Core competence and competitive strategy of the Taiwan shipbuilding industry: a resource-based approach

Abstract

The shipbuilding output for Taiwan had been 4th in the world until 1999; however, at that time, it dropped to the 9th. Currently, the world shipbuilding capacity greatly exceeds the demand and this disparity could grow to 40% by 2005. Facing this turning point, the main objective of this study is to re-examine the international competitive position of Taiwan's shipbuilding industry; furthermore, to realize the industries’ core competences and attempt to recommend competitive strategies for the future development of Taiwan's shipbuilding industry. The results show that Taiwan's main core competence is production management, mainly through heterogeneous resource analysis. This paper also proposes that for general types of ships, Taiwan's development priority should be to utilize low-cost strategies to occupy the market continuously; as to high value added types of ships, Taiwan's priority should be to utilize differential and focus strategies. Finally, the direction of government policy is suggested.