IMBA個案》BenQ明基打造自有品牌

■ 張力元（政治大學IMBA兼任教授） 梅凱瑟、巴博雅、古麗雅、葉倪秀、蔣依倩、包諾可（政治大學IMBA學生）

With roots as an OEM, BenQ has as its core strength the ability to produce on time. The company is well suited to anticipate trends and market uncertainties and has years of experience retooling production lines to meet fast-changing client demands. The acquisition of the Siemen’s handset line leverages BenQ's ability to be first to market with products that are recognized, fashionable, and trendy. Combining manufacturing leadership, OEM experience, a multi-national workforce, and broad channels of distribution covering Asia, the Americas, and Europe, the BenQ-Siemens project will fuel market growth and brand development for years to come.
BenQ began as a flagship division of the Acer Group called Acer Peripherals and was renamed Acer Communications and Multimedia in 2000. Then in 2001, the company's name was changed to BenQ Corporation. BenQ management is independent from the Acer Group with Acer holding 5 percent of its stock. The company has grown rapidly since its inception in 2001. Company sales revenues reached US$ 3.6 billion in 2003 and the workforce grew to 14,800 employees as of August 2004. Reports from October, 2004 show that BenQ has 28 branches worldwide and employees from 36 different countries. The point worth noting about BenQ’s workforce is that employees tend to be young with an average age of 30. A young, globally minded workforce compliments the recent acquisition of Siemens mobile phone division. Successful sales of handsets requires anticipating trends and fads, delivering technology innovations, acting with quick and agile market moves, and recognizing key product features – talents often in short supply by traditional IT companies.

BenQ is in a unique position to serve the global market and the recent acquisition of the Sieman's cell-phone unit demonstrates BenQ's brand building and technology leadership. The acquisition will boost the companies war chest of more than 1,382 global patents and add to the competitive strength of its well funded research centers in the Hsinchu Science Park (Taiwan), the Suchow Software Development Center (China), and the Wireless Technology Center in San Diego (USA). Before the Sieman acquisition, BenQ already employed 2,000 R&D specialists worldwide and was spending 4 percent of its revenue on research and product development.

The company is headquartered in Kuishan, Taoyuan County, but 70 percent of its output is generated in Suchow, China. These facilities cover 600,000 square meters and provide work for over 6,000 employees. The Suchow Center boasts an annual output capacity of 4 million color monitors, 4 million scanners, and 8 million keyboards. Before the acquisition, BenQ's was managing 3,753 employees in Taiwan, 9,134 employees in China and 1,087 in Malaysia. News reports show that the BenQ-Siemens deal will add another 6,000 employees that are producing top brand handsets in Brazil, China, and Germany. The acquisition broadens BenQ's product reach but also necessitates reworking the corporate mission (given an expected loss of OEM orders), rethinking the product line (consolidating and streamlining co-branded handset models), and unifying the global workforce. The successful end result of these moves will position BenQ as a top-5 mobile phone vendor competing directly against global industry leaders.

專業代工起家的明基，及時生產為其核心競爭力。明基善於掌握市場脈動、更新生產設備，即時因應消費者需求。近來併購德國西門子手機事業部門，更加強明基的競爭力，得以及時上市新潮、且廣受消費者喜愛的產品。結合明基自身卓越生產技術、專業代工經驗、跨國工作團隊，及涵蓋全亞、歐、美洲的行銷通路，明基西門子併購案可望促進未來市場成長和品牌發展。

明基原為宏碁集團生產電腦週邊產品的部門，2000年更名為「明碁電通股份有限公司」，2001年又改為「明基電通股份有限公司」。宏碁僅持股5%，明基完全獨立經營運作。

自2001年成立以來，明基成長相當快速。2003年年度營業額已達36億美元，至2004年8月止，員工總數14,800人。根據2004年10月營運報告，明基在全球有28個分公司，員工國籍數多達36個，且相當年輕，平均年齡30歲。

這樣年輕、國際化的工作團隊反映在併購西門子手機部門一案上。

手機暢銷的關鍵就在於能夠掌握市場趨勢、技術創新、靈活的市場戰略及關鍵核心技術，這些都是傳統資訊科技產業缺乏的人才素質。

明基在全球市場有獨特地位，併購案反映明基深耕品牌和技術領導者的角色。此項併購將為明基增加1,382個全球性專利，並充實研究中心的競爭力。研究中心包括位於台灣新竹科學園區、大陸明基蘇州科技園區，和美國聖地牙哥無線科技中心。在併購前，明基即擁有2,000名跨國研發人員，且固定提撥營業額4%，做新產品研發之用。

明基總部位於桃園縣龜山鄉，但70%的產出來自大陸蘇州。生產設施占地60萬平方公尺，有6,000名員工在當地工作。蘇州每年量產400萬台彩色銀幕、400萬台掃描器，及800萬個鍵盤。

在併購前，明基在台灣有3,753名員工、大陸9,134名，以及馬來西亞1,087名。併購後，明基將承接西門子位於巴西、大陸，和德國的6,000名員工。

併購案拓展明基的產品占有率，但也促使明基重新思考自身的定位（可預期的代工訂單流失）、產品線規劃（整合相異的手機模組）以及統合跨國工作團隊。成功的話，此併購案將讓明基進入全球手機前五大的決賽圈。

【Discussion Questions】

‧Will BenQ's branding and market expansion approach lead to evolution (industry domination) or extinction?

‧Compare BenQ to Samsung, LG, and Sanyo--who will emerge as the biggest tiger in the jungle?

‧Consider the workforce building strategy of Mitac/Synnex, Acer, and Giant Bicycles. Is BenQ a bellwether or a follower?

【Case Analysis】

BenQ's co-branded product line is being built on top of a successful OEM business. Using a Darwinian analogy, OEM's can either evolve when the market changes or move to another marketplace when they cannot adapt. BenQ is showing the world that they are evolving into a dominant enterprise, moving profits into R&D, directing engineers to master emerging technologies, and creating new branded products to match the needs of young, fashion conscience trend setters. BenQ's strategy focuses on delivering fast-growth lines that accentuate a hipper, consumer-friendly brand image.

One way to analyze the strategy of BenQ in comparison to other companies is to evaluate how they build and position their brand. Finally, BenQ is Taiwan's bellwether for building an international workforce:

‧Building the Brand:Brand awareness reflects the proportion of target customers that recall a brand. Good brand awareness means that consumers recognize the existence and availability of a particular product. Co-branding with Siemens, a name that is recognized globally, simplifies the design of marketing communications since the name alone conveys unique values for the target customers.

‧Brand Position:There are two sure-fire ways to win the customer; either offer a low price or add value to the product. BenQ's positioning strategy emphasizes adding value through good design to bring greater customer enjoyment and enhance life. Co-branding with Siemens further builds value through brand trust and awareness.

‧Managing Talent:A company has three options to build workforce capabilities--make, covert, or buy. BenQ's acquisition of Siemens is a workforce buying move to bring in experienced people with unique channel and design knowledge. BenQ is one of the first Taiwan companies to attempt this strategy on a large and international scale.

【問題討論】

明基的品牌定位和市場擴張策略，會導致明基的市占率提升或減弱？

以明基和三星（Samsung）、LG和三洋（Sany-o）相比，何者會躍升至市場龍頭地位？

比較神通集團（Mitac/Synnex）、宏碁（Acer）和巨大自行車公司的人才策略，明基是創新者或是追隨者？

【個案分析】

明基的產品線建立在成功的代工商業模式上。以達爾文的演化學說來看，代工廠商若能趁勢而起，就有成為領導者的機會，反之，則退居其他市場發展。明基向世人展示他們朝龍頭企業發展的決心，除發展研發能力、開發核心競爭技術，並推出迎合年輕族群，具時尚感的產品，傳達新潮方便的品牌形象。

分析明基和其他競爭品牌的方法之一，便是評估如何建立並定位品牌。明基是台灣企業中建立國際化工作團隊的開創者，原因在於：

建立品牌：品牌意識即是目標消費族群對該品牌的認知程度。良好的品牌意識代表消費者確知某產品的存在，也知道如何取得該產品。因為西門子對目標消費群存在既定品牌價值，明基和西門子共用品牌，便可利用西門子的全球知名度，簡化和消費者之間的溝通。

品牌定位：贏得消費者的方法不外是提供低價，或是提升產品價值。明基的策略在於利用良好的設計提升品牌價值，提高消費者使用樂趣和生活品質。和西門子的併購案，將透過品牌信譽和知名度，進而提升品牌價值。

管理人才：企業有三種方法建立人才：自行培育、轉化，和購買。明基併購西門子，就是買入有經驗的人才，配合明基獨特的設計專長和銷售管道發揮長才。明基是台灣第一家有這樣大型且跨國規模企圖的本土公司。

【策略小辭典】

OEM（original equipment manufacturer）

OEM被稱為原始設備製造商，或專業代工。即生產電腦主機、週邊設備和通信設備的原始廠商，依照企業客戶需求，生產符合需求的產品，之後掛上客戶的商標品牌，由客戶自行銷售。因此，製造商所生產的相似商品，可能冠上的品牌都不同。

會下OEM訂單的企業，往往基於節省生產成本和部份管銷費用的成本考量。各大廠商委託小規模下游製造商生產某些設備，而後掛上自有品牌銷售上市。製造廠商可能是知名度不夠或無銷售管道，藉著這些大廠為所生產的產品打出銷路。

（Katherine Meighan, Gabor Papp, Gulfia Fakhretdinov, Anita Yeh, Anne Chiang and Enoc Burgos are IMBA students of National Chengchi University

Charles V. Trappey is an Adjunct professor of IMBA Program, National Chengchi University）

【2005/07/10 經濟日報】