The dynamics of leading-edge industries are of primary importance in understanding national trajectories of industrialisation and corresponding spatial development. With reference to the state's role and the increasing importance of transnational flows, the paper analyses the emergence of Taiwan's electronics sector in the context of technical and organisational issues. It also traces the impacts on location and space. The paper demonstrates the implications for Taiwan's electronics sector of recurrent restructuring of the industry globally. The indispensable role of the state is examined, as an agent of both industrial restructuring and of production location. The paper shows that the trajectory of development of electronics in postwar Taiwan is a function of global forces as refracted through the prism of a strategic state.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
AmsdenA.H. (1979) Taiwan's Economic History: A Case of Etatisme and a Challenge to Dependency Theory. Modern China5(3), 341–79.
2.
AmsdenA.H. (1991) Big Business and Urban Congestion in Taiwan: The Origins of Small Enterprise and Regionally Decentralised Industry. World Development19(9), 1121–35.
3.
CastellsM.HallP. (1994) Technopoles of the World. London: Routledge.
4.
ChangL.S. (1985) Regional Disparity and Regional Development Policies in Taiwan. In YuT.S.LiuP.K.C. (eds), Urban Growth and Economic Development in the Pacific Region. Taipei: Academica Sinica.
5.
ChenC.F.SewellG. (1996) Strategies for Technological Development in South Korea and Taiwan: The Case of Semiconductors. Research Policy25, 759–783.
6.
ChengC.Y. (1986) United States-Taiwan Economic Relations: Trade and Investment. Columbia Journal of World Business, (Spring), 87–96.
7.
ChouT.L. (1993) Reformation of the State on Taiwan. Paper presented to the Pacific Rim Research Group Seminar, John Moores University, Liverpool, 22–24 September.
8.
CliffordM. (1992) A New frontier: US Electronics Firm Expands in Asia. Far Eastern Economic Review17 (September), 62–3.
9.
CookeP.MoulaertF.SwyngedouwE.WeinsteinO.WellsP. (1992) Towards Global Localisation: The Computing and Telecommunications Industries in Britain and France. London: UCL Press.
10.
CookeP. (1992) Global Localisation in Computing and Communications. In CookeP. (eds), Towards Global Localisation: The Computing and Telecommunications Industries in Britain and France. London: UCL Press.
11.
DavisW.E.HatanoD.G. (1985) The American Semiconductor Industry and the Ascendancy of East Asia. California Management Review37(4), 128–43.
12.
DeyoF.C. (1989) Labour and Development in East Asia. Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science505, 152–61.
13.
DickenP.ThriftN. (1992) The Organisation of Production and the Production of Organisation: Why Business and Enterprises Matter in the Study of Geographical Industrialisation. Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers17, 279–91.
14.
ErnstD. (1983) The Global Race in Microelectronics. Frankfurt: Campus Verlag.
15.
ErnstD. (1985) Automation and the Worldwide Restructuring of the Electronics Industry: Strategic Implications for Developing Countries. World Development13(3), 333–52.
16.
ErnstD. (1987) US-Japan Competition and the Worldwide Restructuring of the Electronics Industry: An European view. In HendersonJ.CastellsM. (eds), Global Restructuring and Territorial Development. London: Sage.
17.
FongP.E.LimL.Y.C. (1989) High Tech and Labour in the Asian NICs. Labour and Society14, 43–57.
18.
GoldT.B. (1986) State and Society in the Taiwan Miracle. London: M.E. Sharpe.
19.
GoldT.B. (1988) Entrepreneurs, Multinationals, and the State. In WinklerE.A.GreenhalghS. (eds), Contending Approaches to the Political Economy of Taiwan. New York: M.E. Sharpe.
20.
GrunwaldJ.FlammK. (1985) The Global Factory. Washington: The Brookings Institute.
21.
HendersonJ. (1989) The Globalisation of High Technology Production: Society, Space, and Semiconductors in the Restructuring of the Modern World. London: Routledge.
22.
HendersonJ.ScottA. (1987) The Growth and Internationalisation of the American Semiconductor Industry: Labour Processes and the Changing Spatial Organisation of Production. In BrehenyM.McQuaidR. (eds), The Development of High Technology Industries. London: Croom Helm.
23.
HoS.P.S. (1978) The Economic Development of Taiwan 1860–1970. Newhaven: Yale University Press.
24.
HoS.P.S. (1979) Decentralised Industrialisation and Rural Development: Evidence from Taiwan. Economic Development and Cultural Change4, 27–39.
25.
HoS.P.S. (1982) Economic Development and Rural Industry in South Korea and Taiwan. World Development10(11), 973–990.
26.
LevyB. (1988) Korean and Taiwanese Firms as International Competitors: The Challenges Ahead. Columbia Journal of World Business (Spring), 43–51.
27.
LiK.T. (1988) The Economic Transformation of Taiwan, ROC. London: Shepherd-Walwyn Limited.
28.
LinV. (1987) Women Electronics Workers in Southern Asia: The Emergence of a Working Class. In HendersonJ.CastellsM. (eds), Global Restructuring and Territorial Development. London: Sage.
29.
MooreM. (1988) Economic Growth and the Rise of Civil Society: Agriculture in Taiwan and South Korea. In GordonW. (ed), The Developmental State in East Asia. London: Macmillan.
30.
MorganK. (1991) Competition and Collaboration in Electronics: What are the Prospects for Britain?Environment and Planning A23(4), 1459–82.
31.
MorrisJ. (1992) Flexible Internationalisation in the Electronics Industry: Implications for Regional Economies. Environment and Planning C10, 407–21.
32.
MoulaertFSwyngedouwE. (1992) Accumulation and Organisation in Computing and Communications Industries: A Regulationist Approach. In CookeP. (eds), Towards Global Localisation: The Computing and Telecommunications Industries in Britain and France. London: UCL Press.
33.
OzawaT. (1971) Japan Exports Technology to Asian LDCs. Columbia Journal of World Business (Spring), 65–71.
34.
OzawaT. (1974) Japan's Technological Challenge to the West 1950–1974: Motivation and Accomplishment. London: MIT Press.
35.
RanisG. (1979) Industrial Development. In GalensonW. (ed), Economic Growth and Structural Change in Taiwan. London: Cornell University Press.
36.
SaghafiM.M.DavidsonC.S. (1989) The New Age of Global Competition in the Semiconductor Industry: Enter the Dragon. Columbia Journal of World Business (Winter), 60–70.
37.
SayerA. (1986) Industrial Location on a World Scale: The Case of the Semiconductor Industry. In ScottA.J.StorperM. (eds), Production, Work, Territory. Boston: Allen & Unwin.
38.
SayerA.MorganK. (1987) High Technology Industry and the International Division of Labour: The Case of Electronics. In BrehenyM.McQuaidR. (eds), The Development of High Technology Industries. London: Croom Helm.
39.
SchoenbergerE. (1986) Competition, Competitive Strategy, and Industrial Change: The Case of Electronic Components. Economic Geography62(4), 321–333.
40.
ScottA.J. (1987) The Semiconductor Industry in South-east Asia: Organisation, Location, and the International Division of Labour. Regional Studies21(2), 143–60.
41.
ScottA.J.AngelD.P. (1987) The US Semiconductor Industry: A Locational Analysis. Environment and Planning A19, 875–912.
42.
ScottA.J.AngelD.P. (1988) The Global Assembly-Operations of US Semiconductor Firms: A Geographical Analysis. Environment and Planning A20, 1047–67.
43.
ScottM. (1979) Foreign trade. In GalensonW. (ed), Economic Growth and Structural Change in Taiwan. London: Cornell University Press.
44.
ShoesmithD. (1986) Export Processing Zones in Five Countries: The Economic and Human Consequences, Asia Partnership for Human Development, Hong Kong.
45.
SimonD.F. (1988) Technology Transfer and National Autonomy. In WinklerE.A.GreenhalghS. (eds), Contending Approaches to the Political Economy of Taiwan. London: M.E. Sharpe.
46.
SimonD.F. (1992) Taiwan's Strategy for Creating Competitive Advantage: The Role of the State in Managing Foreign Technology. In WangN.T. (ed), Taiwan's Enterprises in Global Perspective. London: M.E. Sharpe.
47.
SimonD.F.SchiveC. (1986) Taiwan. In RuschingF.W.BrownC.G. (eds), National Policies for Developing High Technology Industries: International Comparisons. London: Westview Press.
48.
WooJ.H. (1991) Education and Economic Growth in Taiwan: A Case of Successful Planning. World Development19(8), 1029–44.
49.
WuY.I. (1985) Becoming an Industrialisation Nation: ROC's Development on Taiwan. The Contemporary U.S.-Asia Research Institute, New York.
50.
YoshinoM.Y. (1976) Japan's Multinational Enterprises. London: Harvard University Press.
