A Performance Evaluation of Introducing Balanced Scorecard to High-tech Related Industries in Taiwan

Balanced Scorecard (BSC) has become the most desirable performance evaluation tool for industries in Taiwan; however, difficulty or bad performance of system introduction has occurred due to an incomplete understanding of the implementation approaches and correct objectives of the BSC system, causing the risk of cost loss. Two domestic high-tech companies in the high-tech related industry were served as the object of study in this research. The contents of four perspectives of the BSC were converted to twenty key performance evaluation indicators in terms of modern business administration as the variables in the research. Based on the DMAIC model, the importance and satisfaction of BSC implementation factors in high-tech related industry are defined first. The performance indices of satisfaction and importance of implementing BSC are standardized by fuzzy methods for evaluation and a performance matrix with the target line and upper and lower performance control lines are established. Management can analyze the performance level and compare the performance indices and matrixes of two companies after introducing BSC according to the coordinates of satisfaction and importance of implementation factors in the matrixes. These two-dimension matrices will then be converted to one-dimension coordinates for cross performance matrices of four quadrants. Next, performance improvement strategies will be devised in accordance with the aspects of the theory of constraints. After carrying out improvement strategies, the cross performance matrix will be constructed to verify the effect and ascertain the factors of bad performance. In this way, improvement strategies can be re-devised and the most appropriate distribution of resources will be made to sustain the optimum state of ability and cost during the process of introducing the BSC system. Requirements for a short period of time and low cost to evaluate the performance of BSC introduction can be met via this simple and convenient evaluation model presented in this research. Resources will be invested to enhance satisfaction for the implementation factors of high importance and low satisfaction. Likewise, resources will be adjusted to reduce the cost of system introduction for the implementation factors of low importance and high satisfaction. As a result, the time efficiency of introducing the BSC system will be promoted effectively

Globalization and Downtown Development Hsinyi-Planning District in the Image of "Manhattan of Taipei"

本文的目的在檢視臺北市信義計畫區在全球化趨勢下的發展特性，這個副都心其實在1970年代即已開始規劃，1980年代完成都市計畫的擬定作業，不過卻到1990年代下半期才快速發展成為新都市中心。文章的第一及第二部分首先探討當今全球化與全球城市的主要論述與相關研究，進而連結至全球化與都心發展的研究文獻，目的在凸顯探討信義計畫區的發展，不應侷限在都市計畫的發展脈絡，而應該放在全球城市的發展脈絡下來思考，也應進而以全球城市的市中心之發展與再發展做為參考架構來討論。第三部份簡單介紹信義計畫的始末及信義計畫區發展的近期政策脈絡，第四部分從信義計畫區的全球城市機能及其中心性的具體形塑，來討論臺北城這個最具全球城市表徵的都市中心之塑造與開發過程，以說明臺北城在回應全球化過程中，資本與國家對都心空間具體的打造經驗。During the 1990s a new downtown emerged in the eastern part of Taipei City. Known as the Hsinyi-Planning District, it has been dubbed “Taipei’s Manhattan” and promoted as the most prestigious and internationally oriented area in Taipei. The purpose of this paper is to examine the features and developmental processes of this new downtown with reference to literatures of globalization. Global cities and downtown (re)development. This paper begins with a review of the literatures on globalization and world city development and places Taipei in these two analytical contexts. It follows by briefly introducing the planning history of the Hsinyi-Planning District and its Policy context. The final part focuses on how the centrality of this new downtown has been constructed in the past decade and how an internationally oriented downtown for a third-tier global city has been built and developed in response to globalization and local political economy. The main argument of this paper is that, as part of a broader strategy of developing Taipei into a global city. The visions of planning and developing Taipei’s new downtown should go beyond local city perspectives, with a view of making it a new urban center with global downtown characteristics

Gender, Migration and Slum Lifeworld--Female Migrants in Nan Chi Chang Community of Taipei

隨著都市更新與都市再發展的啟動，弱勢社區與弱勢住民原是其中不可忽視的議題，然其在近一、二十年的都市研究竟成為相當被忽視的研究課題。在臺灣，更因解決都市貧民窟與違建區的問題，已經不再具有都市發展上的急迫性，因此，都市貧民窟、違建區、或其他類型的弱勢社區之問題，極容易受到學術研究與公共政策的忽視，都市貧民窟做為都市弱勢住民吸納地的功能，在都市政策中往往不會受到正面評價，主流的政策論述多是從更新(通常是剷除)與改造的角度視之，更有甚者，將之視為(都市中的)化外邊(緣)地，排除在主流社會的運作之外。本研究即欲摒除此視域，從貧民窟研究的文獻回顧與貧民窟的經驗研究，重新審視弱勢住民的遷徙與生活經驗如何仰賴貧民窟社區。在貧民窟研究文獻上，本文分別討論貧民窟在吸納移民與都市貧民上的功能，貧民窟在都市更新與再發展上的意義，由貧民窟議題所彰顯的邊緣性與社會不公義，以及近期在貧民窟與少數族裔社區研究上的論述焦點。在經驗研究的部分，本研究以臺北市忠勤社區(南機場社區)為例，採質化研究法探討圈陷於貧民窟中的女性居民，其城鄉遷移經驗、都市居所的變遷與生活世界和貧民窟社區的關連性，亦即從移民與弱勢的視角呈現弱勢婦女與貧民窟在父權社會與都市變遷中的圖像。Policies and issues related to urban renewal and redevelopment have been well recognized since the mid-1990s in Taiwan. However, the fates of vulnerable communities and their residents are relatively neglected by the policy-makers and are seldom studied by scholars. Empirical research on urban slum and low-income communities relevant for the decision-makers on urban renewal or urban redevelopment are quite rare. Where such studies do exist, they are invariably limited to serving the administrative purposes of physical planning or social welfare. The conventional viewpoint is that urban slums or/and squatters are places that hinder urban development. Policies are typically focused on solving the problems that impede the clearance and the urban renewal of the slum areas. This paper provides an alternative standpoint by conclusively reviewing the slum studies from several related academic fields as well as by an empirical study on a policy-targeted slum in Taipei. Topics of gender, migration and slum lifeworld are brought together to show how vulnerable female migrants are trapped in urban slums. The purpose is to demonstrate how vulnerable citizens rely on urban slums for living their lives under periods of urban change

A new tumor suppressor DnaJ-Iike heat shock protein, HLJ1, and survival of patients with non-small-cell lung carcinoma

Background. We previously identified DnaJ-Iike heat shock protein (HLJ1) as a gene associated with tumor invasion. Here, we investigated the clinical significance of HLJ1 expression in non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients and its role in cancer progression. Methods: We induced HLJ1 overexpression or knockdown in human lung adenocarcinoma CL1-5 cells and analyzed cell proliferation, anchorage-independent growth, in vivo tumorigenesis, cell motility, invasion, and cell cycle progression. Expression of genes that act downstream of HLJ1 was examined by DNA microarray analysis, pathway analysis, and western blotting. We measured HLJ1 expression in tumors and adjacent normal tissues of 71 NSCLC patients by quantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction. Associations between HLJ1 expression and disease-free and overall survival were determined using the log-rank test and multivariable Cox proportional hazards regression analysis. Validation was performed in an independent cohort of 56 NSCLC patients. Loss of heterozygosity (LOH) mapping of the HLJ1 locus was analyzed in 48 paired microdissected NSCLC tumors. All statistical tests were two-sided. Results: HLJ1 expression inhibited lung cancer cell proliferation, anchorage-independent growth, tumorigenesis, cell motility, and invasion, and slowed cell cycle progression through a novel STAT1/ P21(WAF1) pathway that is independent of P53 and interferon. HLJ1 expression was lower in tumors than in adjacent normal tissue in 55 of 71 patients studied. NSCLC patients with high HLJ1 expressing tumors had reduced cancer recurrence (hazard ratio [HR] = 0.47; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.23 to 0.93; P =.03) and longer overall survival (FIR = 0.38; 95% C1 = 0.16 to 0.89; P =.03) than those with low-expressing tumors. Validation in the independent patient cohort confirmed the association between HLJ1 expression and patient outcome. LOH mapping revealed high frequencies (66.7% and 70.8%) of allelic loss and microsatellite instability (87.5% and 95.2%) of the HLJ1 locus at chromosome 1p31.1. Conclusions: HLJ1 is a novel tumor suppressor in NSCLC, and high HLJ1 expression is associated with reduced cancer recurrence and prolonged survival of NSCLC patients