紡織成衣業的支援服務系統:以歐盟國家為師的標竿研究

Abstract

台灣的紡織成衣業在四十年的輝煌歷史後，如今正面臨前所未有的挑戰，而且政府產業發展的政策偏向高科技產業，傳統產業如紡織成衣業等的持續發展是較被忽視的。因此本論文希望探索目前在台灣的產業服務系統，找出業者實際的需求，並學習歐盟國家的服務支援政策及一些傑出服務機構的作法，以作為公部門政策的參考。 本研究認為國家創新系統（National Innovation System）是一個國家應努力創造的經濟環境，為的是提供創新觀念與技術的推展與開發及轉移。此等創新活動可包含新產品、新設備、與新生產技術及資訊科技的開發，以提升整個產業的競爭力。在國家創新系統裡，不可或缺的是建立在產業周邊的服務支援機制。這個服務支援機制能協助產業改善技術專業、品質水準、與因應市場變化的能力。因此，國家創新系統的建立對於傳統產業與高科技產業是一樣有效的。 服務支援系統牽涉到政府與其它半官方的服務與研發機構，而業界與這些機構的互動關係正是服務支援系統是否能有效運作的關鍵。影響這些互動關係的主要因素有政府的法令規章、獎勵政策、以及這些服務機構的環境與組織架構。這些主要的影響因素也稱為與政策相關的「架構條件」，它們或為政府部門所直接設計規範，或相當程度被政府制定的政策影響。經由這些架構條件，政府得以影響業界及服務機構的行為與策略。 服務支援系統建立在多層面的互動關係上：一、不同業者之間；二、在業界與服務機構之間；三、在不同的服務機構之間。後兩者的互動關係正是本論文的研究重點。本研究運用深度訪談方法調查現行的服務提供系統，並了解業界實際的需求。總共有十五位產、官、學界之重要人士參與訪談。 本研究的訪談發現業界的實際需求與現行系統所提供的服務在質與量上面皆有相當的差異。同時該發現也突顯了政府政策在「硬」技術開發上的重視。相對的，有關產業經營面向的「軟」技術卻是比較缺乏開發的。此外本研究將這些訪談結果與我們從諸多文獻探討中所了解的傑出歐盟國家與機構的「最佳範例」做比較，發現這些歐洲的服務與技術研發機構的很多策略與做法可作為我們標竿研究的對象。 因此本研究在結論裡提出我們深度訪談所得的心得，並整理「最佳範例」的學習成對政策的建言。我們深信政府不應忽視它的公權力與責任以創造一個紮實的經濟環境，來觸動產業與經濟的發展。然而，如同Porter所言：「只有低科技公司，沒有低科技產業。」，公司才是整個國家創新系統裡的主角，只有自我啟動，才得以把握大環境提供的機會，執行提昇競爭力的變革計畫。

After four decades of glorious time, with the removal of quota restrictions and the rising of China competition as recent impacts, the textile & clothing (T&C) sector in Taiwan is facing an unprecedented challenging time now. In the meantime, when the high-tech industries are highly promoted and pursued by the government and the private entrepreneurs alike, the future of the ‘traditional’ sector seems to be left less attended. As a result, we wish to investigate the current business support system to the T&C sector in Taiwan, to identify the hidden needs of the private sector, as well as to benchmark the service provision system against the leading service provision intermediaries, especially those in the European Union (EU) countries. Through the research of this thesis, we believe that National Innovation System (NIS) is the economic and social context that a nation should construct in order to foster the innovative technology development and the diffusion of technologies. Such innovation may include the development of new product, new method and new equipment for production, as well as the promotion of information technologies so as to enhance the overall competitiveness of the industry. The indispensable part in such innovation system is the service support mechanism built around the needs of the industries within the national economic context. Such supportive services will help the industry improve the skills & specialization, quality level, and flexibility through the direct business services and through a better access to technical or management knowledge and information. Therefore, the establishment of National Innovation System is the right approach to the high-tech industries, as well as to traditional industries such as the T&C sector. However, a service support system involves multiple actors from the government and semi-public institutions. The interrelationship between the private enterprises with these organizations is the key to the effectiveness of the service provision system. Furthermore, the dominant factors affecting the interaction among these private and public actors include the legislation & regulations, promotion programs, institutional setting and intermediary structures. These factors are called ‘policy-related framework conditions’. They are either designed directly by the government policy-makers or strongly shaped by the public policies. Through such instruments, the government influences the behavior of the relative actors within the national economic network. The service support system is set on the multilateral interrelationship in different ways: 1) among various enterprises; 2) between the industry and the service institutions; and 3) among different service institutions. The last two types of interrelationship are the focus of this research. This research will first investigate the prevailing service provision system in Taiwan for T&C sector and identify the needs of the industry. To do these, we applied the interview methodology and proceeded with a direct dialogue with the core players in the sector. A total of 15 interviews were conducted. It covered three groups of related interviewees: private (enterprises) sector, public sector and academic sector. The findings from the interviews demonstrate that there is a gap between the industry’s real demands and the content as well as the amount of the services provided to them. In addition, they also illustrate that the public policies are directed towards the provision of scientific technology which are referred as the ‘hard’ technologies, but the ‘soft’ technologies involving various aspects of business management gain less attention. Furthermore, we compared our findings with the ‘better practices’ of both business service centers (BSCs) and research & technology institutes (RTIs) from some EU countries. These ‘better practices’, which we learned through the literature review, may not be T&C-specific, but in general they present the ways to enhance the competitiveness of the industry and to improve the interaction between the industry and the service institutions. In other words, they are valuable resources against which the Taiwan T&C sector should benchmark. As a result, we concluded this thesis by presenting the implications from the interviews and the policy recommendations thus developed. We emphasized that the government should not give away the power and responsibility to establish a solid economic environment to allow the industry to develop and flourish. It is important to note that the public policies and programs can regulate and shape the structures of the industry and the institutions and further influence their behavior and interrelationship. In other words, that is how the government should act as a catalyst of the industrial development and economic growth. However, as Porter suggests “there are no low-tech industries, only low-tech firms” (2005). Ultimately, the firms themselves are the core to grasp the opportunities to carry out the evolution plans under the context that National Innovation System builds. In the end, the true merit of an innovative economic society is all about how the knowledge flows openly and that all sectors obtain an easier access to the knowledge and information of their needs, ranging from financial support, to marketing promotion, global relocation, IT infrastructure, e-commercialization, and much more. And this is the perfect economic society that we should strive for.