泰國汽車產業發展歷程中跨國公司的角色

The Role of TNCs in the Development of Thailand’s Automotive Industry

近年來，泰國汽車產業在國際舞台上打響了知名度，泰國漸漸成為東南亞區域主要的汽車製造國之一。經過數十年的努力，泰國躍升為東南亞與東協的汽車製造中心，並成為世界第十三大汽車製造國，同時也是世界重要的汽車零組件生產國。從1961年泰國第一家汽車公司成立至今，產業發展歷程可分為四個時期，包括：進口替代時期、生產合作、出口導向及全球化時期。在整個發展過程中，跨國公司（Transnational Corporation，TNC）（特別是日本的汽車產業），對泰國汽車產業有重大的影響；泰國本身也因跨國公司的投資而獲得產業升級的機會。本文研究發現，沒有強而有力的國家機關主導、結合跨國公司的力量、按照產業供應鏈的跨國分工與高效率生產，以及建構面向國際的市場，是泰國汽車產業展較為成功的主因。在理論意義上，本文發現泰國汽車產業與跨國公司合作，本土資本並非完全屬於被剝削的一方，而較接近「依賴跨國公司以達發展」的互動關係。

In recent years, Thailand has been famous for its automotive industry in the international arena, and it has gradually become one of the major car manufacturers in Southeast Asia. Thailand has emerged as an automobile manufacturing center in Southeast Asia and ASEAN, becoming the thirteenth largest automotive manufacturer globally, and is also an important producer of auto parts and components. Since 1961, when the first car company started in Thailand, automotive industrial development can be divided into four periods: Import Substitution, Transformation, Export-Oriented and Globalization. In the developmental process period, TNCs, especially of the Japanese automobile corporations, have had a significant impact on Thailand’s automotive industry. Thailand has had opportunities to do industrial upgrading by investment of TNCs. This paper finds two causes for the Thai auto industry’s success. First, there is no strong state to dominate issues, and combined with investment of TNCs resulted in an efficient industrial supply chain with cross-border division of labor and production to accommodate the global market. Second, in the Thai auto industry’s cooperation with transnational corporations, local capital is not entirely in a role of the exploited. The interaction of the two is closer to “dependent development”.