| Summary: | 碩士 === 淡江大學 === 國際商學碩士在職專班 === 98 === International trade has long been a driving force behind Taiwan''s economic development. In order to stimulate economic growth and create economies of scale, an economic structure oriented towards contract production and exports has moved to the forefront in the country''s economic development.
Taiwan''s exports consist for a large part of technology-intensive products such as electronics and IT peripheral products. According to statistics of the Market Intelligence & Consulting Institute (MIC), in 2008 Taiwanese industry''s shipment volume ranked first in the world for a significant number of ICT products, including PCs. These products are mainly shipped to regions such as Western Europe and North America. Production mainly takes places in overseas locations such as China. Therefore, currency exchange rates play an important role in economic and trade activities.
The application scope of connectors is very broad. They are generally used in all types of electronics products. All the major export products in which Taiwan leads the world in terms of shipment volume require the use of connectors, highlighting the importance of connectors in the electronics industry. More than 50% of connectors made by the Taiwanese industry are exported to overseas destinations. With a large share of connector revenue calculated in foreign currencies, it is expected that exchange rate volatility impact the profits and operational performance of the connector industry.
This research focuses on the relationship between exchange rate volatility and manufacturers'' operational performance in the connector industry. Based on empirical research, this thesis analyzes whether a relationship exists between exchange rate volatility and connector manufacturers'' Return on Assets (ROA), Return on Equity (ROE), and Earnings Per Share (EPS). 19 listed Taiwanese connector manufacturers were examined as part of this research, and the time-period chosen for analysis was 2004-2008. 95 samples were generated. Explanatory variables in the empirical model include exchange rate fluctuations, individual manufacturer control variables and the overall economy control variables. Individual manufacturer control variables include companies'' years of existence, capital size, and technology levels. The overall economy variables are real economic growth rates of OECD member countries and international copper prices. As for explained variables, ROA, ROE, and EPS are used as indicators of operational performance.
The empirical research results show that there is a clearly negative relationship between currency exchange rate volatility and ROA, ROE, EPS of listed Taiwanese electronics companies. As for control variables, there is a clearly positive relationship between connector companies'' capital size and ROE and EPS. There is a negative relationship between manufacturers'' years of existence and EPS. A significantly positive relationship is observed between technology levels of connector manufacturers and ROA, ROE, and EPS. Regarding overall economy control variables, a considerably negative relationship exists between international copper prices and ROA, ROE, EPS. No clear relationship was found between the economic growth rate and ROA, ROE, EPS.
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