Affiliations: Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research, Taiwan.
E-mail: [email protected]
Abstract: The most important driver behind e-commerce in Taiwan appears to be
international competitive pressure; this is especially evident in the
manufacturing sector. E-commerce is more widely diffused in the manufacturing
sector in Taiwan, compared to the retail/wholesale and financial sectors, which
are more domestic-market oriented. The primary motivating factor behind
e-commerce adoption is to better serve customers, and the Internet also allows
firms to improve the efficiency of their internal processes and to enhance
staff productivity levels. In comparison with manufacturing firms in other
countries, Taiwanese firms are more concerned with improving forward linkages
to their customers than improving backward linkages to their suppliers. The purpose of the adoption of e-commerce is predominantly to
broaden their customer base by exploring new marketing channels, or to create
competition for the traditional channels. This stands in sharp contrast to
global firms, which tend to use it mainly to improve the traditional marketing
channels.