Abstract
With an emphasis on a longitudinal analysis, this master thesis aims to explore technology strategies of Taiwan’s electronic and computer public listed firms and their performance implications. Four technological areas of strategic choices are identified: leadership vs. followership, R&D investment, technology scope, and hierarchy vs market. We then use branding ratio, R&D intensity, product breadth, added-value, respectively, to measure these four theoretical dimensions proposed. Cluster analysis is used to separate sample firms into several strategic groups, and each firm’s group in different periods is identified in order to reveal the evolutionary pattern of our sample firms’ technology strategies. Multiple regression analysis is also used to check the difference of each group in each period, while T test is employed to rank and identify superior performance group. Our first research result shows that our sample firms can be classified into six distinguished technology strategic groups. Among them, firms in the opportunistic OEM group are the most substantial, and firms in the technology leader group are the minority. In terms of evolutionary analysis, we find some firms move between identified groups in different periods. This shows the possibility of low degree of strategic rigidity and some strategic choices might easily be changed. In terms of strategic implications for performance, we show that in economic boom, technology leader group and concentrated OBM group will be optimal technological strategic choices. In economic recession, choice of hierarchical efficiency or professional OEM group will be a desirable, if not ideal, strategy. Finally, we find firms’ strategies stressing on opportunistic OEM will be negatively related to financial performance. Suggestions for future studies are drawn out.