Abstract
One time, research and development activities is the least globalized function among all the functions operated by multinationals. And, in 2000s, the globalization of research and development activities has begun to change to show the new aspects-the location is expanding to the developing countries, and the function is expanding to the product development, also in the personal computer industry.
From the late 1980s, the personal computer industry began to employ the totally different form of production from the conventional vertical integration. This is so called “global production network, ” in which the whole procedure of the production is divided into several steps and locates each step to the geographically dispersed places, passing the national and company's border. In addition to that, from the early 2000s, the procedure of the product development began to be further divided into several steps and located to the geographically dispersed places including the developing countries.
How can we identify the new phenomenon? In this paper, I have tried to propose a conceptual framework to identify the phenomenon.
I first analyzed how the globalization of the development activities has been changed in 2000s. Then moved to the reasons why the phenomenon was occurred. They were seeking for the lower development cost, increasing endowment of the skilled R & D personnel, and the development of the ICT technology and increasing modularity of the architecture of the personal computer.
At last, I proposed a conceptual framework, “Global Development Network”, to identify the phenomenon of the globalization of the development activities in the Global Production Network of the personal computer industry. And, I have also seen the transformation of the Global Production Network of the personal computer industry after the emergence of the Global Development Network. The emergence of it has raised the presence of Taiwan in the Global Production Network of the personal computer.
