| Summary: | 碩士 === 國立高雄第一科技大學 === 行銷與流通管理所 === 91 ===
Porter (1990) points that innovation grows out of pressure and challenge, and the key issue of success is decided by group cooperation and competition in the knowledge-based economics. In recent years, because of the great attraction of China low-Labor market, Taiwanese manufacturing firms broadly invest in Mainland China to reinforce their international competitiveness so as to invite more international OEM/ODM projects. Not only does international IT companies continue procuring majority of their IT products from Taiwan, but also set up the R&D centers here. Taiwan has become the third largest IT production country in global market. The study intends to examine the relationships between firms’ cooperative capacities and co-alliance NPD project advantages by investigating Taiwanese IT firms’ OEM/ODM projects in order to offer both practitioners and academics some empirical references. The OEM/ODM, a dominant Taiwanese high-tech paradigm, is not only a business model but also an effective co-alliance NPD arrangement. However, less attention has been paid to investigating how this collaborative arrangement affects the project advantages.
Based on 70 OEM/ODM projects in Taiwanese IT firms, we examine the direct effects of a firm’s cooperative capacities (complementary capability, trust, expertise knowledge sharing routine and communication routine) on NPD project’s advantages (quality, cost and delivery) and the moderating impacts of the firm’s characteristics (organizational cultural similarity, prior alliance experience) and product innovativeness on the relationships between cooperative capacities and NPD project’s advantages. The results indicate that NPD project advantages are associated positively with firms’ complementary capability, expertise knowledge sharing routine and trust. The moderating effect of organizational cultural similarity is significantly found on the relationship between expertise knowledge sharing routine and cost. In addition, prior alliance experience positively moderates the relationship between communication routine and product’s quality. This experience also contributes to the negative moderating effects on the relationships between trust and quality, and between knowledge sharing routine and delivery. Furthermore, technological innovativeness positively moderates the relationships between complementary capability and quality, and between communication routine and cost. Market innovativeness positively moderates the relationships between trust and cost, and between knowledge sharing routine and quality. However, technological innovativeness contributes a negative moderating impact on the relationship between communication routine and quality. Similarly, the moderating impact of market innovativeness on the relationship between knowledge sharing routine and cost is also negative.
The OEM/ODM partners’ ability, as well as the project’s quality, cost and delivery become critical requirements for IT Multi-national Corporations to evaluate their outsourcing suppliers. Hence, the study offers a base for discussing the eco-alliance NPD model in global IT industry. The empirical results confirm the influences of cooperative capacities and demonstrate the supports to the moderating effects of organizational cultural similarity, prior alliance experience and product innovativeness in co-alliance NPD activities. Cultural similarity and prior alliance experience are organizational factors that implicitly develop through firms’ revolution. The moderating effect of cultural similarity confirms its important role in screening OEM/ODM partners (Parkhe, 1991). Although the learning effect of prior alliance experience can assists a firm in enhancing the contribution of cooperative capacities to the NPD project advantages, its negative impact should not be neglected by IT managers. The risks of overlook and the perception of “free rider” would increase while co-alliance partners accumulate the abundant collaborative experiences. In addition, the goal of developing more innovative new products would motivate the project team. However, it is like two blades of a sword. OEM/ODM manufacturers can benefit from involving the development of higher innovative products, but the challenge of this innovation could also increase the risk of failure in collaborative NPD arrangements.
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