Today following lunch I was going over some background in the development of Taiwan’s high-end bicycle sector for my employees. The briefest, and probably the best, description that can be made of it is that of a “complete” supply chain. All bicycle components in multiple incarnations are available. Knowing your way through this complex maze can be a little bit tricky though.
The main issue discussed was that of out-sourcing. Every company at whatever level of involvement be it purely a trading company right through to an exclusively manufacturing concern relies on another company for what it needs. Some do this on a larger scale than others. This results in a maze of constantly changing interconnections.
This can muddy the water a bit as to who, exactly, can claim credit for “innovations”, in the background, away from the polished front of public presentation, despite apparent patent protection. Problems are generally avoided but the potentialwas all brought squarely into focus with this case of the ‘Elliot Flyer’ that has been bubbling away behind the scenes for a few years now. You can read the transcript of the audio report (or listen to the report itself) here.