Management of National Technology Programs in a Newly Industrializing Country Taiwan: Jong-Tsong Chiang, March 1990 (Classic Reprint) - Softcover

Alfred P. Sloan

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1332268870 ISBN 13: 9781332268870

Publisher: Forgotten Books, 2018

Synopsis

Excerpt from Management of National Technology Programs in a Newly Industrializing Country Taiwan: Jong-Tsong Chiang, March 1990

As a result, the study of Taiwan's national technology programs from a managerial point of view has to be rather self-dependent.

In this research, three sources of information are heavily relied upon. The first is a large scale empirical study mainly done by the author under the auspices of the Industrial Technology Research Institute (itri, Taiwan's largest industrial r&d complex) in 1979 and 1980 about industrial r&d and technology transfer. This study includes 14 in-depth case studies and quite detailed questionnaire survey (with overall respondent rate to 73 university engineering departments, 49 engineering and technical consulting organizations, 12 industrial associations, 131 industrial product importers, 170 companies with foreign investment, 180 companies with foreign technical cooperation, and 689 manufacturers covering 19 sub-industries in chemical, mechanical engineering and electronic industries. The main findings of this study were crystalized into a report titled Industrial Technology Developmentand Transfer in Taiwan (in Chinese) published by itri at the end of 1980. This study is unique in Taiwan in that it investigated concrete industrial technological issues without much abstraction. It also represents a historical record until the new era beginning around 1980 when the national technology programs and the first grand national s&t plan, the two unprecedented national thrusts, were initiated.

The second major source of information is the results of a seminar series the Formation of Big Science and Technology Programs designed and organized by the author and formally sponsored by the Science and Technology Advisory Group for Premier (stag, the actual initiation center of Taiwan's national programs) during March through June in 1985, about 5 years after the launching of first 4 national programs and 3 years after the other 4 programs.2 The task force for this seminar series was made up of about ten groups of experts invited from a variety of institutes. They all had strong technical background (many with doctoral degrees) and at least some managerial experience department or project leaders), but did not have personal stake in the programs they studied. They reviewed the formation and management of Taiwan's large scale programs and presented the results in the conference room of stag with participation of stag core staff and a limited number of concerned people from relevant organizations.3 The whole series consisted of 31 presentations, of which about half were given by program or department leaders up to deputy minister level about their own experience and viewpoints.4 Although many findings and judgments were disputable given the complexity of the programs and the rough research methods then, this series provided the first systematic information about the management of large scale programs, which could support further analysis from a cross technology perspective.

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Excerpt from Management of National Technology Programs in a Newly Industrializing Country Taiwan: Jong-Tsong Chiang, March 1990 As a technological follower country, Taiwan until the mid-1970s was characterized by a "supply-side" policy, loose connection between R&D community and industry, and low Rd expenditure in absolute terms and as a percentage of GNP. The "American challenge" which suggested "big is beautiful" also in the R&D investment in the 1950s and 1960s meant little to Taiwan because Taiwan was then "too underdeveloped to be challenged" and its indigenous R&D capability was too weak to launch any projects of considerable size, let alone "big science" or "big technology." However, the recent "Japanese challenge" manifested a way to catch up with western forerunners through national innovation system well illustrated by its VLSI national program in the late 1970 s.This new "model" triggered an aspiration in Taiwan, and national technology programs aiming at industrial competitiveness became a government new strategy around 1980 to restructure science and technology development systems and to guide large R&D investment. In fact, this strategy reoriented Taiwan's policy from the "supply-side" rationale to a "whole innovation process" approach emphasizing the "demand side" perspective. Taiwan's experience suggests the following lessons, most of which may be of timely relevance to other developing or newly industrializing countries. 1. A "national champion" who could acquire huge resources and integrate all essential functions is of pivotal importance in this endeavor. 2. An institutional adjustment to facilitate nationwide coordination and an overall development framework to upgrade infrastructure and general capabilities are indispensable for this "structural transition." 3. Organizing foreign prominent advisors at the national level to help important decision making is very desirable because there was relatively little domestic experience in managing large

Edition details

• Publisher: Forgotten Books
• Publication date: 2018
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1332268870
• ISBN 13: 9781332268870
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 58