If Taiwan wants to reinforce its global competitiveness, it needs to make knowledge more transferable, increase business efficiency, eliminate government interference in business and foster national brands, International Institute for Management Development president Dominique Turpin said yesterday at a forum.
Turpin said that although Taiwan’s ranking in the Switzerland-based business school’s world competitiveness survey improved to No. 7 last year from No. 23 in 2009, the nation can still strengthen its entrepreneurship, increase transparency in government and corporate management, and develop unique brands to enhance its competitiveness.
In a forum organized by the Chinese National Association of Industry and Commerce (CNAIC, 工商協進會), Turpin said that the many large firms in Taiwan’s world-renowned information technology sector should cooperate more with research centers and small to medium-sized enterprises to make knowledge more transferable.
In the regional market, the country needs to expand its exports from the high-tech sector and diversify its economy. This would attract more foreign investment to Taiwan and further develop its financial system to fully benefit from its geographical proximity to Hong Kong and China, Turpin said.
He said that this geographical advantage could be hugely beneficial if the nation eased immigration laws to attract more foreign professionals and give it the potential to become Asia’s “knowledge hub.”
Anthony Lo (羅祥安), chief executive officer of local bicycle maker Giant Global Group (巨大集團), said the government needs to establish a vision.
“What Taiwanese enterprises want to see is the government striving to help businesses build unique brands that can provide innovative products and services,” Lo said on the sidelines of the forum.
Lo said Taiwan needs to integrate into regional markets as soon as possible so local firms can enjoy the trading privileges that other nation’s companies do, such as tariff exemptions.
“The markets are changing so fast that the rules have been reset, and if we don’t catch up, it is going to be harder for us to hold our own in the global market,” he added.
MULTIFACETED: A task force has analyzed possible scenarios and created responses to assist domestic industries in dealing with US tariffs, the economics minister said The Executive Yuan is tomorrow to announce countermeasures to US President Donald Trump’s planned reciprocal tariffs, although the details of the plan would not be made public until Monday next week, Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) said yesterday. The Cabinet established an economic and trade task force in November last year to deal with US trade and tariff related issues, Kuo told reporters outside the legislature in Taipei. The task force has been analyzing and evaluating all kinds of scenarios to identify suitable responses and determine how best to assist domestic industries in managing the effects of Trump’s tariffs, he
TIGHT-LIPPED: UMC said it had no merger plans at the moment, after Nikkei Asia reported that the firm and GlobalFoundries were considering restarting merger talks United Microelectronics Corp (UMC, 聯電), the world’s No. 4 contract chipmaker, yesterday launched a new US$5 billion 12-inch chip factory in Singapore as part of its latest effort to diversify its manufacturing footprint amid growing geopolitical risks. The new factory, adjacent to UMC’s existing Singapore fab in the Pasir Res Wafer Fab Park, is scheduled to enter volume production next year, utilizing mature 22-nanometer and 28-nanometer process technologies, UMC said in a statement. The company plans to invest US$5 billion during the first phase of the new fab, which would have an installed capacity of 30,000 12-inch wafers per month, it said. The
Taiwan’s official purchasing managers’ index (PMI) last month rose 0.2 percentage points to 54.2, in a second consecutive month of expansion, thanks to front-loading demand intended to avoid potential US tariff hikes, the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER, 中華經濟研究院) said yesterday. While short-term demand appeared robust, uncertainties rose due to US President Donald Trump’s unpredictable trade policy, CIER president Lien Hsien-ming (連賢明) told a news conference in Taipei. Taiwan’s economy this year would be characterized by high-level fluctuations and the volatility would be wilder than most expect, Lien said Demand for electronics, particularly semiconductors, continues to benefit from US technology giants’ effort
‘SWASTICAR’: Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s close association with Donald Trump has prompted opponents to brand him a ‘Nazi’ and resulted in a dramatic drop in sales Demonstrators descended on Tesla Inc dealerships across the US, and in Europe and Canada on Saturday to protest company chief Elon Musk, who has amassed extraordinary power as a top adviser to US President Donald Trump. Waving signs with messages such as “Musk is stealing our money” and “Reclaim our country,” the protests largely took place peacefully following fiery episodes of vandalism on Tesla vehicles, dealerships and other facilities in recent weeks that US officials have denounced as terrorism. Hundreds rallied on Saturday outside the Tesla dealership in Manhattan. Some blasted Musk, the world’s richest man, while others demanded the shuttering of his
RSS