Doctoral Dissertation Research: Ling-Fei Lin: "How Contract Manufacturers Matter: Design-Manufacturing Knowledge as Field Knowledge in Taiwanese Laptop Producers, 1988-2008"

Cornell University, Ithaca NY

Investigators

Abstract

The highly globalized laptop consumer market shows a concentration of contract manufacturing in one place: Taiwan. From 1988 to 2008, the proportion of worldwide laptop computers produced by Taiwanese manufacturers rose dramatically from zero to over ninety percent. By the late 2000s, Taiwanese contract manufacturers [CMs] did most of the engineering and manufacturing efforts that produced laptop computers. However, little academic research focuses on the knowledge or role of CMs in laptop production. Lin's dissertation project investigates the manufacturing processes in the making of laptops and the thus far "invisible" role of CMs in the history of computing. Lin's research examines the kinds of special knowledge and practices among contract manufacturers that contributed to the phenomenal expansion of the production of laptops in Taiwan. Using semi-structured interviews, oral histories, and archival analyses, this research documents Taiwanese CMs' forms of expertise and explores the history and practice of knowledge circulation between Taiwanese CMs and their partners in the United States and other countries. This research further examines how contract manufacturers of Taiwanese laptops produce not only the machines but also innovations in engineering and manufacturing, which are firmly integrated together and may not be owned by their clients, such as Apple Computer and Dell Computer. This project provides a better understanding of the business of contract manufacturing. Contract manufacturing makes up a significant proportion of the economic activities of many countries, and, as such, deserves empirical study. An in-depth examination of this sector of the economy shows how countries that support contract manufacturing do so strategically. They are not simply passive recipients of global corporate interests. This project contributes to histories of computing and histories of manufacturing. It also contributes to studies of science policy, providing insight into the economic activities of greater China, and to the exploration of firm-to-firm relations under the contracting connections by examining the roles that such factors as trust and reputation play in determining the cooperation between CMs and transnational corporations.