■ 喬友慶、于卓民（Yu-Ching Chiao、Joseph Yu
Case Introduction
Yu Tian Company was established in 1984. The founder and chairman of the company Mr. Jiang, with his academic background in engineering, has set the mission of their company to manufacture the world-class wrench in order to meet the special requirements of different industries. The R&D team of Yu Tian Company develops everything from manufacturing process, modeling, machinery for special use and operation process by themselves. On the strength of their confidence in the design and development of their own products, Yu Tian Company has gained high recognition in both the domestic and overseas market.
Internationalization Process
Yu Tian received no purchase order when the company was first established. At that time, Yu Tian tried to seek small volume purchase order from the domestic traders in order to sell their products to US, Germany and Japan market. The management team was extremely careful in the process of trader selection. Besides considering the market risk distribution, Yu Tian also paid special attention in understanding the markets in which each trader was doing best. Yu Tian kept close contact with the traders, collected information from various sources in order to pick the most suitable trader for the company.
In 1994, Yu Tian had the first chance to participate in the overseas exhibition and started the face-to-face contact with the customers. This opportunity gave Yu Tian an opportunity to directly understand the customers' needs and the market trend. After that, the percentage of Yu Tian's direct export has been increasing year by year; sometimes even reaching 70% or 80%. Since the company now has better understanding in the overseas customers' needs, the percentage of sales through the domestic trader has decreased after years owing to the big different profit margin between these two modes of entry. Furthermore, it's easier for Yu Tian to obtain first hand customer information to better manage their customer relationship via direct export. Nevertheless, recognizing the limitation in their own human resources, Yu Tian still maintains the market information of the traders in order to get up-to-date market intelligence to prevent them from losing any potential customers.
The complication in expanding overseas market and the adaptation of its management capability
The company is encountering tougher and more complicated challenges along with the expansion process of the overseas market. In the past, the general manager was the only one to handle all overseas business, but due to the expansion of the overseas market, the general manager has been gradually training the managers and grouped them into three major teams, namely marketing, research and development, and technical support. A team leader was assigned in each team to take care of the communication and decision coordination. In addition, Yu Tian is paying special attention to its staff recruitment process because the company thinks that human resource is the largest asset of the company. For example, when Yu Tian was selecting the head of an overseas subsidiary, the company emphasized the personality and value of the manager instead of his/her academic background and working experiences. To carry out the company philosophy, the general manager will communicate with the potential candidates for the manager job via email for one month before making the decision to employ any of them.
Besides, Yu Tian is making adjustment and adaptation to differentiate the products sold to different countries. After verifying the customers' needs, the company is customizing the product in terms of its material, size and specification in order to meet the customer's requirement on the product quality. For instance, the key success factor for Yu Tian to successfully enter the North American market for pit wrench with premium price is to show the customers the value of the company's products. The same thing happens in the market of adjustable wrench for fisherman; Yu Tian receives word-of-mouth due to their special electroplating process. Later, construction project, Harley Davidson motorcycle and European branded automobile/truck workbag has started to use the wrench produced by Yu Tian.
（Yu-Ching Chiao, Assistant Professor of Department of Business Administration； Joseph Yu, National Changhua University of Education, Professor of Department of Business Administration, National Chengchi University）
個案簡介
宇天公司成立於1984年，具工程背景的創立人江董事長，將目標訂為生產世界頂級水準的板手，以符合各個產業的特殊需求。因此，從製程、模具、特殊用途的機械，以及作業流程的設計皆自行研發，憑藉著對自己產品在研發及設計上的自信，宇天公司的產品已受到國內外業界的肯定。
國際化過程
公司創設初期並無接獲任何訂單，因此，試圖尋找國內貿易商接小量的訂單，透過貿易商將產品外銷到美國、德國及日本等市場。在尋找貿易商的過程中，公司格外的謹慎及用心，除了考慮分散市場風險，也特別注意各貿易商熟悉的市場，多方蒐集相關資訊並與各貿易商接觸，進而篩選最合適的貿易商。
1994年第一次到國外參展後，正式開始與客戶有實際接觸，更直接瞭解客戶想法及市場流行趨勢。之後，逐年提高直接出口的比例，甚至有時高達到70%或80%。隨著公司對國外客戶需求掌握日益精準，透過貿易商拿單的比例亦逐年降低，原因在於兩者間的獲利差距很大。
此外，透過直接出口，較易獲得第一手客戶資料，以便做好顧客關係管理。即使如此，公司仍然充分掌握各貿易商的市場資料，因為公司人力有限，會有遺漏潛在客戶的可能性，此時藉由貿易商廣泛的關係，仍能取得豐富的資訊。
海外市場擴張的複雜性及
因應的管理能力調適
隨著海外市場不斷擴張的過程，公司亦面臨管理多個市場及複雜度提高的挑戰。過去主要以總經理面對所有的對外事物，但隨著海外市場愈來愈多，總經理則以循序漸近的方式，慢慢地訓練公司主管，將公司的主要經營主管分屬行銷、研發及技術三大團隊，各團隊設有一領導者負責溝通及協調相關決策。此外，公司在一開始晉用新人即非常仔細，因為宇天認為員工是公司最大的資產。例如：宇天公司日前在甄選一位去負責海外子公司的領導者，公司重視應徵主管的人品與價值觀甚過於學歷及工作經驗。因此，應徵主管在與總經理面談之後，總經理會透過e-mail和他溝通及交換意見約一個月，再決定是否任用。
此外，產品銷售到不同國家在生產上亦有所調整。公司在認知客戶的需求後，經由原料、尺寸及規格設計等產品客製化，達到客戶在品質上的要求。例如：宇天以高價打入北美區礦坑用扳手市場，憑藉的就是讓客戶認知到公司的產品價值。另外，在漁夫用的活動板手市場上，也因為透過特殊的電鍍，讓產品頗受好評。慢慢地，建築工程、哈雷機車及歐洲名牌汽/卡車工具包也都開始使用宇天公司生產的板手。
（作者是國立彰化師範大學企業管理學系助理教授、政治大學商學院企業管理系教授）
【2005/05/29 經濟日報】
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