The state-controlled Taiwan Tobacco and Wine Board (
With its corporatization, Taiwan Tobacco will not only produce wine, liquor and beer, but also expand its business into recreation and distribution services.
"The biggest difference for our corporatization is that we will take responsibility of our business turnover, good or bad, and we must work like a real company, with a targeted sales goal," Wei said.
Before the nation's accession to the WTO earlier this year, Taiwan Tobacco was the only manufacturer of cigarettes and alcoholic drinks in Taiwan. As the private sector is allowed to enter the domestic market after WTO entry, Taiwan Tobacco needs to develop new capabilities to survive.
Taiwan Tobacco, which recorded average annual revenues of around NT$75 billion over the past four years, has set a goal of NT$80 billion in revenues this year, according to Wei.
Along with that target are goals of creating new products and improving productivity.
Wei said the new company is planning to develop more bus-inesses, including producing cigarettes and alcoholic items for other companies on a contract basis, as well as tapping biotech businesses related to fermentation and spice development for its alcoholic products.
"In a nutshell, we will reshape our management team, redesign incentive systems and introduce new products [to survive in the market]," he said.
Indeed, according to a proposed scheme drafted by the Council for Economic Planning and Development, Taiwan Tobacco will undergo a privatization plan during the next three years following its corporatization.
"The privatization work is expected to be completed before July 2005," Wei said, adding that the company is working hard to reduce its workforce.
"We have cut our workforce from 14,000 to 7,900 over the past three years."
Minister of Finance Lee Yung-san (李庸三) said yesterday that Chu Cheng-hsiung (朱正雄), Taiwan Tobacco's director general, will serve as acting president for the new entity, while one of the three vice finance ministers will temporarily serve as the company's chairman, until the Cabinet finalizes the selection of qualified candidates.
Vice Finance Minister Sam Wang (
While employees at Taiwan Tobacco generally felt puzzled over why the government wants to reshuffle the management team at a time when the company is undertaking corporatization and faces tougher competition, Wei said the company needs some fresh bloods to improve management.
"For almost nine years we haven't recruit one new person here," Wei said. "I think we need to have some new professionals [join the team] or we will look bad," he said.
UPDATED (3:40pm): A suspected gas explosion at a shopping mall in Taichung this morning has killed four people and injured 20 others, as emergency responders continue to investigate. The explosion occurred on the 12th floor of the Shin Kong Mitsukoshi in Situn District (西屯) at 11:33am. One person was declared dead at the scene, while three people were declared deceased later after receiving emergency treatment. Another 20 people sustained major or minor injuries. The Taichung Fire Bureau said it received a report of the explosion at 11:33am and sent rescuers to respond. The cause of the explosion is still under investigation, it said. The National Fire
ACCOUNTABILITY: The incident, which occured at a Shin Kong Mitsukoshi Department Store in Taichung, was allegedly caused by a gas explosion on the 12th floor Shin Kong Group (新光集團) president Richard Wu (吳昕陽) yesterday said the company would take responsibility for an apparent gas explosion that resulted in four deaths and 26 injuries at Shin Kong Mitsukoshi Zhonggang Store in Taichung yesterday. The Taichung Fire Bureau at 11:33am yesterday received a report saying that people were injured after an explosion at the department store on Section 3 of Taiwan Boulevard in Taichung’s Situn District (西屯). It sent 56 ambulances and 136 paramedics to the site, with the people injured sent to Cheng Ching Hospital’s Chung Kang Branch, Wuri Lin Shin Hospital, Taichung Veterans General Hospital or Chung
‘LAWFUL USE’: The last time a US warship transited the Taiwan Strait was on Oct. 20 last year, and this week’s transit is the first of US President Donald Trump’s second term Two US military vessels transited the Taiwan Strait from Sunday through early yesterday, the Ministry of National Defense said in a statement, the first such mission since US President Donald Trump took office last month. The two vessels sailed south through the Strait, the ministry said, adding that it closely monitored nearby airspace and waters at the time and observed nothing unusual. The ministry did not name the two vessels, but the US Navy identified them as the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Ralph Johnson and the Pathfinder-class survey ship USNS Bowditch. The ships carried out a north-to-south transit from
RESOLVE: The increased expenditure, if approved by the legislature, would likely see Taipei buying more defense articles from Washington, reducing its trade surplus The government aims to increase defense spending to at least 3 percent of GDP this year, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday, hours after US President Donald Trump again threatened tariffs on Taiwanese semiconductors. At a news conference in Taipei following his first high-level national security meeting this year, Lai said the government would propose a special budget this year to increase the nation’s defense spending to more than 3 percent of GDP. “Taiwan must firmly safeguard its national sovereignty, strengthen its resolve for self-defense and bolster its defense capabilities,” he said. The president also vowed to double down on defense reforms and