About Taiwan

Overview

In the technology age, Taiwan has prospered and is one of East Asia's economic "Tigers." Taiwan has a dynamic capitalist economy with gradually declining guidance of investment and foreign trade by the authorities. Exports have provided the primary impetus for industrialization. The island runs a large trade surplus, and its foreign reserves are among the world's largest. Despite restrictions on cross-strait links, China has overtaken the US to become Taiwan's largest export market and its second-largest source of imports after Japan. China is also the island's number one destination for foreign direct investment. Strong trade performance in 2007 pushed Taiwan's GDP growth rate above 5%, and unemployment is below 4%.

(Source https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/tw.html)

Communications

The thoroughly modern telecommunications infrastructure in Taiwan provides a completely digitalized service for every business and private need. The country has a high connectivity to the rest of the world through numerous submarine cables linking Taiwan to Asia, Australia, the Middle East, Europe, and the US. As a backup there are 2 Taiwanese satellite earth stations, with additional satellite communications from other Asian providers should the entire submarine connectivity between Taiwan and Australia be interrupted. The management team in Taiwan utilize this high connectivity to engage the customer with voice, video, and remote desktop communication via the GotoAssist service from Citrix.

The Culture of Quality

The population of Taiwan is well educated, technically savvy, and values high quality. 30 years ago products manufactured in Taiwan were of a mediocre quality as can be sourced from other parts of Asia. In 2008 the quality of workmanship from Taiwan is recognised as first class. The people of Taiwan are hard workers who take pride in their output; they respect intellectual property, and engage with their tasks and work place, unlike people in other countries which have a high employee turnover in their technology industries. According to a report by Hewitt and Associates, China has one of the highest employee turnover rates in Asia. Taiwan does not share this affliction.
(Source http://www.biztimes.com/news/2007/8/17/employee-recruitment-in-china-is-challenging)

Taiwan also has a cost advantage where over the last 5 years salaries have remained flat in Taiwan, whereas in China salaries are growing faster than inflation. Presently Taiwan and China have equivalent costs for an outsourcing operation, but when partnering for the future you need to look at current trends. (Source http://investintaiwan.nat.gov.tw/en/faq/labor.html,
 http://www.nowpublic.com/tech-biz/rising-exports-rising-salaries-rising-inflation-china)

What does the phrase "Made in India" mean? Can you think of any product made in India that you would use daily? What about “Made in Taiwan”? Most computer motherboards and graphics cards are manufactured in Taiwan, and Canon has shown that camera lenses manufactured in Taiwan are the best that you can buy, exceeding the quality of lenses that they previously manufactured in Japan. As Taiwanese exports increased in the 1990s, the label “Made in Taiwan” has become well known for the wide variety of products, ranging from textiles, plastic toys and bikes from the 80s to laptops and computer chips in the 90s. Rarely for ‘country of origin’ labels “Made in Taiwan” signifies two distinct meanings: quality products at low prices and durable technological innovations. Currently most output is in the form of manufactured hardware. The Port of Kaohsiung in Taiwan is the 6th largest in the world and handled 10.26 million twenty-feet equivalent containers in 2007.

(Source http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/biz/archives/2008/01/09/2003396400)

International Focus

Taiwan has a strong focus on international trade and is an international hub for IT industry conferences and trading. The Taiwanese government knows that sustaining its export-led economy requires a continual stream of fluent English speakers who can conduct business and foster trade relations abroad. As such, Taiwan’s drive to make English its second language (Mandarin is its first) provides a golden opportunity for an outsourcing operation.

There are many services in place in Taiwan to help international companies get started there. The Taiwan Department of Investment Services has a portal on the Internet to help people get started at http://investintaiwan.nat.gov.tw/en/ .

Many companies have set up their Asian headquarters in Taipei to benefit from the high tech environment, work ethic and fairness of Government policies with regards to foreign companies and workers. Taiwan’s close relations with the United States mean the country is welcoming to westerners and is a bridge between east and west. The island is home to a vibrant and multicultural expat community, well-served by English signage in the more popular areas. Taipei is determined to become the world’s first ‘cyber city’, with wireless web access now available across 90 per cent of the capital, making it easy to do business on the run.

Software Engineers Returning To Taiwan

Taiwan has a culture where families who can afford to send their children to western universities do. Many Taiwanese Software Engineers went to university in the USA, and found work in Silicon Valley. Companies founded by Taiwanese or Taiwanese-Americans including Yahoo!, Nvidia, ViewSonic, YouTube and Garmin. From 2000 onwards there has been a trend of Taiwanese leaving Silicon Valley, and returning to Taiwan, even more so in 2008 during the contraction of the US economy. There is an increasing supply of high quality Software Engineers who have been exposed to good software development practices. How did Taiwan emerge as an electronics workshop to the world? The island has an abundance of relatively low-cost engineers, many of them returnees from the U.S., with strong connections to Silicon Valley.

Travelling Between Australia and Taiwan

Air routes between Taiwan and Australia are well serviced by the major airlines. Taiwan has 2 national carriers, Eva Air, and China Airlines, both of which fly a direct service between Taipei and Brisbane. China Airlines flies a direct service between Taipei and Sydney.

This page was last modified on Saturday, May 02, 2009 01:41:44 PM