Perfecting the Catching-up: The Case of Taiwan's Motorcycle Industry

Sato Yukihito

No 195, IDE Discussion Papers from Institute of Developing Economies, Japan External Trade Organization(JETRO)

Abstract: The final stage of the catching-up process has formidable hurdles. This paper examinesthe case of Taiwan’s motorcycle industry and shows how latecomers overcame thehurdles. In the early 1990s, the two largest motorcycle makers in Taiwan, Sanyang andKwang Yang, had completed the catching-up process and became independent fromHonda, on which they had technologically depended since the early 1960s. The requisitefor independence was acquiring the capacity for product innovation. The two assemblerscould cultivate technological capacity by investing abundant resources, which theyaccumulated in the protected market. It should be noted that although the market wasprotected and highly concentrated, it was also very competitive. Another condition wasthe solid local suppliers of parts and components. The local suppliers had also grownunder the government’s industrial policies. However, their development beyond imitatorscan be attributed to their own initiatives.

Keywords: Taiwan; Motorcycle industry; Catching-up; Motorcycles (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: L13 L52 L62 N85 O14 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2009-03-01
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-his
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Published in IDE Discussion Paper = IDE Discussion Paper, No. 195. 2009-03-01

Downloads: (external link)
https://ir.ide.go.jp/record/37972/files/IDP000195_001.pdf First version, 2009 (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:jet:dpaper:dpaper195

Ordering information: This working paper can be ordered from
Publication Office, IDE 3-2-2 Wakaba, Mihama-ku, Chiba-shi, Chiba 261-8545 JAPAN
http://www.ide.go.jp/English/Publish/Order

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in IDE Discussion Papers from Institute of Developing Economies, Japan External Trade Organization(JETRO) Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Michitaka Imamitsu ().