The Parallel Connecting New Product Development
Process of the Bicycle Industry in Taiwan
Stephen D.H Tsai
National Sun Yat-Sen University
Yung Chie Chang
South Taiwan University of Technology
Yi Hsien Wu
National Sun Yat-Sen University
The Parallel Connecting New Product Development Process
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
The Background
The Question
The Methodology
The “Parallel Connecting New Product Development
Process” of the Bicycle Industry in Taiwan
The characteristics of the ”Parallel Connecting New
Product Development Process”
Conclusion and discussion
1.The Background
35,000,000
1,000 NT$
30,000,000
25,000,000
20,000,000
export value
export volume
15,000,000
10,000,000
5,000,000
0
197019711972 1973197419751976 19771978197919801981 19821983198419851986 1987198819891990 19911992199319941995 199619971998
year
Figure 1. The historical comparison of exporting volume and exporting value of Taiwan’s bicycle industry
Sources：Taiwan bicycle industry R&D center，http://www.tbnet.org.tw
1.The Background
10000.00
9000.00
8000.00
Japan
Taiwan
6000.00
5000.00
4000.00
3000.00
2000.00
1000.00
1998
1997
1996
1995
1994
1993
1992
1991
1990
1989
1988
1987
1986
1985
1984
1983
1982
1981
1980
1979
1978
1977
1976
1975
1974
1973
1972
1971
0.00
1970
1,000 NT$
7000.00
Year
Figure 2. The comparison of the unit export price between Taiwan and Japan
Sources：Taiwan bicycle industry R&D center，http://www.tbnet.org.tw；Japan Bicycle Promotion
Institute，http://www.jbpi.or.jp/
2.The Question
•
There are three characteristics of Taiwan’s bicycle industry
1.
It is featured by the form of original equipment manufacturing（OEM）
production（table1）
Although it has complete structure and is featured by professional division
clearly（table2）, it relies on the key components from Japan deeply.
Most of its members belong to the SMEs（table3）
2.
3.
•
It is not an easy work to integrate the R&D work of 2,000 components and
get more excellent achievements than Japan in export value and unit export
price under the reliance of key components from Japan.

How can the SMEs of Taiwan’s bicycle industry make progress in their
ability to develop the high additional-value product under the constraints of
limited R&D capacity？
4.The “Parallel Connecting New Product Development
Process”of the Bicycle Industry in Taiwan
•

•
•
The perspective:
new product development is a kind of process to transform
information
“Parallel Connecting New Product Development Process”
(1) The process of substantiating creativity
A. Foreign buyers corporate with assemblers and components
suppliers respectively
B. Foreign buyers skip over assemblers to procure new
components directly
(2) The process of revising
The reason to parallel connect
Bicycle blue print
Foreign buyers
Components blue print
Component
suppliers
Assemblers
Complete bicycle
Components
Figure3. The 「vertical connecting」cooperation mode of new product development
(6)
（1）
Foreign Buyers
Assemblers
（2）
（3）
（1）: the new ideas of frames
（4）
（2）: the new ideas of components
（3）: the in formation of new components
（4）: the order of new components
（5）: the new components
（6）: the complete bicycles
（3） （5）
Components
Suppliers
Figure4. The 「parallel connecting」 cooperation mode of new product development
Foreign buyers
Revising information
Revising information
Assemblers
Component
suppliers
Revised bicycle
Revised components
Figure5. The 「vertical connecting」cooperation mode of revising
Assemblers
（4）
Foreign
Buyers
（3）
（1）
（2）
（1）: the revising information of components
（2）: the order of new components
（3）: the new components
（4）: the revised complete bicycles
Components
suppliers
Figure6. The「parallel connecting」cooperation mode of revising new components
The reason to parallel connect
The subjective conditions
1.
The interpretative management of foreign buyers
2.
The self-profiting incentives of components producers
The objective conditions
1.
The modularity of global bicycle industry
2.
The established R&D capacity of Taiwan’s components producers
5.The characteristics of the ”Parallel Connecting
New Product Development Process
Table5、A comparison of 「parallel connecting」and 「vertical connecting」cooperation mode
Dimensions
Vertical connecting
Parallel connecting
The mode of new product development process
Linear and sequential
Parallel and
simultaneous
The number of hierarchies in communication for
revising
More
Less
The diversity of new product
Low
High
Convergent
Divergent
The evolution of creativity
6.Conclusion
• Parallel connecting cooperation mode which can successfully parallel
connect industrial members to offer flexible and quick R&D services
for foreign buyers is the new competitive advantage of Taiwan’s
bicycle industry.
• At least five factors supporting this kind of cooperation mode:
1.the modularity of global bicycle industry
2.the well developed broadcast mediums
3.the compensation of R&D capacity from ITIS
4.the clustering of industrial members
5.the embedeness of long term cooperation networks
• It will be a difficult work for developing country to catch up with us
when a bicycle has changed to be a knowledge-intensive product and
the 「parallel connecting new product development process」can
operate in that advanced technology
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
時程
項目
創
意
產
生
整車
車架
傳動
車輪
制動
配件
實
體
開
發
車架
傳動
車輪
制動
配件
組裝
圖五、「傳統式」新產品開發時程圖
10
11
12
1
2
3
時程
業別
系統別
項目
核心
零組件廠
傳
動
創意
落實
品牌廠商
整車
創意
車輪
零組件廠
車
輪
創意
落實
制動
零組件廠
制
動
創意
落實
配件
零組件廠
配
件
創意
落實
成
車
廠
車
架
創意
落實
整車
落實
圖六、「網路並聯形」新產品開發時程圖
4
○ ：創意
○ ○ ○ ○○ ○○ ○ ○○
第 一次篩 選
○ ○○ ○○
第 二次篩 選
○ ○ ○
第 三次篩 選
○
圖九、
「串聯型 」合作 模式創 意演化 圖
○ ：創意
○
第一層互動
○
第二層互動
○
○
○
○
第二層互動
○
圖 十、
「並聯 型」合 作模式 的創意 演化圖
○