Intellectual capital system interaction in Taiwan
| Date | 01 June 2005 |
| Pages | 285-298 |
| Published date | 01 June 2005 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/14691930510592852 |
| Author | Wen‐Nan Tsan,Chao‐Ching Chang |
| Subject Matter | Accounting & finance,HR & organizational behaviour,Information & knowledge management |
Intellectual capital system
interaction in Taiwan
Wen-Nan Tsan and Chao-Ching Chang
Market Intelligence Center, Institute for Information Industry, Taipei,
Taiwan, ROC
Abstract
Purpose – Confronted with the transformation of industrial economies, the Taiwanese information
technology (IT) industry has to upgrade from production to innovation orientation. The paper seeks to
explore what is the core competence of the Taiwanese IT industry. In brief, what kind of intellectual
capital (IC) is embedded in the Taiwanese IT industry and how this IC is managed effectively. The
point is to discover how the Taiwanese IT industry should start to accumulate or enhance the core
resource and strategic capability for future competitive advantage.
Design/methodology/approach – The study selected a relatively representative number of IT
firms in Taiwan covering six industries. This study conducted a two-stage survey to construct a
measurement model and explored the IC profile of the Taiwanese IT industries.
Findings – This study was able to identify eight IC factors as a measuring model in exploring the IC
profiles of four Taiwanese IT industries. The findings indicate the stronger IC in the Taiwanese IT
industry as well as the weaker side.
Research limitations/implications – The research was limited by the sample within the Taiwan
information communications technology industries. It needs to be extended across further industries
in the future. It should also be compared with other countries’ industrial IC under similar assessment
and measurement. The significant differences between industries could be explored by case study
methodology.
Practical implications – Innovation capability plays an important role in confronting the
knowledge-based economy in Taiwanese IT industries. However, there is no compelling evidence to
show that investment in research and development will help to achieve the goal of establishing
Taiwan as an “Asia Pacific Electronic Information Industry Resource Integration Center”.
Originality/value – This research indicates that the IC System Model developed would help us to
identify the interactions among IC elements. It could help to explore whether it is true that, the higher
the IC management, the higher is the influence from the input of IC to the output.
Keywords Intellectualcapital, Communication technologies, Knowledge management, Taiwan
Paper type Research paper
Introduction
New technology is no longer driving economic growth, and the direction of the global
economy is unclear. Low demand for personal computers (PCs) and information
applications resulted in sales far lower than anticipated. Thus, the global information
technology (IT) industry was hit with unprecedented lows in 2002. Despite this global
economic downturn and weak demand for IT products, total shipment value in the
Taiwanese IT hardware industry rebounded in 2002, partly due to the establishment of
effective global logistics systems and partly to a division of labor between Taiwan and
China. Taiwan’s main IT hardware products global market share also continued to rise
(Market Intelligence Center, 2003).
With China gradually developing into the “factory to the world”, the Taiwanese IT
hardware industry continued migrating production towards China in 2002, and the
The Emerald Research Register for this journal is available at The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at
www.emeraldinsight.com/researchregister www.emeraldinsight.com/1469-1930.htm
Intellectual
capital system
interaction
285
Journal of Intellectual Capital
Vol. 6 No. 2, 2005
pp. 285-298
qEmerald Group Publishing Limited
1469-1930
DOI 10.1108/14691930510592852
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