| dc.description.abstract | In view of the development trend of the steel industry, Taiwan’s electric arc furnace firms should not consider their future competitive strategy purely based on quantitative variable. Rather, they should take strategic alliance between up-stream and down-stream firms into serious consideration. Each firm needs its own vertical strategic alliance network. Only through strategic alliance between them can Taiwan’s electric arc furnace firms obtain higher competitiveness. This is the only way for value-added improvement and growth.
The purpose of this paper is study the positioning of the competitive strategy for Taiwan’s electric furnace firms when they face both the worsening internal management environments and external competitive pressures. In addition to reviewing literatures in core competence, competitive advantage, and competitive strategy, this research also conducts interviews with industry executives, and evaluates various corporate prospectuses and annual reports. Necessary analyses are made to present a comprehensive picture for the characteristics of the industry and the future competitive strategy of its firms.
This paper concludes that the electric arc furnace industry is an industry with high forward and backward linkages. It uses recycled ferro scraps as materials. Although it is a matured industry with low growth potential, the industry will continue to exist. However, in order to survive, it is necessary for the Taiwanese firms in this industry to upgrade its quality from low level to middle-to-high level. The profits for the standard products in this industry in Taiwan are already very low. In order to meet the price competition from cheap Chinese products, Taiwanese firms need to develop products with higher value-added products as its “blue sea” growth strategy. | en_US |