ABSTRACT
A review of the success stories of the Taiwanese businesses is testimony to the demonstrated positive benefits of utilisation of social networks. The Tainan Gang developed their close-knit and complicated networks to demonstrate that they were a force to reckon with from the south of Taiwan. The production network, and ultimately the integrated production network, seems to have become a most effective strategy for Taiwan’s businesses not only to survive and to grow but also to transform themselves in the new world of globalisation. In Taiwan, how the integrated production networks helped to launch the island as the world’s major producer of umbrellas, shoes and bicycles is well known. He-da Industrial, a company producing gear wheels, is another case which benefited from the network that allowed them to have a technological upgrade, and has successfully penetrated both the American and European markets.
