Moving on

摘要

At the start of this decade, three-quarters of the world's notebook computers were made in Taiwan. Now the last of the production lines-except for a few top-of-the-range models—are preparing to move to China. "Taiwan is no longer a manufacturing paradise," says K.Y. Lee, the chairman and chief executive of BenQ Corporation, a Taiwanese maker of consumer electronics and mobile phones. How can the island adapt? Many of its companies have prospered in the same way as BenQ, by making IT products for other companies which sell them under their own brands-a process known as original design manufacturing (ODM) or original equipment manufacturing (OEM), depending on the amount of creative work involved. But China is fast getting into the ODM business too. At the same time, consolidation among the brand-name IT producers has reduced the number of potential customers for the ODM manufacturers and intensified compe- tition. "We think the company cannot rely on this sort of business in the long term," says Mr Lee. "We must find a way out."