E-Business Strategies in the Taiwan Automobile Industry - Case Studies Approach

Automobile industry in Taiwan has the characteristics of capital and technology intensive, strong operation management capability, close relationship supply chain and has played a critical role in the international market. Since there are hundreds of the first-tier suppliers and thousands of the second-tier suppliers, this leads automobile industry to be one of the most important industries in Taiwan. Besides setting up big R&D centers, aggressively participating international collaboration, and building up overseas plants to face up the challenge of globalization, many automobile manufacturers have adopted e-business strategy as a key driver to strengthen their competitive advantages. This research aims to analyze the e-business strategy and the implementation models of the automobile industry in Taiwan. Through a review of the global automobile industry e-business practice, possible e-business trends are discussed. Three representative cases, each with different e-business strategy and B2B EC project, are presented where an analysis framework is used to classify their implementation models. The results of this strategic analysis can be used to support the industry practitioners to develop their e-business strategies.