| Author: | Chong, Steven Pui-yik |
| Title: | An investigation into the potential value of Hong Kong design in the perspective of competitive advantage : the case of Hong Kong electronic consumer product industry |
| Degree: | M.Phil. |
| Year: | 2001 |
| Subject: | Electronic industries -- China -- Hong Kong Hong Kong Polytechnic University -- Dissertations |
| Department: | School of Design |
| Pages: | ix, 161 leaves : ill. ; 30 cm |
| Language: | English |
| Abstract: | This study investigates the low cost competitiveness of the competencies of the Hong Kong's manufacturing industries especially the examination of Hong Kong design - one of the major competencies. It argues that there are alternative formats of competitive advantage being embodied within Hong Kong traditional industrial practice deriving from competencies rather than competitive positioning. The Hong Kong electronic consumer product (HKECP) industry can be a good case to distinctively show such competence-based and low cost competitive advantage since HKECP has attained above-average performance in electronics markets without relying on high technology. Since there is few studies about the study subjects of this thesis, it can only integrate several theories on competitiveness to analyse such low cost competitive advantage. This thesis employs the competence-based theories as the core concept and adopts Professor Howard Davies's ideas on measuring relative competitiveness. These two formulate a new perspective on including internal competencies as source of competitive advantage and also these together can be a framework to explore the potential of design via competence-based competitive advantage in Hong Kong. The investigation consists of two research methods: field observation and survey of questionnaire. The field observation can reveal the undervalued attributes of the Hong Kong's manufacturers supported by with newspapers cutting and related literatures, and which include three years information. It spotted that some manufacturers, IDT and Vtech, could outperform their constraints even under the impact of Asia financial crisis. This gives a background of why there is necessary to distinguish which competencies can be more effective. According to the interest of the author, this thesis would only focus on the competence with high intensive use taken by Hong Kong electronics industry, and that is design. The survey of questionnaire has distinctive findings to argue that design can be at least as a strategic asset for competitive advantage. Through the chi-square statistical calculation analysis, the finding of questionnaires inductively shows that design is the most effective strategic resource to sustain better business performance especially in HKECP small and medium size enterprises. As a whole, it can be stated that design is not only a unique competence-based competitive advantage of the Hong Kong's manufacturers. However, to fully exploit the potential of design is a complex task and particularly design knowledge in Hong Kong context is in tacit format and deeply embedded in organizations' competencies. This thesis is only an initial trial. There should be further researches to study design as competitive advantage, design knowledge decoding and collaboration within a firm. |
| Rights: | All rights reserved |
| Access: | open access |
Files in This Item:
| File | Description | Size | Format | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| b1578485x.pdf | For All Users | 5.44 MB | Adobe PDF | View/Open |
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