並同時可降低交易成本,創造一個雙贏的合作誘因。 本研究從全球競爭的角度出發,分析PCB產業結構特性,以及群聚環境下的價值鏈分工與競爭優勢來源,旨在探討亞洲新興市場中PCB產業的可行合作模式,以及如何善用群聚改變競爭關係,建立互惠的合作機制。
The printed circuit board (PCB) industry has long been a knowledge-oriented industry. Profitability is mainly dependent on management skills. In addition to price, time and flexibility are crucial competitive elements. Competitiveness within the industry is mainly determined by the ‘productivity’ of a player’s value chain activities. Moreover, ‘productivity’ is established not simply on the basis of an enterprise’s scale, or the competitive sphere in which it finds itself, but also on its mode of competition. If a company wants to bring its competitive force into play, in addition to its internal core competence in management ability, the degree to which the external environment supports its total value chain activities is also of great importance. The economic mode practiced in the Southern and Eastern parts of Mainland China, of integrating a planned economy with the natural drive of the non-government sector, has taken full advantage of the great opportunity presented by the current trend of entrepreneurs to move their production bases overseas, and has attracted numerous entrepreneurs to invest and open factories. Scientific and technical evolution has enabled entrepreneurs to even more effectively reproduce the advantages enjoyed in their home countries, and over ten short years, a complete PCB industry and cluster has developed and conglomerated in this region, which has also become the main global production base for PCB. This cluster environment, because of the geographic convenience, enables close mutual interchange. This has led players within the industry to establish mutual understandings and trustful relationships, reducing transaction costs and investment risk. For sub-contracting factories, this ‘cluster effect’ assists them in developing one sole production process, or to specialize and achieve economies of scale within value chain activities. For those PCB producers who need to contract out some processing, the cluster effect provides a variety of sub-contractors to choose from. At the same time, transaction costs may be reduced, which creates a win-win situation providing an incentive for co-operation. The present research, starts by analyzing the structural characteristics of the PCB industry from the angle of global competition, including analyzing the origins of value activities outsourcing and competitive advantages, under this ‘cluster effect’. The research aims to probe into feasible cooperative modes for the PCB industry within the emerging Asian market, as well as into how to make a good use of the cluster effect to change competitive relationships and to establish mutually beneficial cooperative mechanisms.