ndex

Taiwan ................................................................................................................ 2

Location and Geography................................................................................. 2

Demography. .................................................................................................. 2

Linguistic Affiliation. ........................................................................................ 3

Symbolism. ..................................................................................................... 3

Social Stratification ......................................................................................... 4

Classes and Castes. ................................................................................... 4

Symbols of Social Stratification. .................................................................. 4

Gender Roles and Statuses ............................................................................ 5

Division of Labor by Gender. ....................................................................... 5

The Relative Status of Women and Men. .................................................... 5

Food and Economy ......................................................................................... 6

Food in Daily Life. ....................................................................................... 6

Basic Economy. .......................................................................................... 7

Commercial Activities. ................................................................................. 9

Major Industries. .......................................................................................... 9

Trade. .......................................................................................................... 9

Division of Labor. ...................................................................................... 10

Current Economy .......................................................................................... 11

 Rule of law ................................................................................................ 12

Government size ....................................................................................... 12

Regulatory efficiency ................................................................................. 13

Open markets............................................................................................ 13

Social Factors contributing to Economic Development ................................. 14

Attitudes and Conditions ........................................................................... 15

Mounting Self Respect .............................................................................. 16

Ethics and Economics ............................................................................... 17

Erasing Prejudice ...................................................................................... 19

Better Educated and Trained .................................................................... 20

Taking Entrepreneurial Risk ...................................................................... 21

Barriers to Trade ....................................................................................... 22

A Favorable Climate for Industrial Development ....................................... 23

Per and Taiwan ........................................................................................... 25

Empower companies .................................................................................... 26

Large companies in the country ................................................................ 27

Notable companies ................................................................................... 28

Webgraphy ....................................................................................................... 30

1
 Taiwan
Alternative Name: Republic of China

Location and Geography.

Taiwan lies between Japan and

Philippines, off the southeastern

coast of China. The total area is

13,800 square miles, (32,260

square kilometers). A massive

mountain range covers two-thirds

of the island and includes East

Asia's highest peak, Y Shan.

The subtropical climate is

affected by two weather patterns:

a continental monsoon that brings

cool, wet weather to the northern half of the island between October and March

and an ocean monsoon that brings rain to the southern half between April and

September. The monsoons can bring devastating typhoons. Most mainlanders

live in the north, Taiwanese live along the western coast, and aborigines live in

the mountains and on the eastern coast.

Demography.

With an estimated population of 22,113,250 in 1999, Taiwan is the second most

densely populated country in the world. Seventy percent of the population is

Hokkien, 14 percent is Hakka, 14 percent is Mainlander, and two percent is

aboriginal. The population is 56 percent urban.

2
Linguistic Affiliation.

Mandarin Chinese is the national language and the language of education,

government, and culture. Taiwanese speakTaiyu,a southern Min dialect

(nanminhua), or Hakka. There are seven distinct aboriginal languages, which are

grouped into three language families. Most Taiwanese and aborigines speak both

a local language and the national language. Mainlanders are monolingual,

although some second-generation mainlanders speak Taiwanese.

Symbolism.

The symbols of the national culture are conspicuous on the Double Ten (10

October), a national holiday that commemorates the founding of the Republic of

China (ROC) in 1911. In Taipei, the Presidential Office Building is lit up and

covered with a colossal portrait of Sun Yat-sen, the ROC's founding father. The

highlight of the parade is a city-block-long dragon, a symbol of imperial China and

the ROC's recently abandoned claim to be the legitimate government of all of

China and the preserver of the Chinese cultural heritage. A large military

presence reminds onlookers of the government's determination to defend the

homeland against communist aggression. High school marching bands in brightly

colored uniforms are symbols of the modern educational system and modernity

in general. Students from the eastern coast dress in aboriginal costumes to

symbolize the government's paternalistic benevolence. Missing from the parade

are aborigines who advocate self-determination and the Taiwanese goddess and

protector Mazu, who is a potent symbol of popular culture, a local variant of

China's Little Tradition that resists the inculcation of an elite Chinese national

culture.

3
Social Stratification

Classes and Castes.

The class system includes the chronically unemployed poor, beggars, and

the underworld; the upper and lower bourgeoisie; and the working and

middle classes. The upper bourgeoisie constitutes 5 percent of the

population and include high-ranking government officials, officials who run

large state-owned companies, and the owners of companies that employ

more than two hundred people. The petty bourgeoisie makes up half the

population and includes farmers, small Business people, and artisans. The

working class makes up a fifth of the population, and the middle class

another fifth. The middle class is composed of more educated persons

who engaged in no manual work in government, education, the military

and large companies. In the past, class coincided with ethnic group.

Mainlanders constituted the bulk of the upper bourgeoisie and the middle

class, and Taiwanese and aborigines accounted for most of the chronically

poor, the working class, and the lower bourgeoisie. However, Taiwan's

economic miracle and the Taiwanization of the government have lifted

many residents into the upper bourgeoisie and the middle class.

Symbols of Social Stratification.

Taiwan is a modern consumer society in which status is measured by

wealth and marked by the commodities one can afford to buy, such as

automobiles, clothes, and homes, as well as one's lifestyle. A person can

live very cheaply in the countryside in a modest apartment, buying produce

from an outdoor market, eating at street stands, and transporting a family

of five on a scooter. One also can own a large condominium on a

4
 prestigious avenue in Taipei, eat in expensive restaurants, wear Western

brand-name clothes, and ride in cabs or a chauffeured Mercedes.

Gender Roles and Statuses

Division of Labor by Gender.

A universal educational system and a modern industrial economy have not

changed the nation's patriarchal culture. Although women work in every

industry, they tend to have poorly paid menial jobs. In the office, they

occupy the lower tier of managerial jobs. Women's wages and salaries are

generally lower than men's and women earn only 72 percent of men's

income for equivalent work. In the heyday of rural industry, factories

accommodated young mothers by bringing work to their homes. Some

women run their own businesses and occupy positions of power in the

government.

The Relative Status of Women and Men.

Filial piety, fraternal loyalty, lineage solidarity, and family are the pillars of

this patriarchal society. Although women were vital to the reproduction of

the patrilineage, that role translated into few rights for women. However,

the domestic notions of prosperity, happiness, and peace constituted a

parallel set of values that was tied to household productivity and well-

being. Insofar as women's hard work and organizing skills contributed to a

household's prosperity, women gained respect in the home. Women's

organizing skills and adeptness at relationship building have to been

important assets in small-scale industries, in which many successful

women manage businesses and supervise workers in small factories and

workshops. The network building required in the rural and export industries

5
 has favored relationships with relatives on both sides of the family,

increasing the importance of women. Women have gone to college and

joined professional ranks, and some have entered politics. Recent trends

reflect an increase in women's power and status, such as delayed

marriages, higher divorce rates, fewer children, and higher educational

attainment among women. A growing feminist movement actively

promotes women's rights. Legislation has been enacted that recognizes

women's rights to child custody and inheritance of property. However, men

continue to hold most material wealth and political power and strongly

resist the women's movement. Women leaders have been vilified and

jailed.

Food and Economy

Food in Daily Life.

Food brings people together,

and the eating and

exchange of food define

social groups. The family is

identified as people who eat

together, and dinner is a

secular ritual that reinforces

family relationships. Sharing

food in the home signifies equality, and people of higher rank are never

invited to dine in one's home. Larger groups of kin, neighbors, and temple

members come together less frequently to share meals and reinforce their

social connections.

6
Taiwan is a country of fish eaters. Food is cooked slowly in soups and

stews or quickly by deep frying. Favorite dishes include oysters with black

bean sauce, prawns wrapped in seaweed, abalone, cucumber crab rolls,

and clam and winter melon soup. Small restaurants display fresh produce

on the street so that customers can choose their evening meal. Fruit drinks

are prepared in special beverage shops. Prosperity has produced a

business culture that stresses entertaining, which supports restaurants

that offer food from all the culinary regions of China. Western influences

are found in bakeries and coffee shops in towns and cities. Buddhist food

restrictions have produced a vegetarian cuisine in which bean curd, wheat

gluten, and mushrooms are transformed into renditions of standard

cuisine, sometimes being molded into the shape of ducks, chickens, and

fish.

Taiwan is famous for tea, especially the lightly roasted oolong tea.

Teahouses exist in almost every town, and most households have a tea

cart to serve guests. Tea is brewed in a small pot and served in one-ounce

cups. It is considered stimulating, conducive to conversation, and

beneficial to health.

Basic Economy.

The Taiwanese have long been traders. Before the first Han settlers

arrived, aborigines traded dried deer meat and hides with Chinese and

Japanese merchants. When the Dutch arrived at the beginning of the

seventeenth century, they developed markets in grain and sugar. In the

second half of the nineteenth century, camphor and tea became major

exports. The Japanese developed the island's economic infrastructure and

7
agricultural capacity, making Taiwan a major producer and exporter of

sugar. During World War II, the Japanese began to industrialize Taiwan,

but this initiative was cut short by the bombing that destroyed a large

portion of the island's industry and transportation infrastructure. Significant

amounts of U.S. aid were received in the postwar years. The government

used that money to develop key industries, especially petrochemicals,

which produced human-made raw materials such as plastic. When U.S.

aid was phased out in the early 1960s, the government was forced to find

other sources of revenue. After a brief period of import substitution that

allowed the building of industries, the government encouraged export

production, which could utilize the cheap and educated labor force.

Japan's large trading companies provided second hand machinery to

manufacturers. The Cold War sharply divided world markets, and both

Japan and Taiwan benefitted from their close connection to the U.S.

market. Real growth in the gross domestic product (GDP) averaged over

9 percent per year between 1952 and 1980. In that period, Taiwan

transformed itself from an agrarian economy in which farming constituted

35 percent of GDP in 1952 to an industrial economy in which industry

accounted for by 35 percent of GDP and agriculture. Taiwan's 1997 GDP

made it the twentieth largest economy in the world. The real motor of

expansion has been accounted for by small and mediums size companies,

which in 1998 made up over 98 percent of all companies, 75-80 percent of

employment, and was responsible for 47 percent of economic production.

8
Commercial Activities.

Taiwan has a modern market economy with a large service sector, which

comprises two-thirds of GDP. In July 2000, the Taipei Stock Exchange

Corporation listed 473 companies with a total capitalization of NT $910

billion (U.S. $30.33 billion). The exchange rate for the New Taiwanese

dollar (NT$) on 23 February 2001 was NT $33 to U.S. $1.00 (NT $1.00 =

U.S. $0.031).

Major Industries.

The major agricultural products are pork, rice, betel nuts, sugarcane,

poultry, shrimp, and eel. The major industries are electronics, textiles,

chemicals, clothing, food processing, plywood, sugar milling, cement,

shipbuilding, and petroleum refining.

Trade.

In 1997, the major exports were electronics and computer products, textile

products, basic metals, and plastic and rubber products. The United

States, Hong Kong (including indirect trade with the PRC), and Japan

account for 60 percent of exports, and the United States and Japan provide

over half the imports.

The country also exports capital to Southeast Asian countries such as

Thailand, Indonesia, the Philippines, Malaysia, and Vietnam. Taiwan has

become a major investor in China. In the year 2000, 250,000 Taiwanese

worked on the mainland in forty-thousand companies owned or partly

owned by Taiwanese, representing an investment of $40 billion (U.S.) and

accounting for 12 percent of China's export earnings.

9
Division of Labor.

In 1991, the seven major urban occupational classifications were:

Professional, technical, and administrative (32 percent), such as

teachers, physicians, engineers, architects, artists, actors,

accountants, reporters, managers, and government officials;

Large business owners (20 percent) and private business firms

employing ten or more people;

Lower white-collar clerical employees (12 percent) such as clerks,

secretaries, sales personnel, and bookkeepers;

Small business owners (24 percent) of firms employing fewer than

ten workers;

Skilled blue-collar workers (6 percent) such as carpenters, auto

mechanics, electricians, lathe operators, printers, shoemakers,

tailors, ironworkers, textile workers, and drivers;

Farmers (1 percent);

10
 Semi skilled and unskilled blue-collar workers (7 percent) such as

a bricklayers, cooks, factory workers, construction workers, railroad

firemen, janitors, laborers, street cleaners, temple keepers,

barbers, security guards, police officers, and masseurs.

Current Economy

Taiwans private sector has benefited from a relatively well-developed

commercial code and open-market policies that facilitate the free flow of goods

and capital. Small and medium-size enterprises have been the backbone of

Taiwans dynamic economic expansion. A sound legal framework is in place to

provide strong protection of property rights and uphold the rule of law.

Although institutional and economic fundamentals are in place, further reforms to

increase competition and openness will be critical to sustaining the momentum

for growth. The level of state involvement in the export-oriented economy remains

considerable. Privatization and market liberalization are ongoing, but progress

has been slow and uneven. The financial sector remains fragmented.

Background

Taiwan is a dynamic multi-party democracy, and its economy is one of the richest

in Asia. The Democratic Progressive Party returned to power when Tsai Ing-wen

was elected president in 2016. As a result of the election and the economic

slowdown in China, tourism, an important source of economic growth, has

declined. Taiwan is excluded from membership in the United Nations, other

international organizations, and a variety of free trade arrangements as part of

Beijings efforts to pressure it into unification. Although internal opposition to

11
engaging with China is considerable because of fears that sovereignty will be

lost, recent economic arrangements bind the island closer to the mainland.

Rule of law

Property rights are generally

protected, and contracts are

enforced effectively. The

judiciary is independent, and

the court system is largely free

of political interference.

Although corruption is much less

prevalent today, it remains a problem. Politics and big business are closely

intertwined, and this leads to malfeasance in government procurement. In

November 2015, a former New Taipei City deputy mayor was charged with taking

$230,000 in bribes.

Government size

The top personal income

tax rate has been raised to

45 percent. The top

corporate tax rate is 17

percent. Other taxes

include a value-added tax and

an interest tax. The overall tax burden equals 12.3 percent of total domestic

income. Government spending has amounted to 18.7 percent of total output

(GDP) over the past three years, and budget deficits have averaged 2.9 percent

of GDP. Public debt is equivalent to 38.3 percent of GDP.

12
Regulatory efficiency

The overall freedom to conduct

business is relatively well

protected under the transparent

regulatory environment. The no

salary cost of employing a

worker is low, but regulations on

work hours are not flexible. Taiwan law mandates price controls on electricity and

salt, and the government regulates prices for fuels and pharmaceutical products.

Other prices are determined largely by the market.

Open markets

Trade is extremely

important to Taiwans

economy; the value of

exports and imports

taken together equals

111 percent of GDP.

The average applied tariff

rate is 1.9 percent, and some agricultural imports face additional barriers. Foreign

investment is screened, and investment in some sectors is restricted. The

financial sector continues to evolve, and the stock market is generally open to

foreign participation. Foreign banks play a relatively small role.

13
Social Factors contributing to Economic Development

During the past 30 years, the outstanding achievements in economic

development within the Republic of China (ROC) have been recognized all over

the world by leading economists and businessmen.

Here in its base area of Taiwan, the ROC launched the first of a series of four

year plans in 1952. Since then, the obvious statistics are impressive: GNP has

increased by 11.2 times, with an average annual growth rate of 6.7 percent. Per

capita income increased by a factor of five. These are calculated in real terms.

In actual 1980 exchange rates, absolute income per head for that year amounted

to US$2102.

As for foreign trade, its 1980 exports and imports totaled, respectively, US$19.8

billion and US$19.7 billion as compared with the 1952 figures of US$110 million

and US$180 million.

By this bare outline, we gain a clear picture of the magnitude of economic growth

in Taiwan.

What really counts, of course, is the actual livelihood of the people and it is easily

seen that they are pursuing the standard of living common to the industrialized

nations.

Virtually no family is without a TV set, whether urban or rural. Most provide

themselves with refrigerators. It is rare to see a person wearing patched clothing.

Indeed, clothing is no longer merely a covering for the body, but is more often a

14
fashionable symbol of prestige or social standing. Fans abound, and air

conditioning proliferates.

Traditional eating habits are still changing, but we can already see large

increases in the consumption of milk, meat, and wheat as people desire more

nutritious, higher protein diets.

Compared with only the very wealthy of 30 years ago, today even moderately

successful businessmen and industrialists mostly own and drive relatively new

cars.

Overall, this enhancement in the standard of living could not have been dreamed

of 30 years ago.

This is especially so because of natural factors: Taiwan is an island of 36,000

square kilometers endowed with but a little coal, timber, and limestone. From this

viewpoint, the potential for economic growth would seem poor. In other words,

we may say that the main resources involve the population currently something

over 17 million. The conclusion, therefore, is that if Taiwans recent achievements

are a miracle, it is a human miracle.

Attitudes and Conditions

A number of economists, especially from abroad, have tried to explain this

miracle. But they most often take the easy path in analysis. They focus upon the

most visible factors, such as the quantity and quality of capital, of natural

resources; the structure and diversification of transportation and

communications; the quantity and sources of power; the number of schools; the

15
labor supply, and so on. All of these visible things are more easily counted,

constituting a strong appeal to the economic experts.

It is, however, my thesis that the facts will show invisible factors to be more

important to economic progress than are the visible factors.

The visible factors are those tangibles which are not so difficult to get or to build,

provided the people devote their time to following the successful examples of the

developed countries.

But what I refer to as invisible factors are those attitudes and conditions that must

grow within a society itself; they take time, depend upon the nations culture and

tradition, and cannot be produced in or imported from a foreign country. Hence,

for an under developed country, the provision of these invisible contributing

factors to economic development is much more difficult than that of the visible

factors.

Have we not seen undeveloped and under developed countries, full of natural

resources, struggling with little success to become industrialized? This is a good

bit of evidence to support my view of the importance of the invisible over the

visible factors of achievement.

Here, then, we come to factors, invisible cultural and psychological factors, which

I believe have not been mentioned by economists in previous analyses of our

economy.

Mounting Self Respect

In the first place, we must consider the national self-consciousness that asserted

itself after World War II within some previously colonized countries. Those

16
societies felt that they had fallen too far behind the developed nations, in both

industrial, civilized standards and in the practical standard of living. Hence, they

strongly desired opportunities for self-improvement. This was not only a reaction

to the colonial policies of the past; it was also an urgent pursuit of self-expression

and of self-respect on their own.

In consequence, a driving force developed, as it were, a single will for a whole

people. A great pressure was brought upon these governments to make

development a preoccupation.

Just such a case is the Republic of Korea and the ROCs Taiwan province, too.

In response to this request, and with the support of the vast majority of the

people,.the ROC government began the first of its consecutive economic plans.

They have been brought into effect, one by one throughout 30 years, while the

people the most important resource have been employed economically and to

efficient effect in coordination with the policies and measures established by the

government.

But what at first sounds like standard political economy is not the whole story.

Cultural ethics are also importantly involved. In Taiwan, people have gradually

changed their ideas about personal behavior.

Ethics and Economics

There is both co-existence and contradiction in traditional Chinese attitudes

toward ethics and economic behavior. Perhaps this is natural in all primarily

agricultural societies. It is very similar to the coexistence of internal and external

ethics as pointed out by the noted German sociologist and economist, Max

17
Weber. It is also something like the Jewish and Christian conflicts over usury, on

the one hand, and rents, on the other.

Especially after 1952, gradually growing attitudinal changes became apparent

among the people of Taiwan. In one aspect, ethics continued to be seen as rules

of social behavior but in the marketplace, it became more acceptable to view

economic behavior as an aim to legally pursue maximum satisfaction or profit as

a proper reward for the risks of entrepreneurship.

For our economic understanding, the most impressive changes are to be found

in the new distinctions being made between obligations and persona] rights;

between charity and repayment of kindness.

Virtually all are now aware that pursuing the good life depends primarily upon

ones own individual effort.

A relative or friend may desire to extend support; but if he does so, it is a kindness,

not any longer an obligation. From this develops the further idea that it is better

to be able to give than to be in a position of having to receive.

These changes induced better and wider understanding of the risk/reward

relationship in entrepreneurial efforts.

In another important aspect, too, we can see a drastic change from traditional

attitudes toward, or judgments upon, social values. The Chinese have for long

attached special importance to intellectualism. More than 2,000 years ago,

Mencius said, Some labor with their minds, and some labor with their muscles.

The former rule; the latter are ruled.

18
Naturally, then, manual labor however necessary was to be despised, and

scholasticism even when uttering pedantic nonsense was more likely to be

revered.

But the Industrial Revolution has taught all of its successful followers that such

compartmentalization is wastefully inefficient. And so we see that economic

development modern industrialization makes necessary changes in various

criteria of social values.

Especially amongst the younger but also amongst the sharper of the older

generation in Taiwan, we see strong consideration being given to the value of

independently earning ones own way in profitable enterprise.

Erasing Prejudice

From these considerations there follows a marked decrease in prejudice as all

honest and legal jobs are seen to be useful to the personal goal. The manual

laborer, educated and trained .to think, becomes semiskilled and then skilled. The

college engineer, getting his hands familiar with the inner workings of machinery

and circuits, tempers theory with practicality and becomes a more efficient

designer. And as both groups come into more frequent contact, old prejudices

further diminish.

All of these foregoing attitudinal changes in Taiwan have nicely conspired to bring

forth extraordinary and unprecedented driving forces in both manual skills and in

creativity. They are factors which are not easily quantified statistically and are, in

that sense, invisible. But I would find it hard to overestimate the extent to which

these valuable changes have exercised a favorable impact upon the economic

development of the ROC on Taiwan.

19
Underlying all of this, there must be, of course, a proper infrastructure that

includes a work ethic, education, law, and order.

In some under developed societies, particularly in warm or tropical areas, there

is an attitude toward work itself that can only be described as indolent. But the

people of Taiwan, an island classified as sub-tropical, are influenced by an age

old Chinese ethic that is much more northerly. It strongly stresses respectful

attention or a phrase that might be translated into sincere, true, and faithful

mentality, though it does not emphasize the Western exactness or precision.

In America, the coined workaholic is popularly applied to managers and

executives who work habitually more than 50 or so hours per week. But in

Taiwan, especially since the onset of industrialization, the newly arising

entrepreneurs, in conjunction with their employees, expend great effort by

assuming respectful attention to their business; they watch everything carefully

and dare not be negligent in their duties. Today, visiting foreigners are usually

amazed at the number of managers and executives who work long after

suppertime and throughout the weekend.

Better Educated and Trained

Still, all of the above would be in vain were the following generation to be no more

advanced than the one before. Thus, 30 years of expanding and improving

education have prepared myriads of sons and daughters not only to enter, but to

improve our industries and services. On a competitive basis of high standards,

application to undergraduate and graduate studies is publicly available. From

these qualified young people, numerous men and women of high ability are

equipped with the knowledge and skills required to run the businesses of design,

20
production, and trading and shipping services. It must, then, be concluded that

success in Taiwans educational efforts is partly responsible for its achievements

in economic development.

Of course, schools and graduates can be quantified and analyzed and are, in that

sense, visible. But there is an invisible aspect that I want to stress. Before being

awakened to a specific sense of economic development, most Chinese people

were more or less satisfied with being constant income earners; meaning that

they tended to run some business in a routine way, peacefully, safely avoiding

risk where possible. But this could never have resulted in the tens of thousands

of firms that now exist on Taiwan.

Taking Entrepreneurial Risk

For some, it began after schooling; for many, it began during school days: but as

Taiwans embryonic development began to unfold, thousands of youths acquired

an attitude just the opposite of their fathers attitude. Thousands and thousands

of young people and this does include women began to seriously consider quitting

jobs with incomes controlled by others in order to set up one man or youthful

partnership companies. At best, of course, this is risky. But the young people

have learned to do their best in forming optimum combinations of the factors of

production. And, in taking these risks, they have also learned that the

entrepreneur is the most important factor in national economic expansion.

Recognizing the risk of failure, the potential satisfaction and profits of success

are the basic, driving power that pushes the young person who sees the light of

entrepreneurship.

21
So this is another thing that amazes the foreign visitor to the ROC on Taiwan:

The very high percentage of one man firms, of companies headed by a two or

three man partnership, and so many of them not yet 30 years of age. They total

a huge contribution to domestic production and services and, of course, to

overseas marketing. The growing dollar value of their efforts is statistical and

visible. What is not so visible to foreign economists is the tremendous energy that

our youth bring to discovering new ways to get the job done.

I do not hesitate to say that positive attitudes, particularly amongst the young,

toward entrepreneurial effort all over Taiwan are enormously beneficial to its

economic achievements.

Some would avoid the issue of race; but, even avoiding it publicly, many will

privately filter any analysis through their own biases. Allow me to openly declare

that I believe the Chinese are among the more intelligent races of mankind.

Historical evidence places 16th Century China at least on the same level with

other nations, both in culture and in economy; it is one of the oldest of nations,

and one of the few not colonized by the western world.

So far as I can see, the factor that caused China to fall behind the western world

was the absence of an industrial revolution. Ah, yes; but, why this lack?

Barriers to Trade

Western societies and nation states first arose around an inland sea that

bordered upon the edges of three continents, permitting faster and somewhat

less risky intercommunications between diverse peoples. For most of western

22
history, there have ever been two, and sometimes several, cultural systems in

contention which means a more frequent, if not always constant, contest of ideas.

In contrast, the vast bulk of China was and is landlocked by formidable natural

barriers on three sides, with an infinitely larger, and frequently angrier, ocean on

the fourth.

Too, a thousand years before Athens contested with the cultures of Asia Minor

and Egypt, China was unified, and under the twin conditions of unity and relative

isolation, the Chinese form of feudalism and monarchism grew stronger and more

ritualistic. These are the conditions that combined forces to restrain the kind of

thought, action, and experimentation that might otherwise have permitted an

almost wholly agricultural society to discover or learn the secrets of

industrialization.

I submit, then, that race has nothing to do with the earlier failure of industrial

development in China. For added proof, observe that from the very earliest

emigrants, those Chinese, individuals or families, who moved outward to South

East Asia, taking little or no capital with them, came quickly to positions of

economic prominence and sometimes to great wealth among the societies in

which they worked, and this is now observable all over the world. Chinese people

are as capable of entrepreneurial activity as are the Scots of Adam Smith. And to

this fact we may attribute much of the success in the development of Taiwans

economy.

A Favorable Climate for Industrial Development

Finally, it is a basic premise that there must be a good climate for investment,

many trading opportunities, and a high probability of profit making. These, in turn,

23
depend upon a rule by law and not by men. Given this, one expects a stable

political environment that safeguards private property and legal economic

activities, paving the way for harmonious relations between labor and

management. These will make it possible to produce and trade in compliance

with planned, or at least reasonably anticipated, costs and sales. These also

make possible the advancement of the laborer and the upward mobility of the

young as they may risk striking out on their own.

In the past 30 years, the Republic of China has impressed the world with its long

term stability. There have been no social upheavals or crippling strikes, largely

because both labor and management see greater benefits for all through

cooperation and concession. Many foreign investors and traders have stated that

such a favorable and stable climate can hardly be found elsewhere in the

developing world. Thus, this favorable image is projected and perceived

internationally, with a result that enhances domestic capital formation and both

foreign investments and trade relations.

For these reasons, many more factors of production become available and move

steadily into Taiwan, paying back their fair and reasonable returns through the

market functions. No place is perfect; but a society that approaches economic

activity with a sense of fair play brings forth an additional factor which hastens its

economic development.

Economic development in the Republic of China was embryonic for many years.

Then, as entrepreneurial attitudes took shape under a rule of law, it began rolling

like a snowball down a favorable path, constantly accumulating both substance

and velocity.

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And, this has been witnessed and well understood by the young.

Today, the young Chinese emerge both men and women stronger and better

educated than their fathers.

They have no hesitation in taking full responsibility for moving forward, moving

upward, moving at full speed.

Many of the results are statistically visible. But the entrepreneurial attitudes the

motivations and the inner achievements and satisfactions these are the invisible

factors of success in the ROC.

Per and Taiwan

If Taiwan were our home

The life expectancy at birth in Taiwan is 79.84 while in Peru it is 73.23.

This entry contains the average number of years to be lived by a group of

people born in the same year, if mortality at each age remains constant in

the future. The entry includes total population as well as the male and

female components. Life expectancy at birth is also a measure of overall

quality of life in a country and summarizes the mortality at all ages. It can

also be thought of as indicating the potential return on investment in

human capital and is necessary for the calculation of various actuarial

measures.

The GDP per capita in Taiwan is $39,600 while in Peru it is $11,100

Peru consumes 0.2898 gallons of oil per day per capita while Taiwan

consumes 1.4154 This entry is the total oil consumed in gallons per day

25
 (gal/day) divided by the population. The discrepancy between the amount

of oil produced and/or imported and the amount consumed and/or

exported is due to the omission of stock changes, refinery gains, and other

complicating factors.

Taiwan has an unemployment rate of 3.78% while Peru has 6.07%. That

the lower unemployment rate in April indicated that the job market in

Taiwan was improving. The data also showed that there were 432,000

people out of work in April, down 19,000 from a year earlier. Meanwhile,

total employment in April was 11,325,000, which increased by 83,000

(+0.74%) compared to the previous year. The labour force participation

rate stood at 58.7% in April, up 0.07% from the previous year (ANALISTS,

2017).

The annual number of births per 1,000 people in Taiwan is 8.55 while in

Peru it is 18.57. "Most women are afraid of losing their jobs" by taking time

out to have a child.

266 in every 100,000 people are currently imprisoned in Taiwan compared

to 232 in Peru. Taiwan has seen a big increase in the number of inmates

in recent years, in part because of a growing drug abuse problem and

more drug-related convictions (Sui, 2017)

Empower companies

In an economy that depends on its commercial activity, Taiwan has launched a

campaign to publicize their companies in the world. Sell the brand "made in

Taiwan" in the world as a business model that has opted for the introduction of

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innovation and added value from the roots, from the productive fabric of small

and medium enterprise.

To that end, TAITRA (Taiwan External Trade Development Council), awarded

since 2010 the awards "Taiwan Excellence", which aim to promote business

excellence. And in a country where the manufacturing sector accounts for 24.67%

of GDP in the 2013 edition they have been highlighted projects focused on the

green economy, innovation in sports equipment or creating home accessories.

Unaddressed in most cases of major technological innovations, the pattern of

activity seems clear: promote the creation of a business network capable of

competing in the world by the quality standards and not by lower costs prevailing

not only in China but throughout the southeast Asian region.

Large companies in the country

This list shows firms in the Fortune Global 500, which ranks firms by total revenue

for 2016.

2016
Revenue Employee
Image Name Notes
s (USD s
$M)
World's largest
electronics
Hon Hai
manufacturer and the
Precision
$141,213 1,060,000 third-largest
Industry
information
(Foxconn)
technology company
(by revenue).

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 Electronics
manufacturing
company developing
Pegatron $38,239 196,251
computing,
communications and
consumer electronics.

Largest manufacturer
Quanta of notebook
$31,734 90,167
Computer computers in the
world.

Second-largest
contract laptop
Compal
$26,695 72,796 manufacturer in the
Electronics
world behind Quanta
Compute.

World's largest
Taiwan
dedicated
Semiconductor
$26,575 45,272 independent (pure-
Manufacturing (
play) semiconductor
TSMC)
foundry.

Notable companies

Name Industry Sector Founded Notes

85C Bakery Cafe Consumer Retail 2004 Coffee shop

services
Acer Inc. Technology Computer 1976 Computer and
hardware peripheral
equipment
ADATA Technology Computer 2001 Memory and
hardware storage
Adly Consumer Automobiles 1978 Scooters and quad-
goods & parts bikes
Aeon Consumer Automobiles 1970 ATVs, scooters,
goods & parts and mini-bikes
Aerospace Industrials Aerospace & 1969 State-owned
Industrial defense aerospace
Development research and
Corporation engineering

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 Airiti Inc. Consumer Media 2000 Publishing,
services database, indexing,
e books, online
bookstore, wine
An Feng Steel Basic Basic 1986 Iron and steel
materials resources
AOC Technology Computer 1934 Display
hardware products
AOpen Technology Computer 1996 Computer and
hardware peripheral
equipment
Apacer Technology Computer 1997 Computer memory
hardware and memory-based
products, mp3
players

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Webgraphy

Advameg, Inc. (2017). Countries and Their Cultures. Retrieved October 10,

2017, from http://www.everyculture.com/Sa-Th/Taiwan.html

ANALISTS, S. I. (2017, MAY 22). STAFFING INDUSTRY ANALISTS. Retrieved

from STAFFING INDUSTRY ANALISTS:

http://www2.staffingindustry.com

Shih , C. L. (1982, March 01). About: FFE. Retrieved October 10, 2017, from

Web sitie Foundation for Economic Education:

https://fee.org/articles/economic-growth-in-taiwan-invisible-factors-

contributing-to-economic-development-in-the-republic-of-china/

Sui, C. (2017, February 01). Taiwan Today. Retrieved from Taiwan Today:

http://taiwantoday.tw

The Heritage Foundation. (2017). About The Index. Retrieved October 10,

2017, from http://www.heritage.org/index/country/taiwan

Wikipedia:About. (n.d.). Wikipedia. Retrieved October 12, 2017, from

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_companies_of_Taiwan

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