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

高度全球化的笔记本电脑消费市场显示出合同制造集中在一个地方：台湾。从1988年到2008年，台湾制造商生产的笔记本电脑在全球的比例从零急剧上升到90%以上。到21世纪末，台湾合同制造商（CM）完成了生产笔记本电脑的大部分工程和制造工作。然而，很少有学术研究关注CM在笔记本电脑生产中的知识或作用。Lin的论文项目调查了笔记本电脑的制造过程，以及迄今为止CM在计算历史上的“无形”作用。林的研究调查了合同制造商的特殊知识和实践，这些知识和实践促成了台湾笔记本电脑生产的惊人扩张。本研究以半结构式访谈、口述历史、档案分析等方法，记录台湾企业管理者的专业知识，并探讨台湾企业管理者与美国及其他国家的合作伙伴之间知识流通的历史与实践。本研究进一步探讨了台湾笔记本电脑的代工厂商如何不仅生产机器，而且在工程和制造方面进行创新，这些创新紧密结合在一起，可能不属于他们的客户，如苹果电脑和戴尔电脑。本项目提供了更好的理解代工业务。合同制造在许多国家的经济活动中占很大比例，因此值得进行实证研究。对这一经济部门的深入研究表明，支持合同制造的国家如何从战略上这样做。它们不仅仅是全球公司利益的被动接受者。这个项目有助于计算的历史和制造业的历史。它也有助于科学政策的研究，提供洞察大中华区的经济活动，并通过检查的角色，如信任和声誉等因素在决定CM和跨国公司之间的合作，企业对企业的关系下的合同连接的探索。

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.