| This dissertation starts with inquiries about how Taiwan as a newly industrializing country establishes itself in technology-intensive industries like the mobile communications industry? To what extent Taiwan's establishment in mobile communications industry is due to a global production shift and to what extent it is due to industry-specific national policies? For these purposes, this dissertation investigates the relationship between the mode of Taiwan's technology introduction and the development of indigenous technological capabilities. In depicting the relationship, this dissertation proposes the concept of brokerage platform to describe the fact that in promoting mobile communications the Taiwanese state acts as a platform that serves to broker the flow of global technology forces and where partnerships between national firms and multinational corporations develop and local capabilities grow.; The empirical study finds that a global shift of production location based on industrial evolution does exist but the tedious efforts made by Taiwan's government should be credited with molding the local industry landscape. The findings also confirm the proposition of brokerage platform as Taiwan's government has been welcome to inflow of foreign technologies in mobile communications and public research institutes have conducted intensive in-house technology learning and technology transfer. However, the brokerage platform represents combination of two opposing tendencies rather than one coherent concept: one relying on provision of infrastructure support and the other attempting to match global trend and local potential. In addition, the two approaches vary in effects on capability accumulation. Whereas provision of infrastructure support facilitates to spread existing technologies and brings about a cost advantage, technology matching fosters innovation and increases production in crucial components.; In response to existing theoretical debates, this study directs our attention to the fact that the orientation of the Taiwanese state does not remain invariable and that internal disagreement has vital impact on the orientation of the state. In addition, it recognizes the institutional barriers that the state needs to overcome in introducing new technologies due to the complication of high technology issues with respect to state goal definition and means-end causation relationship. |
