Setting priorities for the IT industry in Taiwan—A Delphi study

This article describes a strategic framework for the development of information technology in Taiwan. A decision support system (DSS) is built to test the effectiveness of the strategic framework. The DSS uses the ‘Expert Choice’ cell. Brainstorming and a dialectical approach are used to generate and analyse the criteria that influence the development of information technology. Later, a signed digraph is used to elicit the different views of the experts on cause-effect relationships. Then feedback loops obtained through the use of this ‘cognitive map’ help in the logical analysis of the decisions. This study focuses on identifying the government's priorities for information technology given the criteria identified by the experts, and the national goal of developing the information industry. The experts used in this study are drawn from the Institute for the Information Industry in Taiwan—a government agency that is charged with this task. The results indicate that the highest priority should be given to computer software development. The development of computer equipment is the least in terms of preferences. The aims of the study are twofold. First, to help entrepreneurs in determining which information technology areas will be likely to benefit from government incentive programs. Secondly, the government may use the priorities as guidelines for their resource allocation decisions. Many new companies depend on government incentive programs for survival, and these studies may suggest priorities to other investors.