藍海策略和平衡記分卡之實施：以某個案公司為例 - 政大學術集成

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(1)National Cheng-Chi University, Department of Accounting A Master Thesis. Thesis Advisor: Professor Wu, Anne. 立. 政治大. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. A Case Study of SME’s Strategy Development and Implementation, Using Blue Ocean Strategy and Balanced Scorecard as a Model. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. Ch. engchi. i n U. Researcher: Roman Vilner June, 2013. v.

(2) Table of Contents Table of Contents……………………………………………………………………………………1 List of Figures………………………………………………………………………………………..2 List of Tables…………………………………………………………………………………………3 Abstract………………………………………………………..…………………………………..…4 1. Introduction……………………………………………..……………………………………5 1.1 Background to the Study and Motivation…………………..……………………………….……5 1.2 Research Questions………………..……………………….………………………………….…8 1.3 The Contributions of this Study………………………...………………………………………10 1.4 Outline of the Study…………………………………………………………………………..…11 2. Literature Review…………………………………………………………………………...12 2.1Blue Ocean Strategy Related Literature……………...………………………........…………….12 2.2Balance Scorecard Related Literature…………………………………………………...………15 3 Textile Finishing Industry Background…...……..……………………………………………20 4 Case Study Firm’s Background……………………………………………………………..21 4.1Firm’s Present Strategy….………………………………………………………………….…...23 4.2 Firm’s Present Balanced Scorecard...…………………………………………………………...24 5.Research Methodology…………………………….…………………………………...…27 6.Strategy……………………………………………………………………………………29 6.1 New Channel Strategy………………………………………………………………………..…29 6.2 Niche Innovator Strategy……………………………………………………………………......33 7.Balanced Scorecard………………………………………………………………………..43 7.1 Forming Strategic Themes...……………………………………………………………………43 7.2 Forming Objectives…..…………………………………………………………………………45 7.2.1 Financial Perspective………………………………………………………………………….48 7.2.3 Internal Perspective………………………………………………………………………...…50 7.2.4 Learning Perspective……………….…………………………………………………………52 7.3 Urgency of Objectives Implementation…………………………………………………………54 7.4 Forming Measures………………………………………………………………………………55 8. Conclusion……………………………………………………………….…………………...65 9. Research Limitations…………………………………………………………………………66 10. Future Research…..................................................................................................................67 11. References...………………………………………………………………………………...68. 立. 政治大. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. Ch. engchi. 1. i n U. v.

(3) List of Figures Figure 1. Outline of The Study………………………………………………………………..11. Figure 2. Organizational Chart of The Case Study Firm……………………………………...21. Figure 3. Present Balanced Scorecard………………………………………………………....26. Figure 4. Value Curve of the New Web-Site………………………………………………….32. Figure 5. Framework of Human Senses…………………………………………………….....33. Figure 6. Inability to See Because of Outside Factors (Beach)………………………...……...35. Figure 7. Inability to See Because of Outside Factors (Hospital)…...………………………...36. Figure 8. Inability to See Because of Outside Factors (UV Detection)……...………………..37. Figure 9 Figure 10. 政治大 Inability to See Because of Outside Factors (Olympics)………...………………….39 立 Inability to See Because of Outside Factors (Smell Protection)…………………....38. Inability to See Because of Health or Inborn Problems (Color-Blind)………..…….40. Figure 12. Blind People…………………………………………………………………………42. Figure 13. New Balanced Scorecard Themes’ Interconnections…………………………….....44. Figure 14. New Channel Strategy BSC………………………………………………………....46. Figure 15. Niche Innovator Strategy BSC………………………………………………………47. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. Figure 11. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. Ch. engchi. 2. i n U. v.

(4) List of Tables Table 1. Eliminate-Reduce-Raise-Create Grid……………………………………………….23. Table 2. Options on the New Web-Site………………………………………………………30. Table 3. Degrees of Seeing Inability……………………………………………………….…34. Table 4. Urgency of Objectives’ Implementation (Customer Perspective).……………….…54. Table 5. Urgency of Objectives’ Implementation (Internal Perspective)…………………….55. Table 6. Measures for New Channel Strategy BSC………………………………………….56. Table 7. Measures for Niche Innovator Strategy BSC…………………………………….…61. 立. 政治大. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. Ch. engchi. 3. i n U. v.

(5) Abstract The paper is based on a real life case study of a textile firm, that is trying to develop and implement the Blue Ocean strategy1 and Balanced Scorecard. First, the results achieved by the firm under discussion itself are analyzed, dissatisfactory conclusions are made about their implementation of the Blue Ocean strategy. The firm’s main purpose- to become an OBM2 was not achieved through this strategy. The paper combines the analysis of the original results, achieved by the firm and a new strategic format, which is the combination of Blue Ocean Strategy and BSC3. Finally, an attempt is made to create two fresh Blue Ocean strategies for the case study firm.. 政治大. The new potential market is identified, where the firm can become the first-to-market; the. 立. improvements to the firm’s potential channel of sales are developed by introducing an entirely new. ‧ 國. 學. product, for which there is no extant competition. To clearly show the succession of the two. ‧. strategies’ implementation, a new Balanced Scorecard will be proposed.. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. 1. Blue Ocean Strategy is a business strategy book first published in 2005 and written by W. Chan Kim and Renée Mauborgne of The Blue Ocean Strategy Institute at INSEAD. The book illustrates what the authors believe is the best organizational strategy to generate growth and profits. Blue Ocean Strategy suggests that an organization should create new demand in an uncontested market space, or a "Blue Ocean", rather than compete head-to-head with other suppliers in an existing industry. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Ocean_Strategy 2. An original brand manufacturer, or OBM, is typically a company that sells an entire product made by a second company or including a component thereof from a second company sources as its own branded product. Selling the product of the second company under its own brand just adds a virtual extrinsic value to the product. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Original_brand_manufacturer 3. The balanced scorecard (BSC) is a strategy performance management tool - a semi-standard structured report, supported by design methods and automation tools, that can be used by managers to keep track of the execution of activities by the staff within their control and to monitor the consequences arising from these actions. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balanced_scorecard. 4.

(6) 1. Introduction 1.1 Background to the Study and Motivation Blue Ocean strategy (Kim and Mauborgne 2005) allows companies to abandon the field of competition with others, and open up a new and uncontested market space. The main concepts of Blue Ocean Strategy include value Innovation (aspiring to the differentiation and low cost at the same time), and key analytical tools and frameworks such as the Strategy Canvas, the Four Actions Framework, and the Eliminate-Reduce-Raise-Create Grid. The four principles of the Blue Ocean Strategy formulation include: 1) how to create. 政治大 reaching beyond existing demand and 4) getting the strategic sequence right. These formulation 立 uncontested market space by reconstructing market boundaries, 2) focusing on the big picture,. ‧ 國. 學. eprinciples should be taken into consideration, when an organization creates blue oceans by looking across the six conventional boundaries of competition (Six Paths Framework).. ‧. The companies manage to create a clear strategy roadmap by following the four steps of. sit. y. Nat. visualization. The new demand can be created by unlocking the three tiers of noncustomers.. io. er. The most successful companies, like Cirque du Soleil or NTT DoCoMo, watched by the. al. researchers, all didn’t really compete for success,- on the contrary, they just stepped out of the. n. v i n C hsatisfy the newlyUfound values of the existing customers competition in their industries, and tried to engchi or noncustomers. Thus, those companies became the first, and often the strongest brands. Blue Ocean Strategy was successfully applied both by the largest outfits, like Canon and Bloomberg, and start-ups, like Curves and QB House.. Balanced Scorecard is a tool of strategy implementation. It was first researched by Robert S. Kaplan and David P. Norton. BSC makes it possible to write the most distinct plan of strategy and convey it to all organizational levels, thus aligning all employees around the strategic goals. Also, BSC solves the measurement problem of the organization. It helps identify, develop and mobilize the value-creating activities from intangible assets. This is especially important in the knowledge-based environment. 5.

(7) BSC is equally effective for big and small companies. According to the Bain and Company report 2011, among the 11,000 respondent companies, 65% of the respondents used this tool. The first motivating factor is curiosity to study how the new techniques and methods behave in different environments. And this is exactly the case as far as Taiwanese businesses and the Blue Ocean Strategy are concerned. Sure enough, the principles of the Blue Ocean are not widespread in Taiwan, and it is possible that we may see some absolutely new implications of it with local specifics. The second motivating factor is to develop a toolkit, with which the Taiwanese enterprises will be able to become branded companies; to be more particular, the paper aspires to develop the above. 政治大. mentioned toolkit for a dyeing company. The vast majority of Taiwanese enterprises (with rare. 立. exceptions, like ASUS and HTC) have always had difficulty going global under their own unique. ‧ 國. 學. brands. It looks like until now they have been destined to be merely suppliers (notoriously known as OEM4) for their big and famous counterparts in the West and in Japan. So, the Blue Ocean concept. ‧. might become a critical historical breakthrough for Taiwanese enterprises, and Taiwan itself,. Nat. sit. y. allowing Taiwanese businesses to overcome their largest contemporary obstacle- powerful foreign. n. al. er. io. competitors- by not competing with them.. i n U. v. At the same time, according to the Taiwanese Ministry of Finance, there were over 1.14 million 5. Ch. engchi. SMEs in Taiwan at the end of 2003, accounting for 97.83% of all enterprises. The total number of people employed by SMEs was 7.42 million, accounting for 77.56% of all the employed people. 6 It means, that the Blue Ocean in Taiwan should first of all be focused on small businesses, which, in turn, might give birth to special techniques of working with the staff and assets of SMEs.. 4. An original equipment manufacturer, or OEM, manufactures products or components that are purchased by another company and retailed under that purchasing company's brand name. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Original_equipment_manufacturer 5. Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are companies whose personnel numbers fall below certain limits. In the United States, the Small Business Administration sets small business criteria based on industry, ownership structure, revenue and number of employees (which in some circumstances may be as high as 1500, although the cap is typically 500). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Small_and_medium_enterprises 6. http://www.bizbeginners.biz/taiwan.html 6.

(8) Thus, the third motivating factor is to develop a Blue Ocean Strategy that could be applied to a small business enterprise. The fourth motivating factor is to apply the Balanced Scorecard to a small business enterprise in Taiwan. The BSC has become rather widespread among large companies in the West, but it stays almost unfamiliar among the SMEs in Taiwan. But SMEs also need a tool to communicate their strategy to their staffs and to focus everybody on the strategic goals. Kaplan writes (Stringer), that “without a tool, such as the BSC, more than 90% of employees- even in small enterprises with fewer than 300 employees- are unaware of the strategy”. Finally, the fifth motivating factor is an attempt to put together the Blue Ocean concept and the. 政治大. BSC, and propose this combination for an SME. Until recently there were no studies that combined. 立. research of the simultaneous implementation of BSC and Blue Ocean concept.. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. Ch. engchi. 7. i n U. v.

(9) 1.2 Research questions This paper seeks to find a solution for Taiwanese small enterprises to become OBMs. As a key to this goal, the usage of the Blue Ocean Strategy is proposed. Therefore, the first research question is the following,RQ1: Is it possible to open new markets for a Taiwanese OEM SME using the Blue Ocean concepts ? To be more accurate, in this paper one of the six paths (suggested in the “Blue Ocean” [Kim and Mauborgne 2005]- looking across functional or emotional appeal to buyers) is taken, and applied to a conventional Taiwanese SME (a case study company in the fabric dyeing industry) in. 政治大. order to check if it is theoretically possible for a small Taiwanese company to push the borders of. 立. the market, and create a brand new product or service.. ‧ 國. 學. For this purpose two strategies are proposed: 1)New Channel strategy, and 2) Niche. ‧. Innovator Strategy, both developed with the use of Blue Ocean techniques. The New Channel strategy targets the Taiwan local market. The Niche Innovator strategy can be addressed both. y. Nat. io. sit. towards the Taiwan and foreign markets.. n. al. er. Having the correct strategy is not enough, it also has to be realized in a real-life environment.. Ch. i n U. v. This paper suggests that the most effective and appropriate tool to implement strategy is BSC, therefore, the second research question is:. engchi. RQ2: Is it possible to implement the Blue Ocean Strategy for OEM SME through Balanced Scorecard ? According to the results of joint research, conducted by the Cranfield School of Management and Erasmus University specialists work (Burke, Stel van and Thurik 2008), the Blue Ocean Strategy is only partially effective. Such companies, as Microsoft, that originally were only followers, implemented the strategy of adoptive innovation (which belongs to the dimension of common competition) and finally won the race, pushing the industry pioneers out of the market. The conclusion was that innovation should be more incremental than disruptive. 8.

(10) It appears, that the Balanced Scorecard would be the most appropriate tool to use here for two reasons: First, because it helps to convey the essence of the innovative idea to the firm, and, secondly, it turns the innovation from a onetime burst of corporate fantasy into a day-to-day roadmap allowing all of the company staff to follow in the same direction.. 立. 政治大. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. Ch. engchi. 9. i n U. v.

(11) 1.3 The contributions of this study 1. The contribution to academic knowledge First, the study contributes to the understanding of how Blue Ocean concept and BSC can be combined together. This study applies one of the paths, (Kim and Mobourgne 2005) to help businesses open up new markets- identify emotional and utilitarian needs of customers, and focus on those missed by the competitors. Then, those needs are identified thoroughly throughout the company with the help of the BSC concept. Second, the study identifies new dimensions for strategy creation: the five senses of the human. 政治大. body. The senses can be used to describe the mass market, and as such, identifying the opposite to. 立. it- niche market.. ‧ 國. 學. On the basis of this method, the study suggests an alternative path to discover markets that. identified.. ‧. makes use of the principle of discrepancy. Here physical and psychological discrepancies are. y. Nat. process incremental by using the Balanced Scorecard approach.. n. al. Ch. 2. The contribution to practical application. engchi. er. io. sit. Third, the study is trying to find mechanisms to make the Blue Ocean strategies’ creation. i n U. v. First, the study offers two ready-to-use Blue Ocean strategies for the fabric dyeing company. The study may serve as an example for traditional industries to re-orient their businesses in new unconventional ways, because the ideas at the base of both strategies can be widely applied beyond the dyeing industry. Second, the study provides a BSC layout for the fabric dyeing company, which stimulates incremental implementation of the strategy by the whole organization.. 10.

(12) 1.4 Outline of the study The study is organized as follows: the study is divided into three major parts. The first part, the introduction, includes the backgrounds to the study, motivation to perform the study, and the possible contribution to academic and practical applications. The second part discusses the new possible strategy formation of the company. The third part touches on the Balanced Score Card. Figure 1. Outline of the Study Part 1. Part 2. Part 3. Introduction. Strategy. Balanced Scorecard. Background to the Study andMotivation. New channel strategy. Forming Strategic Themes. 治政 Niche Innovator strategy 大立. Research Questions. ‧ 國. y. al. er. sit. Reasearch Limitations. v ni. Future Research. n. Case Study Firm's background. io. Textile Finishing Industry Background. Conclusion. Nat. Literature review. Forming Measures. ‧. Outline of the study. Urgency of Objectives Implementation. 學. The Contributions of this study. Forming Objectives. Ch. engchi U. Firm's present strategy Firm's present Balanced Scorecard Research Methodology. 11. Bibliography.

(13) 2. Literature Review 2.1 Blue Ocean Strategy Related Literature. Until now there are still very few studies on the Blue Ocean Strategy concept. The serious ones include papers on Blue Ocean Strategy (Kim and Mauborgne 1997, 2005), and the work (Burke, Stel van and Thurik 2008), where the authors checked the credibility of the Blue Ocean concept. 1) Kim and Mauborgne (2005). Blue Ocean Strategy. [Research Themes] This book proposes the analytical tools and frameworks to open up new uncontested markets. 政治大. for an organization, and ignore the existing competition in its present industry, respectively. The. 立. four principles of the Blue Ocean Strategy are: 1) creating uncontested market space by. ‧ 國. 學. reconstructing market boundaries, 2)focusing on the big picture, 3)reaching beyond existing. ‧. demand and 4) getting the strategic sequence right.. These principles are used when trying to remake the conventional market boundaries (six. io. sit. y. Nat. paths).. n. al. er. The planning risk of the new strategies can be reduced by following the four steps of 1). Ch. i n U. v. visualizing strategy, 2) getting access to the three tiers of noncustomers and 3) aligning new. engchi. remarkable utility of the offering with strategic pricing, target costing and by overcoming adoption hurdles. [Implication of the Research] In the book a lot of examples across different industries are presented that may help business people open up new markets in their own fields. More than that, the book helps establish new strategic thinking to do so. Also, the book presents the four key organizational hurdles that usually don’t allow a company’s strategy to be implemented. These obstacles are the cognitive hurdle (an organization is wedded to the status quo), the political hurdle (coming across the opposition from powerful vested interests), the motivational hurdle (inability to motivate the staff), and the resources 12.

(14) hurdle (lack of necessary resources to introduce the change). The authors of the book introduce practical guidelines to overcome these hurdles in an organization based on real life examples. 2) Burke, Stel van and Thurik (2008). Blue Ocean versus Competitive Strategy: Theory and Evidence. [Research Themes] This paper tests the Blue Ocean Strategy for credibility. It compares the traditional competitive strategy to Blue Ocean, and asks whether more firms means more competition, or, as Blue Ocean argues, competition is irrelevant because as more firms engage in value innovation they will generate a larger pool of profits across an entire industry. The other question of the study is,. 政治大. whether the effects of strategies are different in the short- and long term periods.. 立. [Research methods]. ‧ 國. 學. This paper introduces a new methodology to test the dominance of the Blue Ocean Strategy over general competitive strategies in short- and long-term periods. Statistical analysis is used to. ‧. answer whether the Blue Ocean Strategy can be used as a generic strategy.. sit. y. Nat. [Research data]. n. al. er. io. The analysis is based on the Dutch retail industry- 41 shop types, 655 observations-. i n U. v. between 1982 and 2000 years. It is believed that all of the components of Blue Ocean Strategy-. Ch. engchi. value innovation, demand creation, market potential- existed in the Dutch market during that time period. [Research Results] The results of the aforementioned study do not support the hypothesis that the retailers use blue ocean to the point of making competition irrelevant. Nevertheless, for the firms that adopt the Blue Ocean Strategy, the researchers found a positive long term relation between the number of firms and average profit levels. [Implication of the Research]. 13.

(15) According to the results of the study, the short- and long-term periods have opposite effects for the competitive and blue ocean strategies. Thus managers can implement an inter-temporal strategic blend of blue ocean and competitive strategy. It means that a firm in a “red ocean” now, will still need to manage the competition in the short term, so that it could survive while achieving the longer term blue ocean goal. 3) Kim and Mauborgne (1997). Value Innovation: The Strategic Logic of High Growth. Harvard Business Review. [Research Themes] The paper looks at why some companies achieve sustained high growth in both revenues. 政治大. and profits, and why the others fail to do so. This paper can be considered a predecessor of the Blue. 立. Ocean Strategy book. Here the value innovation is also researched.. ‧ 國. 學. [Research Samples]. The paper is based on the examination of 30 companies around the world in about 30. ‧. industries. Companies with high growing revenues and profits as well as unsuccessful companies. Nat. sit. y. were researched. The method of research was qualitative: managers, analysts, and researchers from. al. n. [Research Results]. er. io. those companies were interviewed.. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. The result of the research showed that the reason of success or failure of the companies was due to the way of thinking about the strategy. The managers of the high-growth companies described their way of doing business as what the authors later called the. “logic of value. innovation”. The managers of the second group of companies all thought in a conventional way about strategies. [Research Implications] Most significantly, the research results supplement the Blue Ocean book with its classification of “the three platforms”, on which value innovation can take place: product, service,. 14.

(16) and delivery. The most successful companies at repeating value innovation were the ones that took advantage of all the three platforms. Thus, they could stretch the value innovation cycle over time.. 2.2 Balance Scorecard Related Literature Research on the Balanced Scorecard has been done for a long time, and rich data on the various aspects of BSC has been accumulated. The literature sources were selected according to two criteria: a) Description of the general principles of BSC, that allow us to see the whole picture of BSC’s interconnections. The key research in this area was conducted in the book “The strategy focused organization. How Balanced Scorecard companies Thrive in the New Business. 政治大 b) Balanced Scorecard in立 SMEs. “Why the Balanced Scorecard Fails in SMEs: A Case. Environment” (Kaplan and Norton 2001).. ‧ 國. 學. Study” is a very interesting study (Rompho 2011). It explains the main reason of BSC failure in small enterprises. The most reliable source is “Performance Measurement with the Balanced. ‧. Scorecard” (Biazzo and Garengo 2012). The book covers the whole process of BSC development. sit. y. Nat. in a small enterprise.. n. al. er. io. 1) Kaplan and Norton (2001). “The strategy focused organization. How Balanced Scorecard. v. companies Thrive in the New Business Environment.” Harvard Business School Press. [Research Themes]. Ch. engchi. i n U. The book proposes methods of strategy implementation. This goal is achieved by presenting a clear Strategy Map, equally accessible for the organizational staff from top to bottom, and thus allowing aligning of the goals, actions, and motivations of the employees. The proposed method of Balanced Scorecard helps control the mentioned above factors, by measuring the related indicators and identifying pitfalls in implementation. The key principle of the proposed method is that the financial indicators are lag indicators, and the performance results of an outfit can be influenced only from the perspectives of customer orientation, internal business processes, and learning and growth. 15.

(17) [Implications of This Research] The two main advantages of the Balanced Scorecard tool, applied for the implementation of Blue Ocean strategies, is that 1) it makes it possible to describe knowledge-based assets and the value-creating process that these assets make possible, and that 2) it can make the strategy everyone’s everyday job, which is translated into making innovative thinking everyone’s everyday job. These objectives can be approached through the perspective of learning and growth of the Blue Ocean strategic thinking frameworks, and the Blue Ocean Strategy execution techniques, implemented with the help of the Balanced Scorecard “change through executive leadership” concept.. 立. 政治大. 2) Biazzo and Garengo (2012). “Performance Measurement with the Balanced Scorecard. A. ‧. ‧ 國. [Research Themes]. 學. Practical Approach to Implementation within SMEs”. Springer.. The book is dedicated to the Balanced Scorecard adoption to small and medium enterprises.. Nat. sit. y. Its theoretical concepts mainly address the concepts and tools, necessary for establishing a. n. al. er. io. management dashboard on the basis of BSC, that is: 1) the design of a system of indicators, that is. i n U. v. strategically aligned and balanced, 2) the new “circular” approach to the implementation of the BSC. Ch. engchi. in SMEs, 3) the problem of performance measurement in SMEs. [Implication of this Research]. The book has important implications for the current thesis, for the following reasons: 1) it introduces the new “circular” system of BSC implementation, specially designed for SMEs. The authors argue that the top-down approach, mentioned by Kaplan and Norton, may serve just as a general framework, and that the difference of SMEs need a new approach in the implementation of the BSC. This new approach manages the little interest that SMEs have in rationalizing their activities. In this way it reverses the top-down logic. 2) the book proposes the measurement systems adapted to SMEs. 3)Most importantly, the research is supplemented with the real successful case 16.

(18) studies (SMEs) that implemented the BSC concept, and that can serve as an example for the fabric dying Taiwanese case study. 3) Nunes and Johnson (2002). Consumer Demand Through Meaningful Innovation. Accenture Institute for Strategic Change. [Research Themes] The research addresses the problem of companies’ behavior and consumers’ inclinations in during economic downturns. The research clarifies, whether it is right for companies to sacrifice initiatives towards developing innovative products in order to save short-term earnings. The answers are gained through the close investigation of the consumers’ opinions. [Research Data]. 立. 政治大. 3,500 consumers in North America and Europe (USA, UK, France, Germany, Spain).. ‧ 國. 學. [Research Results]. The research showed that the consumers are not buying because they think that only few. ‧. companies have given them a compelling reason to do so. They said that they were disappointed by. Nat. sit. y. the level of innovation they perceived in products. The survey found that the consumers felt. n. al. er. io. strongly that most products had no valuable innovations in the past two years (survey, 2002). Consumers especially singled out clothing and apparel. [Research Implications]. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. The research provides a fundamental understanding of consumers’ attitude towards innovative products: readiness to spend money on them during economic downturns, particular kinds of innovation most valued by the consumers. The survey suggests particular action plans for different areas of innovation supported by the statistical results. 4) Jin and Yang (2006). A Framework for applying Balanced Scorecard to Chinese SMEs. Management School of Wuyi University, Guangdong. [Research Themes]. 17.

(19) The paper seeks to identify the applicability of BSC to Chinese SMEs. To do that, the researchers showed the characteristics of Chinese SMEs, and came up with a special framework of BSC application to the SMEs that fits the conditions of the Chinese marketplace. Such additional perspective as the relationship financing and government support were added. [Research Results] A BSC framework was created, that emphasized strengthening of the Chinese SMEs weak points: strategy execution, capital problems, R&D innovations’ implementation, as well as speed and efficiency of service. The other problem tackled by the paper is the BSC flexibility and adaptability for each and every SME that is going to implement it.. 政治大. 5) Johanson, Skoog, Backlund and Almqvist (2006). Balancing Dilemmas of the balanced. 立. scorecard. School of Business, Malardalen University.. ‧ 國. 學. [Research Theme]. The paper debates different critical issues of using BSC as a management control tool. All of. ‧. those issues deal with the problem of balancing different perspectives. The first issue is how to. Nat. sit. y. implement BSC correctly and mobilize employees. The second issue is the variability of BSC. n. al. er. io. model, applied to organizations of different types, and sizes. The third issue is the time frames, in. i n U. v. which BSC is implemented. The fourth issue is difference between implementation of BSC in public and private organizations.. Ch. engchi. [Research Data] Authors used more than seventy research papers in the field of BSC for the current analysis. [Research Results] The researchers found that a too-close focus on measures selection instead of emphasizing understanding and learning of the strategy, might alienate employees. At the same time, using BSC without measures is also very hard to achieve. Second, most probably there can’t be a standardized BSC for all sizes and types of companies. Third, management control activities are connected to the strategic objectives, related to specific periods; without any timing of these activities, their effects 18.

(20) might fade in the future. Fourth, when implementing in public organizations, political interests of different groups should be considered. 6) Rompho (2011). Why the Balanced Scorecard Fails in SMEs: A Case Study. Thammasat University. [Research Theme] The study investigates why and how BSC fails when implementing in SMEs. [Research Data] The questions above are answered on the basis of a single case study where BSC implementation failed. It is a Thai SME in the electrical appliance business. Data was collected. 政治大. from interviews and researcher observation.. 立. [Research Results]. ‧ 國. 學. The study shows, that an important cause for failure of BSC implementation in SMEs is frequent strategy changes.. ‧. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. Ch. engchi. 19. i n U. v.

(21) 3. Textile Finishing Industry Background Textile finishing industry covers bleaching, dyeing, printing and finishing fabrics. Fabrics are finished to raise their performance characteristics. Majority of the companies do at least some commission work, which means dyeing and finishing fabrics, owned by other companies. Finished fabrics mainly satisfy the demand of three markets: apparel, home furnishings, and industrial. Textile finishing industry has gone through hard times on the market, which associated with increased competition worldwide over the last twenty years. EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) has determined that textile finishing industry is a source of severe pollution.. 政治大. Since the last decade of the twentieth century, with the increase of labor costs and pollution. 立. control In the USA and Europe, the finishing industry moved both from western countries and. ‧ 國. 學. Japan to the developing countries of the Asia-Pacific region.. ‧. In 2006-2012, China’s printing and dyeing cloth output maintained a compounded average growth rate (CAGR) of 4.7%, and reached 56.6 billion meters in 2012. China’s printing and dyeing. y. Nat. io. sit. cloth production is very concentrated with the top five producing regions (Zhejiang, Fujian, Jiangsu,. n. al. er. Guangdong and Shandong) accounting for more than 90% of the national output.7. Ch. i n U. v. China’s printing and dyeing industry engages many enterprises, so the market competition is. engchi. very intense. Since 2010, China has sped up the elimination of small and backward printing and dyeing manufacturers, gradually raising the industry concentration.. 7. http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/china-printing-and-dyeing-auxiliary-industry-report-2012-2015203758991.html. PR Newswire, 19.04.13 20.

(22) 4. Case Study Firm’s background. The case firm was established in 1986 in Taipei, Taiwan. The company specializes in pattern-printing and dyeing fabrics to be used in production of goods for children. Now, the company’s facilities are located in three areas: Taiwan, Hong-Kong, and Shenzhen (Mainland China). Back-up operations (financial, purchasing departments, etc.) are spread among Taiwan, Hong-Kong, and Shenzhen. The production facilities are situated in Shenzhen. The company’s organizational chart is represented by Figure 2: Figure 2. Organizational Chart of the Case Study Firm. 立. 政治大. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. The company’s specifics can be expressed in two main features: 1) The company is a second-tier OEM; it delivers dyed fabric to the bigger first-tier OEM, that produces the final product and supplies it to the international brands. The company negotiates orders not with the first-tier OEM, but directly with the international brands, thus obliging the firsttier OEM to choose it, without further bargaining. 2) The firm doesn’t possess strong knowledge management techniques. Its Shenzhen branch vicepresident has overall knowledge of the production operations and solely possesses the 21.

(23) understanding of new technologies, but should he leave, nobody in the company would be able to replace him. At the same time the firm’s other specific asset is its master dye technicians, who possess rare color-mixing experience. Should they leave, the young specialists would not be able to replace them. The company emphasizes its internal integrity, choosing “sincerity, equality, mutual benefit, and sharing” as its philosophy. The firm’s core value is “professionalism and service”, in other words, its core focus is on the quality of product and services. Its vision is to become a “textile industry professional brand”: in other words, it aspires to offer its clients high level of product customization and services at a reasonable price, at the same. 政治大. time keeping the environment clean and safe from pollution.. 立. The case firm sells to the major players on the market all over the world. Its clients at. ‧ 國. 學. different times included such giants as McDonald’s, Hasbro, Fisher-Price, and Mattel. At the same time, the company cooperates with such technology leaders as PILOT Corporation, to gain unique. ‧. technological competitive advantage.. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. Ch. engchi. 22. i n U. v.

(24) 4.1 Firm’s present strategy Presently, the case firm pursues two strategies: “Total Solutions’ Provider” and “Operational Excellence”. 1. “Total Solutions’ Provider” strategy.. Its purpose is to provide a client with clear. information about fabrics, that fully meet the client’s needs (as the client doesn’t have knowledge about fabrics), and being able to find those fabrics and use them for the specific order. 2. “Operational Excellence” strategy. It is aimed at providing better quality of the product, fast delivery, more reasonable selling price, and lowering costs of production.. 立. 政治大. 學. ‧ 國. To show how the company tried to construct a new value curve to fit in the Blue Ocean Strategy, the Eliminate-Reduce-Raise-Create Grid is provided:. Eliminate. Raise. Nat. y. Quality & Safety of the final product Delivery speed of order to OBM Fabrics’ Easy Choice (Greater Assistance to OBM in selecting the fabric that fits the design best). n. al. er. io. sit. No major factors were eliminated. Reduce. ‧. Table 1. Eliminate-Reduce-Raise-Create Grid. Ch. eng chi Create. i n U. v. Selling Price No new elements were created As can be seen from the grid, no factors that the industry takes for granted were eliminated, and no factors that the industry has never offered, were created. According to the company’s plan, such factors, as quality and safety of products, delivery speed, and the convenience of fabrics’ choice by clients should be raised well above the industry’s standards; selling price, on the contrary should become more flexible to fit the volatility of the market. Thus, the conclusion is that the case firm is still in the so-called Red Ocean, competing in the same niche, as the others in the market do.. 23.

(25) 4.2 Firm’s present Balanced Scorecard Both strategies are fully embedded into the firm’s balanced scorecard (Figure 3). It is divided into four levels: Financial Perspective, Customer Perspective, Internal Processes Perspective, and Learning & Growth Perspective. 1. Financial Perspective. There are two themes here. The first one, “Revenue Growth”, which is achieved through the “Total Solutions’ Provider”, and partly through the “Operational Excellence” strategies. The second one, “Cost Reduction and Control”, is achieved solely through the “Operational Excellence” strategy.. 政治大. 2. Customer Perspective. There are two themes here. “Total Solutions’ Provider” is meant to. 立. create the ability to find or create the most appropriate fabric, that will satisfy the needs of. ‧ 國. 學. clients. “Operational Excellence” strategy’s foremost goals are: eliminate poisonous. ‧. elements from the products produced, and make the selling price adoptable to the level of prices on the market.. io. sit. y. Nat. n. al. er. 3. Internal Perspective. It includes three themes. All of them deal with the ability to manage. Ch. i n U. v. effectively. The first theme, “Total Solutions’ Provider Management” is aimed at managing. engchi. the process of new technologies & knowledge development. “Sustainable Quality of Goods without Hazardous Substances Management” theme’s goal is to set up high level of new non-toxic materials’ development. “Costs’ Control Management” theme underscores the influence of time on costs, and initiates implementation of time-driven activity based costing system.. 4. Learning Perspective. There are five themes here; four of them are meant to raise the skills of workers. “Total Solutions’ Provider Skills” has to stimulate effective team work to create total solutions for clients. “Quality Management Skills” theme’s purpose is to set new 24.

(26) quality management standards, and becoming capable of complying with them. “Production Scheduling Skills” theme includes only introducing the ERP system to the production. “Costs’ Control Skills” theme is meant to educate the employees about the ABC system. The fifth theme “Create Climate of Cooperation inside Themes” is a major one. It penetrates through the previous four themes by its fundamental purpose to make the team work, in general, more effective. It introduces the system of mentoring, when more experienced employees will have to share their experiences with junior specialists, and it suggests the introduction of fair-money-for-idea initiative, that will stimulate the employees’ active participation in the creative process. The present Balanced Scorecard is represented in Figure 3:. 立. 政治大. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. Ch. engchi. 25. i n U. v.

(27) Cost Reduction and Control. Total Solutions' Provider. Sustainable Quality, Reasonable Price of Goods Produced (Operational Excellence). Become First Choice for Strategic Clients, Who Need Outside Fabrics’ Total Solution. Sustainable Quality of Goods without Hazardous Substances. Total Solutions' Provider Management. 立. Proactively Initiate New Projects. Costs’ Control Management. Develop New Non-Hazardous Production Materials. Create Best Scheduling System. Create Computer-Based SOP of Production Process. Implement ABC system. Create System of Quality Management. ‧ y. sit. Total Solutions' Provider Skills. io. Qualitёy Management Skills. al. v. i. i n U. New Techniques Designing Task Group. New Non- Hazardous Materials Development Task Group. n. n. New Projects' Task Team. 政治大. er. Meeting Clients' Demand Fast. ‧ 國. Design New Techniques. Reasonable Price. Sustainable Quality of Goods without Hazardous Substances Management. 學. g I n t e r n a l C u s t o m e r Financial. Revenue Growth. Nat. n. Profit Increase. New Projects' Management System. Production Specialist. Fabrics' Processing Specialized Database. Quality Control Specialist. engchi. Costs' Control Skills. Implement ERP System. ABC specialist. a. r. Ch. Production Scheduling Skills. e. Create climate of cooperation inside teams. L. Mentoring System Figure 3. Present Balanced Scorecard. 26. Money-for-Iniciative Sharing System.

(28) 5. Research Methodology 5.1 Methodology of new strategies development To understand the mechanism of the new strategies’ development, a case firm from the textile industry is taken as an example. Its main characteristics serve as support points to guide the sequence of the new strategy creation. The main purpose of the case-firm's new would-be strategy is to open up new market spaces, by introducing value innovations. To come up with fresh ideas to set up new strategy, the author borrows a set of tools designed for the Blue Ocean strategies (Kim and Mauborgne 2005) and adds. 政治大. an additional one- discrepancy. The tools applied, are:. 立. 1) Four Actions Framework. Which of the factors that the industry takes for granted should be. ‧ 國. 學. eliminated ? Which factors should be reduced well below the industry’s standard ? Which factors should be raised well above the industry’s standard ? Which factors should be. ‧. created that the industry has never offered ?. io. sit. y. Nat. n. al. er. 2) Six-paths framework to reconstruct market boundaries. It includes: looking across. Ch. i n U. v. alternative industries, looking across strategic groups within industries, looking across the. engchi. chain of buyers, looking across complimentary products and services, looking across functional or emotional appeal to buyers, looking across time.. 3) Value curve. First, it is used to align the proposed innovations with utility, price, and cost positions to make them harmoniously fit all the necessary dimensions of ideal product. Second, value curve helps to identify the focus, divergence, and the compelling tagline of a new product.. 27.

(29) 4) The fourth tool belongs to the textbooks on psychology, and can be singled out as a separate medium to leap from customers to noncustomers. It can be called a “discrepancy” tool, and it works both ways. It can be used on physical and psychological levels to identify noncustomers. 5.2 Methodology of strategy execution development The developed Blue Ocean Strategy should be implemented. Balanced Scorecard was chosen as a presumably most effective tool for such purpose. The Balanced Scorecard methodology is a technique to express the organization’s strategy in quantifiable goals, in order to measure its performance.. 政治大. This methodology analyzes the organization’s performance in four perspectives: financial. 立. analysis, a traditional way to estimate a firm’s results by such lag indicators, as operational costs or. ‧ 國. 學. return-on-investment; customer analysis, the way to measure, what the market wants, before it reflected itself in the financial indicators (this approach allows the organization to act faster, using. ‧. lead indicators for measuring performance, instead of lag indicators); internal analysis shows how. Nat. sit. y. prepared the organization is to meet the customer demand, in terms of internal operations and. n. al. er. io. innovative approaches to achieve the goals in the customer perspective; the learning and growth. i n U. v. perspective identifies, what skills of employees, and information systems inside the organization are. Ch. engchi. required to become capable of implementing the goals in the internal perspective. Balanced Scorecard structure breaks all the goals, mentioned above, successively into strategies, tactical approaches, and measurement systems.. 28.

(30) 6. Strategy Beneath, there are two types of strategies for the case-firm (a New Channel Strategy and a Niche Innovator Strategy); and they consist of the ideas, proposed in the frames of the Blue Ocean concept.. 6.1 New Channel Strategy The company can open a new market through developing a new channel of sales- a websiteon-line designer clothing store. It has two target markets. The first one is people, who value individuality, expressed through clothing. Mostly, they. 政治大 The second target market is the young designers themselves. If the designer becomes 立. are university students, and young professionals. Thus, we can increase the existing market.. ‧ 國. 學. popular and successful on the web-site, he can be charged a commission of sales, or used for the promotion of the web-site among other designers and customers. Thus, we increase the existing. sit. Nat. This kind of web-store has no analogs in Taiwan.. y. ‧. market, and open a new market of designers.. io. er. This web-store channel strategy changes the B2B orientation of the company to B2C,. al. making it possible to create the company’s brand awareness among the population.. n. v i n C h is, that each andUevery item of the clothes and other first main uniqueness engchi. The store’s. accessories are designed by professional designers from different countries- young students and graduates from various art schools around the world. The designers create the items, and describe the stories of each clothing series creation. The second feature, unique for Taiwan, is that the company calculates the break-even number of units to issue the specific clothing item and puts the scale with that number on the web page. If the customer likes the item, he adds his personal information to the wish list, and the scale adds another customer. The customers can watch real-time the changes on the scale. If the scale gathers the required break-even number of people, than the company informs the people, who left requests, and confirms their desire to order that particular item. Then the limited number of the 29.

(31) items is produced and taken out of production. The designer gets his percentage of the revenues only if his clothing piece gathered the required number of votes and was produced. The designers want to participate in the project, because it is an opportunity to expose their works of art to the public, and become famous. The approximate options of the clothing website will look like in Table 2: Table 2. Options on the new web-site Clothes, accessories t-shirts, hoodies, pants. Themes Fabric Politics, Art, Life, Fun. Cotton, Organic cotton, Hemp, Linen. 立. Country+ Art School. Designers (by name) Taiwan Names of the -Taipei National University of designers, the Arts who create USA collections -New York Academy of Art, for the -Rhode Island School of project Design France -Ecole des Beaux-Arts of France Japan -Tokyo University of the Arts. 政治大. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. sit. y. Nat. a) the company moves from potential purchaser (an OBM) to the customer directly, by setting. io. er. up its web-site, that sells clothes,. al. n. v i n we find a position between theC existing groups on the market (web-stores, budget h e nstrategic gchi U. b). brands, high-end brands),. c) our main strength is creating new emotional experiences, that is adding to value curve such items, as individual story of each clothing line creation, choice by themes (clothes, devoted to politics, art, social responsibility issues, etc.), choice of styles by different geographic areas, increasing sense of clothes’ exclusivity from the necessity to wait until the company’s agreement to produce the clothing item. At the same time, we significantly decrease the price, usually charged for such clothes; increase the quality, comparing to the mainstream. 30.

(32) clothing chains, increase social status expression, and raise the individuality perception due to the limited editions of each series,. d) artist, who participate in the project gain such functional values, as the area for personal works of art exposition, understanding more the wants of customers by analyzing the demand for different items, and an emotional gain, such as becoming famous through personal clothing collections, and personal stories of clothing collections’ creation. Second step-Service When the other firms have copied the business model of this project, we can move to the. 政治大. second part of blue ocean, that is creating new uncontested services for the product. Here, we also. 立. separate them by the emotional and functional components. We add utilitarian elements, like iPhone. ‧. ‧ 國. Third step- Delivery. 學. app for our website, and emotional elements, like blogs, devoted to different topics.. When the competitors have copied the elements from the Service part, we should get down. Nat. sit. y. to the Delivery part. Again, working with utilitarian and emotional needs. As an emotional. n. al. er. io. component here, we can add new experiences, like inviting our customers to the representative. i n U. v. office or the manufacturing site, letting them understand how their t-shirts get created; organizing. Ch. engchi. meeting with designers, so that the latter could give master-classes to the audience etc.. 31.

(33) The following Figure 4 addresses the comparison between our new designer web-site, and other stores that sell clothes: a new strategic niche (between ordinary web-stores, budget brands, and high-end brands) is found: Figure 4. Value curve of the new web-site8 6 5 4 3 2 1. 立. 0. 政治大. higher niche (Ralph Lauren) Case Firm Lativ. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. n. al. er. io. sit. y. Nat Summary of the idea. mass market producer (GAP). Ch. engchi. i n U. v. As a result, we create a number of emotional values for the customer, and both emotional and utilitarian values for young aspiring artists around the world.. 8. The comparison is base on the interview of 50 students of National Chengchi University. 32.

(34) 6.2 Niche Innovator Strategy. Niche Innovator Strategy focuses the company’s attention on several different segments of clothing end customers, whose demand is not met yet. The target niche market are senses-impaired people, who can’t perceive the clothing like other people (For instance, visually impaired people, who can’t see the colors of the clothing, or the clothing itself). The strategy is based upon the innovative approaches towards the proposal of new clothing: each sense impaired group of population has its own difficulties with the perception of clothing, like visually impaired people, for example, can’t see the colors of clothes. In its turn, such a niche market, as visually impaired people,. 政治大. can also be subdivided into other niche categories by the type of visual inability. As identified, such. 立. subniches constitute large groups of population, which makes them very promising markets.. ‧ 國. 學. Beneath, two toolboxes are proposed to identify the niche and subniche markets (on the basis of. ‧. visually impaired people).. Nat. io. sit. existing market and the potential one, and emotional-utilitarian needs.. y. The proposal is based on the idea of five senses of a human body, discrepancies between the. n. al. er. Humans have five senses, that compensate for each other; if it so happens, and a person. Ch. i n U. v. loses one of his senses either completely or partially, the human body automatically seeks to make. engchi. up for its’ loss with the increase in intensity of other senses. For instance, it is well known that deaf people begin seeing better. Here, I take an example of the sense of seeing (sight) and its variations to find new market opportunities. Figure 5 introduces the framework of human senses:. sight. hearing. smell Figure 5. Framework of Human Senses 33. touch. taste.

(35) Let’s analyze the fabric dyeing industry in the perspective of seeing. All the industrial dyeing, all the clothing design with different variations of fabric and colors is made for the people who see. But what about those, who don’t see? Here we can try to expand the already existing market from those, who are capable of seeing, to the ones who are not. This is a method of discrepancy- looking for the consumer, opposite in needs to the mass market consumer. The category of seeing can also be divided into three subcategories by the intensity of inability to see: “people, who don’t see because of outside factors”, “people, who can’t see partially because of health problems”, and “people, who don’t see at all”- blind people. This idea is represented in Table 3:. 立. Table 3. Degrees of seeing inability.. 政治大. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. Types of seeing inability people, who don’t see because of the people, who can’t see partially people, who don’t see at all- blind outside factors because of health or inborn people problems  T-shirts on children on public  Staff for color-blind people  Braille script clothing, beach,  Clothing with temperature variations,  Temperature detecting clothing,  UV level detecting clothing and  Clothing with 3D pictures, accessories,  Clothing with specific smells  Sweating t-shirts in public places,  Sweating t-shirts at competitions (Olympics). n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. Each of the subcategories contains ideas, which are proposed particularly for the groups of people in each subcategory. The ideas are based on changing the variables of seeing inability, and the two variables, characteristic of the industrial dyeing- dyes and fabrics. Subcategory 1: people, who don’t see because of the outside factors 1) T-shirts on children on public beach Here, the idea is that when a family goes out to the beach, the biggest concern of parents is to trace their child, swimming in the sea, and among the crowd of other people. Thus the children 34.

(36) should be easily distinguished at a far distance. To make it possible, the dyes of the t-shirts, swimming trunks or bathing suits on a child, should become much brighter, when getting wet, as the child walks into the sea. Thus, the parents will be able to distinguish their child easily. Such dyes already exist. By applying such a technique to the swimming clothing, we create a utilitarian need satisfaction (for parents) of distinguishing children, and at the same time satisfy the emotional need of children, by creating a new experience of color changes on their swimming clothing. Visually the idea is presented in Figure 6: Figure 6. Inability to see because of outside factors (beach). 政治大. 4.5. 立. 4 3.5. 1.5 1 0. our color-changing t-shirt. Nat. 0.5. common t-shirt. y. 2. sit. 2.5. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. 3. n. al. er. io. UV protection Ability to easily New emotional distinguish the experience of child on the instantly beach and at changing bright sea, among colors (for other people children) (for parents). Ch. engchi. i n U. v. 2) Temperature detecting clothing The idea behind the title is to make the elements of clothing change in color, as the temperature of the clothing changes. Such a technology is known as thermochromism. For instance, it can work very well in hospitals. There are a lot of patients in a lot of wards in the hospital, and it takes tons of time to check their body temperature with a thermometer. So, why not dyeing their hospital gowns with the dyes, that change in color with every change of the body temperature? Thus, a nurse will be able to detect the rising body temperature of any patient at the very instant, when the door to the ward opens. 35.

(37) This usage of dyes satisfies both the functional need of the sick patient to be recognized as soon as possible, and the functional need of the nurse to save time on the patients’ check. Visual comparison of products can be found in Figure 7: Figure 7. Inability to see because of outside factors (hospital) 4.5 4 3.5 3 2.5. Common hospital gown. 2. 政治大. Our color-changing-withtemperature hospital gown. 1.5 1. 立 Cleanness. Warmth. 學. 0. Indication of rising temperature of the body. ‧. ‧ 國. 0.5. sit. y. Nat. 3) UV level detecting clothing. io. al. er. This idea describes an already existing photochromic dyes technology. This type of dyes reacts. v. n. to different levels of UV, and is usually applied to optics, such as lenses. It can also be used in the textiles industry.. Ch. engchi. i n U. Thus, that technology perfectly fits Asian countries, where women care much about the UV level in the daytime, and always take UV-protective umbrellas wherever they go. If such umbrellas or any other piece of clothes on the woman change color with the change of the UV degree in the atmosphere at the present moment, it will help the woman figure out, whether she should carry an umbrella, put an anti-UV cream on the face, or not. Such UV degree detecting dyes have two utilitarian values of controlling the amount of UV contact with the skin, and minimizing (or optimizing) the protection measures during the day, if unnecessary. Considering this idea refer to Figure 8:. 36.

(38) Figure 8. Inability to see because of outside factors (UV detection) 4.5 4 3.5 3 2.5 Common anti-UV wear (clothes, umbrellas). 2 1.5. Our UV-sensitive color changing staff. 1 0.5 0 Protection from UV. Control of UV minimizing the amount contact with unnecessary UV skin protection measures during the day. 立. 政治大. ‧ 國. 學. 4) Sweating t-shirts in public places. Here the same idea of color change is discussed, but from a different angle. The biggest. ‧. discomfort people suffer, when going out is sweating. Sweat brings two major problems: it smells,. sit. y. Nat. and it creates shapeless visible wet spots.. io. er. To solve the problem of smelling and sweat wet spots, we can use one of the two variables:. al. n. v i n C h of a t-shirt, fromUtraditional one to the bamboo fabric. First, we can change fabric, for instance, engchi. either fabric, or dye.. Bamboo fabric is 3-4 times more absorbent than cotton- it wicks moisture from skin, so that when a person sweats, the skin doesn’t stay wet, sweat gets absorbed and evaporates quickly. It is also antibacterial and anti-fungul, so it stays odor free. So, two benefits in one. Second, to tackle the wet sweat spots, we can use the dyes, that change the color of clothing, when the fabric gets wet or its temperature rises (as when the body sweats, its temperature rises). Thus, the whole piece of clothes will change to the color of the wet spot. To fight the smell, hypothetically, we can use dyes that activate themselves when a person is sweating, and neutralize the smell of sweat or begin radiating a different odor, which is stronger than sweating smell (I haven’t found such a technology, but, theoretically, it can exist). 37.

(39) Such usage of dyes and fabric satisfies the emotional needs of self-confidence and physical comfort. This idea is expressed in Figure 9: Figure 9. Inability to see because of outside factors (smell protection) 4.5 4 3.5 3 Common clothes. 2.5 2 1.5 1 0.5. 立. 0. 政治大. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. covering the body self-confidence from ability to change staying dry and clothes more rarely, odor-free than usually. Our wet spots-free, odorfree clothes, made with special fabric and dyes. 5) Sweating t-shirts at competitions (Olympics).. sit. y. Nat. The idea of sweating t-shirt can be extended to other application areas, such as sporting events.. io. er. At any major sporting event the sportsmen are strongly prohibited from taking steroids. The. al. v i n C h steroids identification identify such a fact. The medical tests for e n g c h i U are very expensive, and at the n. problem is that many of them do take steroids, and it is very hard for the sports committee to. competitions, even at the Olympic games, not every sportsman is checked for the prohibited steroids, only random samples are taken. But in the sportswear or underwear, that the athletes put on, can be used special dyes, that change color, if the sweat of the sportsman contains an overly high amount of certain chemical or biological elements, which can indicate a high probability, that the athlete took the prohibited drugs before the competition. When indicated, the athlete is obliged to go through the test for steroids. Thus, the sampling for steroids at the competition gets more accurate.. 38.

(40) Now, such a technology of dyes, that change colors when touched by certain chemicals is an assumption, but it is very close to the already known processes of solvatochromism and halochromism. Certainly, once produced, such clothing would be of great functional value at all major sporting competitions. This idea is represented in Figure 10: Figure 10. Inability to see because of outside factors (Olympics) 4.5 4 3.5 3. 政治大. 2.5. 立. 2 1.5. Costs of implementation. simplicity of initial steroid indication. al. er. io. sit. y. Nat. Limitation of steroids' detection by statistical sampling. ‧. 0. ‧ 國. 0.5. Color changing steroids' testing sports clothing. 學. 1. Steroid tests. n. Subcategory 2: people, who can’t see partially because of health or inborn problems 1) Staff for colorblind people. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. Colorblind people constitute a large share of population: more than 8% of men, and 0.5% of women are colorblind. These people suffer from inability to distinguish certain colors. There are two types of color-blindness: inability to see red and green colors, and inability to see blue and yellow colors. Why not helping those people out ? Separate lines of all kinds of dyed fabrics from table cloth to clothing can be created especially for the colorblind. The clothing, for example will be dyed only with the colors, the colorblind distinguish best, and the color-blind people will feel confident, when buying any clothing piece from this particular store, that they won’t be mistaken by choosing the wrong colored jacket or trousers, that won’t fit each other. 39.

(41) Such a product at the same time will be both of high functional value, by negating the risk of choosing the clothing item of a wrong color, and of high emotional value, by letting the colorblind people feel absolutely confident. This idea is conveyed through Figure 11: Figure 11. Inability to see because of health or inborn problems (color-blind) 4.5 4 3.5 3 2.5. Special clothing for the colorblind. 2 1.5. 立. 1. ‧ 國. 0. Common clothing. 學. 0.5. 政治大 self-confidence. ‧. risk of choosing the clothing item of wrong color. sit. y. Nat. Subcategory 3: people, who don’t see at all- blind people. io. al. er. Now, there are totally blind people, they don’t see anything. How, using dyes and fabrics,. v. n. should we convey all the impressions of the visible world to them? The answer is: through the rest. Ch. engchi. of five senses, like touch and smell, for example.. i n U. 1) Braille script clothing A blind person can’t see any cool signs on his clothes, like “Nike”, “Be cool”, “I love surfing”, and other slogans and motos. So, we can use the Braille alphabet, that the blind can touch, and thus, perceive the same information on his hoodie or t- shirt. 2) Clothing with temperature variations Every and each color has its own temperature. With certain intensifying elements such temperatures may be stressed (a cold color, like blue, will become colder, and a warm color, like red, will become warmer). Blind people have more sensitive fingers than the others. All said, the. 40.

(42) blind will be able to understand the change in color patterns on their clothing, just by touching it with their fingers. The above mentioned idea is an assumption, basing on theoretical premises. 3) Clothing with 3D pictures There are special editions of books for blind or half-blind children. The peculiarity of those books is in their page layout. The drawing on the pages are printed in 3D manner with different types of fabric, attached to the pictures, so that the blind children could touch the pictures and understand what is depicted there just by touching the pictures with their fingers. Also, the brighter than usual dyes are applied to the pictures.. 政治大. Such a technology can be easily transferred to the clothing and other items, that is, for instance,. 立. t-shirts for blind people, that have the same 3D pictures with additional attachments of different. ‧ 國. 學. fabrics, and brighter colors on them. 4) Clothing with specific smells. ‧. Also, to create pictures on clothing, the dyes that emit smells when warmed up, can be applied.. Nat. sit. y. Thus, a blind person to understand what is depicted on his shirt, may rub any place on it, and when. n. al. er. io. the temperature increased, the picture of banana rubbed, for example, will begin emitting the smell. i n U. v. of banana etc. The blind person will be able to identify any of the objects on the clothing by rubbing or touching them, and smelling.. Ch. engchi. The four above mentioned technologies may give the completely blind people the functional value of socializing in the society and understanding the latest social trends through clothes, and a large emotional value of feeling uniqueness of each piece of their clothes not through seeing, but through touching and smelling. The aforementioned value curve for the blind is given in Figure 12:. 41.

(43) Figure 12. Blind people 4.5 4 3.5 3 2.5 2 Common clothing. 1.5. clothes for blind people. 1 0.5 0 Ability to Ability to identify logos identify colors and motos. Ability to identify pictures. 立. ability to identify the essence of pictures (by smell). 政治大. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. Ch. engchi. 42. i n U. v.