The impact on the cultural diversity to employees' job satisfaction between mainland China and Taiwan: a comparison of Taiwanese invested companies

This study explores how the Chinese values (Integrations, Confucian Work Dynamism, Human-heartedness and Moral Discipline) impact employees' satisfaction (ES). Employees who work in mainland China for companies whose parent companies are based in Taiwan were surveyed. The results can be summarized as the following: ‘Integration’, ‘Confucian Work Dynamism’ and ‘Human-heartedness’ are significantly different between Taiwanese and Chinese employees, while ‘Moral discipline’ is not; Taiwanese employees have higher ES than Chinese employees; Taiwanese employees view ‘career planning’ is the most important, while Chinese employees think ‘management system’ is most important; For Taiwanese employees, ‘Salary and benefit’, ‘Working load’ and ‘Management system’ have effects on ES; Age and Education have effects on Chinese employees.     

Convergence in human resource systems: A comparison of locally owned and MNC subsidiaries in Taiwan

This article investigates issues of convergence in human resource systems in Taiwan, with reference to the similarities and differences between locally owned companies and subsidiaries of multinational corporations (MNCs). Traditionally, management in Taiwanese companies has been largely influenced by Confucian values and is quite distinct from approaches common to MNCs. However, globalization has engendered significant competitive pressures, coupled with cultural and institutional change within Taiwan. This article provides a theoretical framework for understanding such changes and provides empirical evidence indicating that Taiwanese companies are acting very much like MNCs with regard to the adoption of flexible, highperformance work systems. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Taiwan Chinese managers' personality: is Confucian influence on the wane?

This paper conjectures that Chinese managers' personality in the Taiwan context, as shaped by Chinese tradition, has been moderated in response to their career experience. The paper begins with an introduction to Chinese culture and its impact on values and personality. It then goes on to argue that if the cultural context can nurture personality, we should therefore expect that as the context changes, personality can be moderated via economic reforms as in the case of Taiwan. It is reasonable to assume that among the Taiwanese, the occupational grouping that has most actively felt the impact of these reforms is managers who have been at the forefront of making them happen. We are not aware of any studies focusing on Taiwanese managers which attempt to assess how far their personality is still shaped by Confucian values which have strongly influenced Chinese traditions, and how far it has experienced changes that have come about through modernization and economic reform. We have addressed this research gap using the Chinese Personality Assessment Inventory (CPAI), an indigenous Chinese personality instrument developed by Cheung et al. (1996) with the support of an interview programme and a biographical data sheet to flesh out details related to the subjects' lives and experience. The findings suggest that the traditional Chinese personality with its grounding in Confucianism has been gradually eroding but that some elements of it are still strongly in evidence. The contribution of this study lies in illustrating how personality may be undergoing convergence through modernization. It also signals that cultural boundaries with reference to emic and etic research may also be converging. To the extent that this is so, future studies on culture and business management in China may need to reappraise their understanding of the nature of Chinese culture, values and personality, and how they have responded to business forces in a globalized world.     

A different perspective of expatriate management

Based on a total of 243 papers and theses published in Taiwan and the West, this study provides a different perspective on expatriation management. The investigation includes selection criteria, staffing, training, the female expatriate, the expatriate spouse, and international adjustment. Research reveals that there are similar core concerns, such as an expatriate's professional knowledge, personality, adaptability, and international adjustment. Context-specific concerns also emerge. Taiwanese companies care more about expatriates' personal skills and willpower compared to the West, where companies care more about an expatriate's past performance, adaptability, and spousal adjustment. As more and more resource conscious SMEs are moving to compete in the international arena, attending to their international management needs becomes a pressing issue. This study provides the form, as well as the essence of Taiwanese expatriation management, especially with FDIs based in Taiwan playing a crucial role in the recent economic development of Asia. Taiwan's past successful international expansion certified the value of its expatriation management, particularly under severe resource constraints. The findings of this study may have policy and practical implications for relevant parties and emerging economies.     

从台湾同胞来沪旅游人数统计分析看上海世博会的影响力

从台湾游客的角度出发利用层次分析法引入两个参量:政策因素α(>0)和世博会因素β(>0),并假定这两因素是影响台湾同胞来大陆旅游的主要因素:α+β=1。把台湾同胞到上海旅游的人数与来大陆旅游的总人数的比值作为比重,通过对所得比重进行拟合。由拟合图像得:自2002年成功申办世博会以来,比重呈现递增事态,并保持在高位运行,到2010年2月创下历史新高,突破2.5%。由图像知不同时间到大陆旅游的台湾人数波动性较大,但是不同时间到上海旅游的台湾人数却一直保持平稳增长,则说明世博会因素发挥了较大的作用,政策因素有小幅的波动。     

高管的海外经历如何帮助企业“走出去”

在我国推进全面开放新格局的背景下,高管海外经历特征是否以及如何影响公司的对外投资决策,是近年来理论界和实务界关注的热点。本文以A股上市公司为样本,研究发现当上市公司高管具有海外经历时,可以通过提高创新能力以促进企业对外直接投资。这一结论在一系列稳健性检验后仍然成立。进一步研究发现,在战略激进度较高、市场集中度较高的情况下,高管的海外经历对公司对外直接投资的影响更显著。本研究为促进对外直接投资提供了一定的理论借鉴。     

信息电子业两岸物流运营模式分析

在分析信息电子产业发展趋势的基础上,结合信息电子产业的全球运营管理模式,归纳了两岸信息电子业物流运营的五种模式,分别为:台湾地区供应大陆关键零组件、台湾地区深层加工、台湾地区与大陆共同出货至海外组装中心、台湾地区整机出货、台湾于大陆当地设置运补中心等。     

Price Behavior of Qualified Companies around the Audit Report and Report Announcement Days: The Case of Taiwan

This study investigates the stock price behavior of companies with qualified opinions around (1) the audit report day and (2) the report announcement day. Using a sample of 106 Taiwanese public companies during 1999–2007, we find negative abnormal returns 5 days following the audit report day. Returns that are more negative are associated with a decrease in insider ownership during several months before the audit report day. These results imply that investors can infer qualified opinions or that there is information leakage of qualified opinions. We also find that the average cumulative abnormal return over the 20 days following the announcement day of qualified reports is about ?25%, which is much more pronounced than that in Anglo‐Saxon countries. We ascribe this finding to a rule unique to Taiwan: qualified companies are likely to be subject to mandatory delisting if they cannot restate reports with unqualified opinions.     

探讨台湾中小型家族企业在大陆市场之经营策略

有鉴于家族企业的经营策略形成有别于一般企业的形成模式，本研究探讨台湾中小型家族企业经营策略之形成模式，利用观念性研究架构、专家问卷以及企业问卷的设计，量化并综合性讨论，归纳出台湾中小型家族企业的经营策略成功因素，为台湾家族企业经营策略提供新的思考，以便在市场机能与商业利益的引导下，研拟具体措施协助台湾中小型家族企业，成功融入不同的文化，以达到永续生存与成功获利的目的。本研究透过文献分析与实证分析结果的汇整，得出三个结论：独立自主的家族管理者是家族企业成功生存的关键；良好的内部凝聚力是家族企业经营的必要条件；良好的外部顾客关系是家族企业的成功要素。     

中国台湾地区与海外发达地区物流产业发展比较研究

回顾了中国台湾地区物流业发展历程,并以台湾地区零售行业的物流业务为例,研究了台湾地区物流业发展现状,并与海外发达地区物流产业发展现状进行了比较,提出了台湾地区物流产业发展中存在的不足与改进方向。     

制造企业实行零库存管理初探

零库存是日本丰田汽车公司首先广泛应用的一种先进管理技术,自二十世纪八十年代以来被制造业奉为消除浪费、降低成本的法宝,在我国制造企业得到广泛的推行。但是只有部分企业取得了很成功,大部分企业都以失败告终。文中从实际出发,分析了企业实行零库存管理需要考虑的问题和应具备的条件,旨在帮助制造企业循序渐进地推行零库存管理。     

Management turnover expectations: a variable to explain company readiness to engage in continuous management training

What makes companies give their support to Continuous Management Training (CMT) and why, on occasion, do they block its progress? If a company thinks its managers might leave in the near future, would there be reasons for it to provide continuous training of these professionals? Do companies interpret all likely resignations in the same way? We attempt to provide an answer to these questions, by analysing the behaviour of companies' vis-à-vis continuous management training in terms of their expectations of the appropriability of the benefits that stem from such training. Appropriability is in turn assessed with regard to firms' expectations that their managers will leave their organisation without it having had the chance to recover the outlay invested in training. The analysis of business behaviour also demands an understanding of how these turnover expectations are produced and, more specifically, of the variables on which turnover expectations depend or might depend. The empirical study we carried out with over 300 Spanish companies revealed that company projections for voluntary turnover of management employees are positively connected with earlier experiences of turnover, with markets prone to change, and with business risk situations, and negatively associated with developed social management networks, satisfied managers and their degree of specificity in relation to the company. Nevertheless, no significant relationship was observed between expected turnover and the intensity of continuous management training. In general, companies make their management training investment decisions independently of the overall turnover expectations they might have. Different causes might exist for this absence of a relationship, centred in particular on the need for management training and an associated sense of urgency, which takes precedence over the risk of not recovering the investment when the business decision is taken, and on the nature of the management turnover perceived by the company, which is more complex than a strictly economic one.     

Markets, Culture and Institutions: The Emergence of Large Business Groups in Taiwan, 1950s–1970s

Business groups are a special type of enterprise system existing in almost every market economy. Member firms do not operate as isolated units in the markets but have institutionalized relationships with each other and work coherently as an entity. Groups play a central role in economies in which they operate. For Taiwan, the largest 100 groups produced one third of the GNP in the past 20 years. Why does this organizational form exist in the first place? This paper reviews three relevant theories, market‐centred theories, culturalist perspective, and the institutional approach, and employs the data of 150 Taiwanese groups for the answer. The market‐centred theories and the institutional arguments are examined statistically and the latter is supported by the data. Following this evidence, the Boolean comparison of group firms with non‐group firms confirms that lacking a coherent core in ownership and management makes firms unable to respond to institutional incentives promptly. Finally, the structure of family ownership network in business groups refutes the cultural perspective which argues that the equal inheritance pattern of family property drives entrepreneurs to establish separate firms rather than single hierarchies. While both markets and culture play a distinct part in the story, it is regulatory institutions that lead to group formation.     

New value partnerships: the lessons of Denny's/Save the Children partnership for building high‐yielding cross‐sector alliances

While business and nonprofit organisations have long used alliances within their own sectors to address specific needs, increasingly they are turning to cross‐sector partnerships that benefit both parties while they serve the common good. In the last decade, marketing alliances between businesses and social sector organisations have become increasingly common as ways for companies to achieve business objectives and for social sector organisations to raise their visibility and attract new resources. The alliance between Denny's and Save the Children provides an example of a noteworthy marketing partnership that shows how a cross‐sector alliance can assist a company with a damaged public image to build a new public identity while enabling an international nonprofit organisation to create an ambitious programme for US children. As a new value partnership, a long‐term, high yielding alliance between businesses and social sector organisations, this relationship is characterised by several elements: communication, opportunity, mutuality, multiple levels, open‐endedness, and new value, forming the acronym COMMON. Copyright © 2001 Henry Stewart Publications     

Antecedents of commitment to a parent company and to a local operation: empirical evidence from western employees working for multinational companies in Vietnam

Rising business of multinational companies in Asia has been paralleled with an increase in the number of western expatriates sent overseas. This has created challenges for the multinational companies as how to develop dual commitment of these expatriates to the parent companies and to the local operations during international assignments. In this study, we simultaneously examined the nature of dual organizational commitment among 254 western expatriates currently working for the subsidiaries of the multinational companies in Vietnam, and investigated specific antecedents of the dual commitment by using multi-dimensional approach. The results confirmed the existence of two distinct commitment foci and proved that the commitment to a parent company was stronger than that to a local operation. Tenure in a parent company, clarity of repatriation process, promotion and compensation were responsible for the differences in level of commitments with regard to two foci. While promotion, compensation and clarity of repatriation process more significantly predicted components of parent company commitment, pre-departure training was more associated with components of local operation commitment. Pre-departure training, promotion, compensation and transformational leadership were primarily indicated to predict dual commitment in terms of high levels to both foci. The results were discussed in the light of dual commitment and international human resource management.     

浅析国内外大型石油公司工程造价管理体系的差异

本文通过对比国内与国际石油公司的工程造价管理体系,为我国的石油公司拓展海外业务,提高工程造价水平提供参考。     

百度VS Google 优秀与伟大之别

百度与Google之间的差距, 自诞生之日起就已经输在了价值观上,缺乏超越 商业的人文关怀、用商业改善世界的使命感     

Strategic marketing practices and the performance of Chinese small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Taiwan

This paper reports on a survey of the strategic marketing practices of 218 small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Taiwan. The survey's results indicate that while the higher performing Taiwanese SMEs give a higher priority to marketing than to other business functions in corporate planning, they are still sales- or production-oriented. The higher performing Taiwanese SMEs are more aware of strategic planning tools, but they make less use of them. They compete with value-added products and good buyer-seller relationships. The findings suggest that broad, small firm marketing principles, specifically generated from countries in the West, to some extent contribute to the success of Taiwanese SMEs. Interestingly, however, the specific marketing practices of these small firms are different from those of their Western counterparts. The research results provide additional evidence to support the theory that both Chinese cultural value orientations and mediating environmental factors play significant roles in shaping the attitudes and behaviour of Taiwanese owner-managers and, in turn, the marketing practices of Taiwanese SMEs.     

Managing Risks in Complex Projects

Dealing effectively with risks in complex projects is difficult and requires management interventions that go beyond simple analytical approaches. This is one finding of a major field study into risk management practices and business processes of 35 major product developments in 17 high‐technology companies. Almost one‐half of the contingencies that occur are not being detected before they impact project performance. Yet, the risk‐impact model presented in this article shows that risk does not affect all projects equally but depends on the effectiveness of collective managerial actions dealing with specific contingencies. The results of this study discuss why some organizations are more successful in detecting risks early in the project life cycle, and in decoupling risk factors from work processes before they impact project performance. The field data suggest that effective project risk management involves an intricately linked set of variables, related to work process, organizational environment, and people. Some of the best success scenarios point to the critical importance of recognizing and dealing with risks early in their development. This requires broad involvement and collaboration across all segments of the project team and its environment, and sophisticated methods for assessing feasibilities and usability early and frequently during the project life cycle. Specific managerial actions, organizational conditions, and work processes are suggested for fostering a project environment most conducive to effective cross‐functional communication and collaboration among all stakeholders, a condition important to early risk detection and effective risk management in complex project situations.     

Enterprise resource planning (ERP) implementation using the value engineering methodology and Six Sigma tools

Enterprise resource planning (ERP) is a software solution that integrates the operational processes of the business functions of an enterprise. However, implementing ERP systems is a complex process. In addition to the technical issues, companies must address problems associated with business process re-engineering, time and budget control, and organisational change. Numerous industrial studies have shown that the failure rate of ERP implementation is high, even for well-designed systems. Thus, ERP projects typically require a clear methodology to support the project execution and effectiveness. In this study, we propose a theoretical model for ERP implementation. The value engineering (VE) method forms the basis of the proposed framework, which integrates Six Sigma tools. The proposed framework encompasses five phases: knowledge generation, analysis, creation, development and execution. In the VE method, potential ERP problems related to software, hardware, consultation and organisation are analysed in a group-decision manner and in relation to value, and Six Sigma tools are applied to avoid any project defects. We validate the feasibility of the proposed model by applying it to an international manufacturing enterprise in Taiwan. The results show improvements in customer response time and operational efficiency in terms of work-in-process and turnover of materials. Based on the evidence from the case study, the theoretical framework is discussed together with the study’s limitations and suggestions for future research.