Taiwan's Yacht Industry Development Context in Time and Space

• Main Authors: Chen, Jen-Jie, 陳振杰
• Other Authors: Wu, Lien-Shang
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2012
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/75057796319717851068

博士 === 國立高雄師範大學 === 地理學系 === 100 === The purpose of this study are as follows: first, to find out the inheritance of the transformational process by discussing the development of Taiwan’s yacht insustry in time and space; secondly, to expore the innovative network of the industry clusters by analyzing the production networks and the way towards industrial innovation; finally, to propose some suggestions to overcome the obstacles to the development of yacht leisure industry with a close look at the local demand of the yacht leisure industry, the institutional environment as well as the development constraints. The meothds of this study are document analysis and in-depth interview with 43 interviews. The results show that the U.S. armies stationed in Taiwan introduce the yacht industry and Taiwan’s yacht manufacture had the chance to develpe the technology. Howerver, with the stable profits from OEM, the manufactures lacked the stress and motivation to develope their own brands. Because of this, it is difficut to learn new skills to avoid the the effect of the lock-in. With weak demand in the global yacht market from late 1980s, Taiwan's yacht industry was in rapid decline. Many manufacturers had closed down or laid off. Parts of the factories moved to China to produce small yachts, while the remaining yacht manufacturers in Taiwan strived to transite towards the development of large-scale and customization, and reduced dependence on a single market. In the beginning, the yacht manufactures were distributed along the Tamsui River near Sanchih, Bali and Jinshan. With the increasing number of yacht manufacturers and the consideration of the labor market, land and wage costs, yacht manufacturing location was no longer confined to the northern region. The new yacht factories were located in the industrial zones instead of along the river or coast. Howerver, as the yacht develops in size, restrictions on the transportation makes the yacht factories move to the coastal location. Under the OEM mode, Taiwan yacht manufacturing is the type of BDCCs. Therefore, it is difficult to have the autonomy of design and marketing. With the increase of manufacturing costs, Taiwan yacht industy jumped from OEM production to brand customization. On the one hand, geographical proximity of the firms and contractor's liquidity make yacht skills diffusion. Meanwhile, friendship between the engineers accelerates the flow of knowledge within the region through formal and informal exchange. This is the embeddedness of the cluster. On the other hand, USDDC offers technology development and personnel training. MIRDC helps fims set up industry alliance to overcome skill problems. Through the above ways, the innovative learning of the yacht cluster makes the industry sticky to the local. Because of the marine ban in the early stage, there was no yacht domestic market in Taiwan. Nevertheless, with the rise of domestic maritime activities, it is worthwhile to develope the yacht lesiure industry. This study proposes four recommendations to promote yacht industry. (1) Having the yachts dedicated agency. (2) Establishing more marinas and encouraging private investment in the industry of the yacht. (3) Enhancing the needs of yacht activities and focuing on the private personal use of the yacht. (4) Establishing the yacht Clubs to plan for the marine leisure activities. If there is lack of domestic market in the yacht industry, it is hard to promote the related economic development. The yacht manufacturing only supported by the social resources will never become the so-called "yacht industry." Therefore, promoting yacht lesiure industry enables people to enjoy the yacht recreation, and it is helpful to consolidate the basis of the yacht industry. The yacht made and desinged by the user in Taiwan will be a better brand benefit.