Growing while others decline
Some companies have been simultaneously repelled by the mainland's deteriorating investment environment and drawn to Taiwan's aggressive solicitation of investment.
"There are way too many uncertainties in the mainland," say a number of returning businesspeople who prefer to remain anonymous. These individuals blame their pullout on everything from the legal and tax systems to the attitude of administrative officials, and cite the mainland's new Labor Law as a case in point. Though the policy was announced a year in advance, the law was implemented before the accompanying regulations were ready. Companies wanted to obey the law, but didn't know how to. Their lawyers told them one thing, while Communist Party functionaries said something else. The management costs were huge.
In addition, the mainland began implementing numerous currency controls in July 2008 in an effort to reduce currency speculation and stabilize its financial markets. "You have to report every advance receipt, prepayment, and late payment," says an industry insider. Companies have to provide an explanation if they haven't received payment 90 days after the shipment of goods, and those making deposits on orders of raw materials have to provide written guarantees or be suspected of placing false orders. "This kind of interference reflects a complete lack of understanding of how business works," say industry insiders. The process is overly complex, affects how firms deploy their capital, and impacts their relationships with their customers.
With Taiwanese firms getting fed up with the constant barrage of bizarre rules, Taiwan's policies are making the island more attractive at just the right time. Yilan County magistrate Lu Guo-hwa's aggressive pursuit of business investment is a case in point.
Lu's first catch was Sheico, a global leader in watersports apparel manufacturing that has been investing overseas for ten years and currently employs 8,000 people worldwide. Headquartered in Yilan, the company recently elected to expand its spandex production in Taiwan rather than Haining, Zhejiang Province.
"First, we had regular visits from the county's Industrial Development and Investment Promotion Committee [IPIPC]," says Huang Guizhen, head of Sheico's legal department. "Once they discovered we were interested in coming back, the county magistrate arranged a meeting with the public works bureau, environmental protection bureau, and all the other relevant bureaus and departments. We were able to resolve all the questions pertaining to the construction of the factory in just two hours. Our president decided right then and there to come back."
IDIPC head Andy Lo, tasked with bringing businesses to Yilan, says Sheico estimates that the cost differential between Chinese and Taiwanese production has fallen to 8% and will narrow further. That has left the company with little incentive to deal with the headaches of overseas production. The company will get to work in its homeland, and will make up the cost differential on higher yields and better management.
For companies under the gun to deliver orders, time is money. The liaison office at Yilan's Lize Industrial Zone calls firms in the park daily to check on the progress of their construction. Sheico is finding the pro-business attitude of Yilan's government since the new county administration took office a very pleasant contrast to the blatant disinterest shown by mainland officials since its economy took off.
Now that Sheico's automated spandex facility is complete and its equipment installed, it has moved into the testing phase. Once it begins mass production, the company plans to rapidly ramp its annual capacity up from its current level of 12,000 tons per year to 30,000 tons, a level that would make it one of the world's top ten producers. Sheico projects that its new Yilan facility will create nearly 300 jobs. Meanwhile, the other half of the site sits ready to be put to use propelling the company to its second "world number one." (Sheico already ranks first in the world in terms of its watersports-apparel and watersports-fabrics production capacity.)
More than 90% of the Taiwanese firms operating in China who've chosen to invest back in Taiwan in recent years utilized a cross-strait division of labor that kept their roots in Taiwan. For a variety of reasons, these firms are now choosing to go long on Taiwan. The photo shows a small-run stitchbond fabric produced by Jhih Cheng Non-Woven Fabrics at the Taiwan facility it opened in 2008.