Design and Manufacture by Foreign Electronics Multi-Nationals in Singapore and Taiwan: Product Responsibilities in a Global Environment

Abstract

The electronics clusters in Singapore and Taiwan have grown largely as a result of foreign direct investment. It is shown that foreign electronics companies in Singapore and Taiwan manufacture with processes close to the state-of-the-art and have considerable process and product design responsibilities. It is established that the products designed are not the core technology for the companies concerned. When compared to the development of the Scottish sites of foreign electronics companies, the sites in Singapore and Taiwan compare favourably in terms of time to obtain design responsibilities and the size of R & D (research and development) teams. National initiatives in Singapore and Taiwan that support the move to R & D at foreign sites are described.

Electronics foreign direct investment in Singapore: a study of local linkages in “Winchester City”

“…Some observers claim that Singapore's targeted industrial policies (especially tax holidays and R&D grants) are significantly promoting R&D activity within MNEs (Tilley et al, 1996). Owing to the association between design and linkage formation outlined earlier, policies geared towards subsidiary upgrading could potentially play a significant role in influencing linkage levels in Singapore.…”