Ching-Yan Wu

Fast-Follower Industrial Dynamics: The Case of Taiwan's Emergent Solar Photovoltaic Industry

The world is on the cusp of major transformations of energy systems, with solar photovoltaic (PV) systems providing one of the most promising alternatives to fossil fuels. Amongst the countries moving to take advantage of the new production possibilities thus being opened up is Taiwan, employing in this new sector its characteristic strategies of fast followership that it has perfected in earlier industrial shifts involving semiconductors, ICT products and flat panel displays. This paper provides an interim assessment of Taiwans early entry strategies, involving a focus on mainstream crystalline silicon solar cells, as well as entry into emerging niche sectors such as thin-film second-generation cells and concentrated solar cells utilizing novel semiconductor materials. Taiwan firms’ fast-follower strategies are highlighted and assessed in light of the literature on industrial dynamics and catch-up processes generally. The paper makes a contribution to theory in building nine propositions regarding fast followership, based on prior industrial experiences and this latest episode in the solar PV industry. Taiwans strategies as a model for China are discussed, while the paper proposes Taiwan as an alternative to the “closed” and “open” models of photovoltaic diffusion identified for Japan and the USA.

Exploring technological innovation trajectories through latecomers: evidence from Taiwan's bicycle industry

By examining the technological innovation trajectories of Taiwans bicycle industry over the last 30 years, this paper identifies three specific periods that constitute industry cycles with peaks occurring in 1980, 1990 and 2002. In each period, innovation capabilities within the six bicycle subsystems shifted, accompanied by variations in the needs of international markets and in export performance. The empirical results demonstrate that innovation activity in the production of key components by technological latecomers increases only when that of the market leaders is in decline. It is also demonstrated that through incremental technological innovations, taking advantage of modularity and appropriate strategic organisational innovations, such latecomers can become and remain competitive in the international market. By providing an understanding of the sequences that make up modularised technological trajectories and of the cycles experienced by the global bicycle market, this study is able to elicit some practical insights into the policy and managerial implications for latecomers involved in technological innovation.

Concentrating solar power: a renewable energy frontier

Renewable energies are advancing across many fronts – and now a new front has opened up in the form of dispatchable concentrating solar power (CSP). It is in emerging markets such as China, India and countries in North Africa and the Middle East as well as South America and southern Africa that CSP power plants with 24/7 dispatchable power are starting to be viewed as a viable way forward. The emerging CSP industrial value chain in China, India, southern Africa and elsewhere is expected to exert its consequent dramatic impact on cost reductions, which will in turn drive the diffusion of CSP around the world as a key challenger and alternative to nuclear and fossil fuel power. In this paper, we review these developments and discuss the effects attributable to the emerging learning curve, combined with technology progress involving molten salt heat transfer and reductions in water requirements, as well as patenting trends in the global CSP industry.

The influence of the technological regime on the global light-emitting diode industry: lessons from innovative leaders and latecomers

The light-emitting diode (LED) sources have become the first efficiency recommendation and one of the top sustainability measures in building a sustainable economy and eco-friendly society. The emergence and rapid development of latecomers to low-carbon LED technology in Asia has shifted the oligopolistic structure that had been appropriated by the first-movers in the US, Europe and Japan. It is thus critical to understand the innovation trajectories and influential factors for reinforcing the development of the global LED industry. This study highlights the variations of technological regime in dominant firms, demonstrating that the eco-innovations in the global LED technological regime is built sequentially, by product innovation of international leaders through technological appropriation (i.e. intellectual property rights), process innovation of Korean and Taiwanese latecomers through production capability, followed by various diffusion modes integrating with Chinese and other latecomers through market and production competition in the global LED industry. Three policy imperatives are then elaborated.

The development trajectory and technological innovation capabilities in the global renewable energy industry

This study investigates the developmental trajectories of seven renewable energy technologies, namely geothermal, ocean, hydro, solar thermal, photovoltaic, thermal-PV hybrids, and wind energies, as well as the technological innovation capabilities of the global major players and countries. By using a set of patent classifications dedicated for renewable energies, this study identifies and analyses a total number of 127,705 renewable energy patent grants between 1970 and 2013. The results show that the technological development of renewables evolved as a consequence of, and focused on, solar thermal in the 1980s but it has extended to photovoltaic in the 2000s. Using the Relative Growth Rate indicator, our results reveal the developmental trends of future renewable energies in relation to R&D concentration in major countries. This study also demonstrates the various technological innovation capabilities of major countries, such as the US, Japan, Germany, China, and Korea in developing the seven above-mentioned renewable energy industries, by means of Relative Patent Position and Revealed Patent Advantage. One of our striking findings is Chinas astonishing accomplishments in patenting activities in relation to renewable energies, which have surpassed those of Western technologically advanced countries since the year 2000. China is now ranked first in terms of renewable patenting activities, demonstrating Chinas ambition in leading not only the production power house of the world but also that it is a pioneer in global renewable energy technologies.

The influence of knowledge source and ambidexterity in the thin film transistor and liquid crystal display industry: evidence from Japan, Korea, and Taiwan

Based on country-level comparisons, this study applies geographic (internal vs. external) and knowledge (exploitation vs. exploration) boundaries to explore the influence of knowledge sources and ambidexterity on production and innovation performance in the thin film transistor-liquid crystal display (TFT-LCD) industries of the three major players, Japan, Korea, and Taiwan, from 1995 to 2009. Our findings suggest that different resource-based industrial development strategies are associated with the specific knowledge acquisition strategies in the technology leader, Japan and its followers, Korea and Taiwan. The contribution of this study is empirical verification of the influence of knowledge sources and ambidextrous capabilities on production and innovation activities in the TFT-LCD industries of these countries. Since each country is endowed with different resources, this study aims to reveal the strong implications of this for the design of an industrial strategy that has to acquire both known and new knowledge through internal and external sources simultaneously, while carefully integrating them and exploiting their interactions.

Why is Growth More Difficult to Achieve for Biopharmaceutical Latecomer Firms? Evidence from Taiwan

This study examines why the growth of biopharmaceutical firms in latecomer countries such as Taiwan has been slower than that of information and communication technology (ICT) firms. Unlike prior studies which have focused on the industry-level driving forces, this study offers a firm-level perspective to examine factors driving industry growth. By utilising the DEcision-MAking Trial and Evaluation Laboratory (DEMATEL) method, we analyse data collected in questionnaires with the top managers of biopharmaceutical and ICT firms in Taiwan, both public and non-public. We then compared and contrasted our empirical findings to capture theoretical and practical insights. Our empirical results demonstrate that the entrepreneurial activities of Taiwan’s biopharmaceutical firms are weak in terms of adaptation to external institutions and the utilisation of resources while the primary drivers of growth in Taiwan’s biopharmaceutical firms are rather (internal) institutional factors than resource-based factors, especially in the emerging and early growth stages. We conclude that the challenge for the latecomers lies on the institutional entrepreneurship to enable and affect the circulation of strategic resources so as to bring the firms onto the growth and mature stages.