Relaciones exteriores

The final decision on the systematic standard of Teamate was made about a month after the contract was signed after many long and intensive meetings between the three parts. The efficiency of the Product Planning Division in setting out the product standards in a short time was motivated by the hope that the Teamate project could produce a prototype in time for COMDEX, a computer exhibition held in early November, 1990 in the United States. The 386DX NPC the size of A4 paper, height 5.4 cm, and weight 5 kgs with key components and interior design was technically standardised. Soon after this, the R&D Division started its tasks.

R & D c r o ss -s u b s id is a ti o n

3 .2 . R & D D iv is io n

Among the four divisions, the R&D Division was most important to the success of NPC Alliance. For the purpose of the division of labour and of accelerating product development, the R&D Division was further divided into six Technical Functioning Groups, namely, the Motherboard Technical Group, the Mechanism and Keyboard Technical Group, the Power Supply/Battery Technical Group, the External Procurement Group, the Integration Test Group, and the Electromagnetic Group. The operation of these Technical Functioning Groups was organised by the technical leaders o f CCL with the participation of the firms’ engineers.

The main task of these groups was the transfer of laboratory technology to a state suitable for manufacturing. In the process of development of certain components, many international (mostly, Japanese) and domestic firms wished to make a free offer of modified or specially designed components to accommodate the needs o f Teamate. Some suppliers were also the participating firms in the NPC Committee, which led to an accusation of monopoly. All component suppliers calculated that once their parts or components became the standard of Teamate, the rewards would be considerable. However, ITRI had abundant choices from which to select the most suitable component without paying a high cost in the development process. It also shortened the development process in such a way that many components could be developed by the suppliers.

The hard-working researchers and engineers in the Technical Functioning Groups were also very important in meeting the target of creating the prototype NPC by early November 1990. Between the final decision of a standard in the middle o f August and the USA COMDEX in early November, there were only two and half months left to produce sample NPCs (1-2 samples to each member). Because the Teamate project was the first case of a R&D consortium in Taiwan which had attracted national concern about its results, CCL, TEAMA, participating companies, and component suppliers

were enthusiastic about the progress of the Teamate47. Because of the pressure of time, some teams and supplier factories had to work exceptional hours (Interview' No.25 & 30).

The experience of developing a lap-top PC at CCL and the supportive technology developed in the Packaging STP were the main factors leading to the rapid commercialisation o f a NPC. The technological capability of CCL in the field of miniaturisation was in a leading position at a time when most domestic firms in the computer industry manufactured only less sophisticated products, such as keyboard, mouse, monitor, and diskette. The timing of Packaging STP added to ITRI was able to meet the need of the Teamate project in view of the fact that the core technology in packaging a miniaturised PC could be funded by government instead of using the resource o f NPC Alliance. It has to be noted that this STP was aimed at developing the technology of high intensive packaging, not at directly developing the NPC product, but the application of the packaging technology had a substantial influence on the design of the NPC (Interview No.30).

However, the ideas and suggestions of firms’ engineers were equally crucial to the extent that they provided practical manufacturing experience to overcome problems not envisaged by laboratory-based researchers in relation to mass production. Consequently, the integration of theoretical techniques and practical skill in the process of R&D created two advantageous elements. One was to offset the time gap between the transfer of technology and its transformation into a suitable state for manufacturing; the other was to build a model that firms could put into assembly line immediately. Both had a significant impact on matching the demand of the market, in particular, to the fast-changing market of a high tech industry.

47 The topic o f a strategic alliance was very new to the society at that time, in particular, a very large-scale indigenous public-private RAD consortium, which can be observed from the frequent news concerning the development of the NPC Alliance in the local media (Table 5.7).

When the prototype Teamate was exhibited at COMDEX, the response of the market was very positive. The market potential of Teamate was recognised which led to eagerness on the part of participating firms that CCL should provide the final production module and pass the test under the regulations of the US Federal Communication Committee in order to manufacture products as soon as possible. Many interviewees hold the view that the achievement of NPC Alliance has been very successful in terms o f product development so far. It is primarily as the result of the fact that the basic goal of the R&D consortium was clear and that every member was urgently asked to cooperate. However, soon after the sample model was developed, the motivation to cooperate for a common goal was eroded by the conflicts of the market potential for each firm. The situation between firms changed from ‘we are all in the same boat’ to ‘on the same bed but with different dreams’. Gradually, the NPC Alliance broke up, and cooperation turned into competition.

The CCL kept on modifying and testing the functions of Teamate to make sure its final model could be mass produced after COMDEX. The output of the first experimental production was 1,200 Teamate NPCs which would be exhibited at CEBIT, a computer show in Hanover, Germany. In February 1991, the 1,200 Teamates became the focus at the CEBIT. The total o f orders received from international buyers was twice that expected. However, the price of NPC in the international market dropped by twenty percent because the Taiwanese firms were competing with each other in terms of price rather than of quality48.

The failure o f the Production and Marketing Division to reach an effective agreement on the price led to a price war. Every firm hoped to expand its market share,

41 The functions and design o f Taiwanese NPCs in the CEBIT were the same at that time, the only difference was their appearances and marks because that their on gin came from the same resourcc-Tcomatc. Taiwanese firms with the same product could not diversify market, but to fall into a ‘bloody price battle' (Economic Daily News, 05/04/91). The international price for a NPC dropped from US$2,000 to 1,600 in few days during the CEBIT which was caused by the entry of Taiwan's Teamate.