Abstract
At the SOC (System-on-Chip) age in IC design industry, the SIP (Silicon Intellectual Property) has gradually become the core concept and technology. The transactional mechanisms and correspondent issues with regard to relationship marketing are getting more salient and important. Previously, SIP transaction between a SIP buyer and a seller was in a face-to-face and closer manner with rather complex and troublesome processes. Such a transaction pattern brought quite a few problems including inefficiency in transactions and lack of transparency in information exchanges. In order to cope with such problems, the SIP Mall with particular characteristics of the B2B marketplace on the Internet was set up. Even though the efficiency in transaction and information exchange may be enhanced by the introduction of SIP Mall on the Internet, it is very likely, at the same time, the closer and complicated relationships engendered in the past transaction pattern between SIP buyers and sellers may be damaged and changed under the new transaction structure. In this study, for comparing the traditional and new SIP Mall transaction mechanisms, the potential effects in relationship quality between SIP buyers and sellers across different SIP transaction mechanisms will be investigated. Main theories in relationship marketing and electronic commerce will be reviewed and revised in the conceptual framework proposed in this study. In addition, the unique characteristics of SIP industry in Taiwan will be considered and incorporated in the construction of theoretical model. In this study, the sample will include more than 100 IC design houses in Taiwan which are SIP buyers. Quantitative tools will be applied for further data analysis and hypotheses verification. Finally, research conclusions and suggestions will be offered. The expected findings are as follows. Firstly, the practical issues involving in the SIP transactions for different mechanisms in Taiwan will be explored. Secondly, by participating in the new transaction pattern of SIP Mall, SIP buyers and sellers may encounter changing weights on different qualities of relationship marketing. Finally, based on the proposed conceptual framework, SIP buyers and sellers may better understand the potential effects in customer/supplier relationship management across different SIP transaction mechanisms, especially when transactions are involving in SIP Mall. The better manipulations and controls to enhance the customer/supplier relationship may be further developed to benefit Taiwan SIP industry and firms.