Role of the retail sector in Taiwanese economy

The government-guided establishment and incubation of the retail sector in Taiwan has achieved striking success and generated high consumption. This success was even more striking because when the increase of consumption began, the country had not enough retail shopping centers and it was to accept some foreign retail investments. Originally there were no Taiwanese retail firms with deep technological roots and managerial skills. Yet government decision-makers recognized the challenges of upgrading the nation’s economy basing and formulating a strategy that entailed the creation of high-level economic growth which serve as vehicles to stimulate the consumption. Beyond a comprehensive review on Taiwan’s retail sector, the main objective is to analyse the role and the influence of the sector in the Taiwanese macro- economy. The first issue is getting a picture in Asia (special in Asia - Pacific region) of retail trends. To examine this issue, the authors have done some comparisons between Asia and Europe and apart from the obvious similarities, number of significant differences have been found. The research objective is to provide an effective introduction to the business context of consumption in Taiwan.