■ 楊國彬、于卓民（Kuopin Yang，Joseph Yu）
Case Introduction
President Frank Chiang founded Toyoshima Corporation in 1987. In the beginning of the venture, the company mainly produced keypad modules of electronic appliances. The current business now includes keypads, spring plates, various outer cases, visual indicators, tracery, and such designer items. After a period of struggling, Toyoshima established a branch office at Penang in Malaysia in only two years, followed by a series of international expansion activities. The company went IPO in 1990 and merged with Speed Tech Corporation in 1993.
In the early days before starting up a company, President Chiang was a sales manager at a large local appliance keypad manufacturer. At a young age below thirty, he started a venture with businesses in Japanese electronic component distribution and not in manufacturing. However, due to the collapse of sales in Apple computers, which was his largest customer, the company stood at the verge of a crisis. Fortunately, with appropriate contingency plans and favorable circumstances, he went back to the business that he was familiar with and started a joint venture in appliance keypad manufacturing with his associates and former colleagues. Attributable to his familiarity in the business and connections accumulated from the past, he was able to bring Toyoshima out of storm, up and running.
Establishing a consensus in overseas expansion at the initial stage
At the initial stage, though Toyoshima was profitable, the industry's operating condition was already encountering a structural change. For instance, human resource was harder to find and cost was rapid escalating. Many foreign companies had closed down factories in Taiwan, and transferred their manufacturing bases to other Southeast Asian countries. The change in the business environment and parting of customers raised President Chiang's awareness. He discovered that many Japanese clients had moved out to Thailand and Malaysia. The idea of retaining Japanese customer in the long run and being in a better position to operate business, led him to the thought of following his customers to Southeast Asia and setting up factories there.
Despite how President Chiang's proposal of moving into Southeast was strongly objected by other stockholders, his intense awareness pushed him aggressively to convincing these partners. He showed the stockholders around in Southeast Asia to learn about the local environment. During the trip, he reiterated the reasons for setting up a factory there, and made promise to shorten the period of overseas assignments while providing a higher compensation and perks than those given in Taiwan. In the end, he finally convinced the stockholders into agreeing.
Strategy and Implementation of Internationalization
In deciding the location of investment, President Chiang considered about his Japanese customers and human resource issues. In addition, to minimize the insecurities felt in making a foreign investment for the first time, he chose Penang, Malyasia where he would set up his factory, after considering the cultural distance and the social grouping effect of overseas Chinese businessmen. In terms of the strategy in equity, President Chiang believes that joint venturing with locals will easily lead to a disaster whether the business succeeds or fails, and therefore insisted on sole investment as the entry mode. In order to minimize the risk that sole investment entails, Toyoshima transfered the equipment out to Malaysia from headquarter to account for part of the investment capital, to lessen cash flowing to host country and to reduce risk in liquidity. To any small-and-medium enterprise, the lack of human resource had always been an issue. And for Toyoshima that had invested a factory overseas, the allocation of human resource was problematical than ever before. Initially, President appointed a number of employees from headquarter to the subsidiary in Penang, rest were locally hired and trained, while the fully empowered stockholders rotated in supervising the branch. In terms of business expansion, the former relationship with Japanese buyers built in the past put the Penang branch in favorable position. The business expanded smoothly and within two years, profit exceeded the capital investment.
( Assistant Professor, Department of International Business National Dong Hwa University。Professor, Department of Business Administration, National Chengchi University)
豐島公司由董事長江長霖投資創立於民國76年，創業初期以生產電器按鍵模組產品為主，目前的事業範圍則包括按鍵、彈片及各式外殼、視覺標誌、窗飾等設計產品。在經歷創業期的篳路藍縷之後，豐島公司在創業兩年內快速的至馬來西亞檳城設立分公司，之後隨即展開一連串的國際擴張活動。豐島公司於民國89年股票掛牌上櫃，92年與宣得公司合併。
創業背景
江長霖創業前在國內某家生產電器按鍵產品的大型公司擔任業務主管，不到30歲的年紀就毅然出來創業，初期業務以代理日本電子零件為主，並未設立工廠。然由於最大客戶蘋果電腦在市場上急速崩盤，讓豐島公司面臨了創業的危機。
所幸在江長霖適宜的危機處理及機緣巧合下，回歸至本業，與朋友及過去同事合資設廠生產電器按鍵產品。依恃對本業的熟悉及過去在業界所累積的人脈與關係，很快的讓豐島公司營運步入正軌，脫離創業危機。
創業期建立海外拓展共識
豐島創業初期獲利狀況雖好，但一些產業經營條件已經開始產生結構性變化，例如由於人力難尋且成本急速上升，許多外商結束在台灣的工廠，將生產基地移至東南亞國家。產業環境的改變及客戶的遠離，使得董事長產生危機意識。由於發現許多日系客戶都將公司外移至泰國及馬來西亞，江長霖為了長期經營日本廠商，以替公司佔取更佳的經營位置，於是追隨客戶(日商)到東南亞設廠的念頭，便油然而生。
儘管江長霖到東南亞設廠的構想遭遇其他股東的強烈反對，但其高度的危機意識仍促使他積極說服這些夥伴。他帶著股東到東南亞去瞭解當地環境，過程中不斷溝通公司必須海外設廠的理由，同時承諾縮短海外派遣的時間，並給予比留任國內更優渥的待遇與福利，終於說服這些股東答應至東南亞設廠。
國際化的決策與執行
投資地點的選擇除了考量開發日商客戶及解決人力問題的原始動機外，為了降低首次海外投資的不安全感，江長霖也特別著眼於跟地主國間的的文化距離及台商的群聚效果，最後挑定在馬來西亞的檳城進行設廠。在股權決策上，他認為跟當地合資，將來不論營運成敗都很容易陷入泥沼，乃堅持以完全獨資方式進入馬來西亞。
為了降低獨資風險，豐島將母公司設備外移至馬來西亞，以設備充抵投資額，盡量減少現金流向地主國，以降低資金陷入的風險。對中小企業而言，人力資源本來就捉襟見肘，而到海外投資設廠使得豐島的人力調配更加困難。設廠初期，僅派遣幾位母公司員工到檳城子公司，其他都是雇用當地人員來加以培訓，對於輪流駐守的股東則是充分授權。
在海外業務拓展上，受益於過去在台灣跟日商所培養出來的網絡關係，讓檳城子公司佔有人和之利，業務拓展相當順利，二年內獲利超過一個資本額。
（作者楊國彬是東華大學國際企業系助理教授、于卓民是政治大學商學院企業管理系教授）
【2005/05/22 經濟日報】
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