Innovating global value chains : creation of the netbook market by Taiwanese firms

This paper explores the process of creation of the netbook market by Taiwanese firms as an example of a disruptive innovation by latecomer firms. As an analytical framework, I employ the global value chain perspective to capture the dynamics of vertical inter-firm relationships that drive some firms in the chain to change the status quo of the industry. I then divide the process of the emergence of the netbook market into three consecutive stages, i.e. (1) the launch of the first-generation netbook by a Taiwanese firm named ASUSTeK, (2) the response of the two powerful platform leaders of the industry, Intel and Microsoft Intel, to ASUSTeK’s innovation, and (3) the market entry by another powerful Taiwanese firm, Acer, and explain how Taiwanese firms broke the Intel-centric market and tapped into the market-creating innovation opportunities that had been suppressed by the two powerful platform leaders. I also show that the creation of the netbook industry was an evolutionary process in which a series of responses by different industry players led to changes in the status quo of the industry.Taiwan, Information services industry, Computer, Industrial technology, Marketing, Market share, Industrial management, Disruptive innovation, Latecomer firms, Global value chains, The PC industry

A Distributive Comparison of Enterprise Size in Korea and Taiwan

Research to date on the economic development of the Republic of Korea and Taiwan has frequently contrasted the two economies by depicting the former as centered on large-scale enterprises and the latter on small and medium-size enterprises (SMEs). The purpose of this study is to see if the appropriateness of this perception will also be verified by the statistical data. In Section I the authors utilized census data on the Korean and Taiwanese manufacturing sectors to compare the distribution pattern of the sizes of enterprises in the two economies. However, on examining the available data for making this comparison, the authors discovered that for Korea the statistics provided are those at the level of the establishment (a physical unit engaging in industrial activities such as a factory, workshop, office, or mine) while the statistics for Taiwan are those at the enterprise level. Mindful of this difference, the authors looked at the portion of the economy accounted for by large-scale establishments in Korea that employed 500 workers or more and by enterprises in Taiwan employing the same number of workers, and they discovered that the portion that these large-scale businesses account for, especially in the area of output, has steadily declined since the 1980s. When comparing the share of total production that these large-scale establishments/enterprises account for in the two economies, the authors concluded that those in Korea accounted for a larger share of that economy's production than did their counterparts in Taiwan. The authors then compared the portion of the economy accounted for by establishments in Korea and enterprises in Taiwan that employed less than ten workers, and they found that the portion of the two economies that these very small-scale production units accounted for has also been on the decline. Section II compares the portions of the two economies accounted for by large business groups. After comparing the percentage of GDP accounted for by the total sales of these business groups, the authors found that large business groups in Korea have played a far more important role in Korean economy than has been the case for such groups in Taiwan. This difference in the importance of such business groups in the two economies has also played an significant part in fostering the perceived dichotomy of large-scale enterprises playing the important role in Korea versus SMEs being the important players in Taiwan. Section III compares the percentage of total exports accounted for by SMEs, and shows that SMEs in Taiwan account for a larger share of exports than do their counterparts in Korea. This section also shows that in Taiwan the share of export sales for SMEs has consistently exceeded that for non-SMEs, while in Korea the relationship between enterprise size and the rate of export sales has been directly proportional. This difference in the size of the major export players is another factor fostering the perception of the Korean economy being centered on big business while Taiwan's is on SMEs. Although there were difficulties and limitations when comparing the data of the two economies, the statistical comparison undertaken in this study shows that in general big business has played the major role in the development of the Korean economy while in Taiwan's economic development this role has been played by SMEs. Thus the statistical data also verifies the perceived dichotomy of these two economies.Small and medium-scale enterprises, Large-scale enterprises, Economic development, South Korea, Taiwan

Neural basis of speech-gesture mismatch detection in schizophrenia spectrum disorders

Background: Patients suffering from schizophrenia spectrum disorders experience the grave effects of their illness on various facets of their daily lives. Previous investigations have shown that schizophrenia spectrum disorder patients have deficits in the perception and recognition of speech accompanied by gestures. In particular, they struggle to differentiate between related and unrelated speech-gesture combinations. Also, patients have considerable difficulties in understanding and processing abstract semantic information. A key region in the integration of speech and gesture is the inferior frontal gyrus embedded in a frontotemporal network, however, it is unclear which neural mechanisms contribute to defective mismatch and abstractness perception during the mismatch detection task. Objective: This study aimed to investigate the neural underpinnings of impaired speech-gesture mismatch detection and abstract semantic processing in schizophrenia spectrum disorder patients and to identify relevant dysfunctional brain areas. Methods: A novel mismatch-detection fMRI paradigm was implemented manipulating speech-gesture abstractness (abstract/concrete) and relatedness (related/unrelated). During fMRI data acquisition, 42 patients (schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder or other non-organic psychotic disorder [ICD-10: F20, F25, F28; DSM-IV: 295.X]) and 36 healthy controls were presented with short video clips of an actor reciting abstract or concrete sentences accompanied by either a semantically related or unrelated gesture. Participants indicated via button press whether they perceived each gesture as matching the speech content or not. We compared task performances across groups and semantic context (abstract/concrete) using the detection rate from Signal Detection Theory by repeated-measures ANOVA. For the functional MRI data, an event-related design was chosen to measure the hemodynamic responses to each presented video. The data were loaded into a flexible-factorial analysis in a 2 x 2 x 2 design (group x abstractness x relatedness). Between-group conjunctions and group differences were respectively calculated for the contrasts unrelated ] related and abstract ] concrete in whole-brain analyses. Results: Speech-gesture mismatch detection performance was significantly impaired in patients compared to controls, irrespective of abstractness. fMRI data analysis revealed that patients exhibited reduced engagement of the right supplementary motor area and bilateral anterior cingulate cortices for unrelated ] related stimuli. A rostral part of the supplementary motor area was equally activated in both groups. In contrast, we found frontotemporal hyperactivation in patients for the same contrast. Furthermore, patients showed lower activation in bilateral frontal areas including the inferior frontal gyrus for all abstract ] concrete speech-gesture pairs. The temporal lobe, however, was engaged in both groups equally for this contrast. Discussion: In this study, we found evidence for impaired gesture-speech relatedness judgment in schizophrenia spectrum disorders. This was accompanied by dysfunctions of the supplementary motor area and the anterior cingulate cortices, possibly reflecting reduced facilitation of comprehension and defective error processing for unrelated speech-gesture combinations. The frontotemporal hyperactivation may represent an increased processing effort to compensate for the dysfunction. In addition, our data confirmed the conjecture of an inferior frontal gyrus dysfunction contributing to impaired processing of abstract semantic stimuli. Partially intact processing was discovered in a rostral part of the supplementary motor area for mismatches, and in the temporal lobes for abstract stimuli. These findings suggest that semantic processing in schizophrenia spectrum disorders is not completely dysfunctional, but that there is a functioning basis on which therapeutic measures can build on. Conclusion: We provide first evidence that impaired speech-gesture mismatch detection in schizophrenia spectrum disorders could be the result of dysfunctional activation of the supplementary motor area and anterior cingulate cortex. Failure to activate the left inferior frontal gyrus disrupts the integration of abstract speech-gesture combinations in particular. Future investigations should focus on brain-stimulation of these regions to improve communication and social functioning in schizophrenia spectrum disorders