台灣LED產業競爭因素之分析

Abstract

當傳統光源佔據整體照明市場時，消費者因發光二極體(LED)產品價格昂貴而鮮少注意其優越性，例如能源效率高、抗熱性、耐久性、光效能高與體積小。 然而，當石油價格高漲時，LED產品逐漸受到矚目。至2009年為止，日本掌握全球LED產品最大產量，台灣僅次於日本而佔有全球超過20%市場。台灣擁有由中小企業所構成的完整供應鏈，然而這些企業無法處於規模經濟資本化，不充分的競爭能力導致毛利率難以提升。本研究透過與領導廠商深度訪談，在LED生產製程的關鍵階段選出競爭因素，例如原物料(顯示銷貨成本)、技術契約(提升內部知識)、專利(掌握市場與獨佔利潤)、存貨週轉率(影響現金流動性)與營業費用(影響整體淨利)。 本研究發現原物料與營業費用對企業競爭力有顯著負面影響，技術性契約與存貨週轉率對企業競爭力有顯著正面影響。透過協議取得原物料可能包含協商成本，尤其面臨原物料短缺時，重新簽訂契約的協商成本更為明顯。科學園區支援企業營運需求，政府獎勵投資與研發活動，企業因此享有降低營業費用的利益。較高的存貨週轉率將使營運資金使用更有效率，企業與客戶合作結盟將可提高存貨週轉率。由企業與研究機構進行技術合作可增進生產水平，因此技術性契約可提升內部知識。此外，專利主要著重在防衛功能，對於獲利能力無法有同等的貢獻，因此，商業化專利是企業提升獲利能力最重要的使命。 在個別製程確認部分，上游製程中原物料與技術性契約對獲利能力有顯著影響力;中游公司因技術層次較低，主要扮演代工角色，因此整體競爭因素無法對獲利能力有充分解釋;下游公司必須與延伸產業建立技術伙伴關係，並且掌握特定封裝技術以符合終端市場的需求，技術性契約因此無法顯著影響獲利能力。 競爭因素彼此相互影響且彼此無絕對區隔，本研究探討台灣LED產業之競爭因素如何產生效能，進而衝擊企業競爭能力。

When conventional light sources occupied the entire illumination market, consumers paid little attention to the outstanding characteristics of Light Emitting Diode (LED) products, such as energy efficient, heat resistance, durability, light effectiveness, and small size, due to their expensive price. However, when petroleum prices increased, LED products garnered increased attention. Taiwan accounted for >20% of global market share for LED products and was second only to Japan, which held the largest LED output worldwide until 2009. Taiwan had complete supply chains, which consisted of small- and medium-sized enterprises. However, these firms cannot capitalize on economies of scale individually. Increasing gross profit rate is difficult due to insufficient competitiveness. This study extracted competitive factors from the critical stage of production processes via in-depth field interviews with the leaders of LED industry, such as raw materials (showing the cost of goods sold), technical contracts (promoting internal knowledge), patents (dominating market and monopoly profit), inventory turnover (affecting cash liquidity), and operating expenses (impacting overall net income). This study found that raw materials and operating expenses had significantly made negative influence, and technical contracts and inventory turnover had significantly made positive impact upon enterprise competitiveness. Obtaining raw materials via agreement might have additional consultation cost while renewing contracts, especially being shortage of raw materials. Science Parks give full support to firms’ operating requirement, and governments introduce preferential policies to encourage investment and R&D activity. Firms, therefore, could enjoy the benefit of reducing operating expenses. Higher inventory turnover could make more efficient working capital. Firms could raise inventory turnover via cooperation and alliance with clients. Technical cooperation via enterprises and research institutions could enhance production levels. Technical contracts can, therefore, promote internal knowledge. Moreover, patents are mainly committed to the defense function, and could not have coordinated contribution to profitability. Commercializing patents is, therefore, the most important mission that firms could make efforts to improve profitability. In individual process confirmation, raw materials and technical contracts impact significantly on profitability in upstream processes. Midstream firms are all playing Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) roles due to the lower technicl level, and, therefore, the overall competitive factors could not significantly explain profitability. Downstream firms have to build the relationship of technical partnership with extended industry, and holding specific packaging technology to meet the terminal market. Technical contracts could, thus, not significantly influence profitability in downstream firms. Competitive factors affect each other. There are not absolute distinctions among competitive factors. This study investigates how the competitive factors could generate efficiency, and, then, impact on enterprise competitiveness in Taiwan LED industry.