Appendixes
Appendix 1
Interview
It must be noticed that the interview questions have been adjusted according to the activities of the interviewee. The following interview was specifically for construction companies.
Interview with construction companies
Before going into depth on certain aspects, could you tell me something about the company? Name: ………..
Number of employees: …… Start of company: year …… What is your core activity?
………
Demand
1.a Could you give an indication of the percentage of yearly construction of sailboats in New Zealand?
Custom built: …% Semi-custom built: …% Serial production: …%
1.b How many of these boats will be exported? Custom built: …%
Semi-custom built: …% Serial production: …%
1.c How many boats will be imported? Custom built: …%
Semi-custom built: …% Serial production: …%
2. What would be the price range of best selling boats? ………
3.a Could you describe the different kind of costumer groups there exist, and which group does this company focus on? (age, profession, education, income, ethnic heritage)
……… 3.b Can different groups be linked to specific type of boats?
Rijksuniversiteit Groningen E.H. van den Brand 4. Have there been significant changes in the last 10 to 20 years in costumer groups?
……… 5. What is the general purpose of use?
Recreational (long distance sail/ holiday/ weekend /daytrips) and Racing
……… 6. Could you say there has been a shift in trends over the last 20 years, regarding:
type of boats length of boat price
materials used purpose of use
luxury preferred (do they focus more on comfort or more on speed, luxury can be found in interior, heating system, appliances that make life more comfortable, etc.)
……… 7. What is the influence of income level of costumers and what effects does it have on the demand? (Output asked as well as type of output)
……… 8. Are costumers placing increasingly higher demands on the quality, speed of delivery, costs, service and flexibility during construction process? How would you rate (1-10) the importance costumers place on these 5 variables?
Quality: … Speed of delivery … Costs … Service … Flexibility … Other … ……… 9. Could you say that these demands are pulling the industry continuously towards a higher rate of innovation?
……… 10. Do customer influence the types of boats that are built? Would companies in serial
production be a real threat to companies that built custom?
……… 11.a How would you define the national sailing culture and how did it came to be?
……… 11.b What has been the influence of geographic’s on this culture?
Industry structure
12. Which of the following characteristics comes closest to how you would describe the industry?
Individualistic companies who conduct business in the marine industry. There is no or virtually none relationship between the companies.
Individualistic companies who conduct business in the marine industry. There are some loose connections between the companies.
An industrial cluster, a set of industries related through buyer-supplier and supplier-buyer relationships, or by common technologies, common supplier-buyers or distribution channels, or common labor pools.
A regional cluster, an industrial cluster in which member firms are in close geographic proximity to each other. A more inclusive definition would be: regional clusters are geographic agglomerations of firms in the same or closely related industries Industrial districts, concentration of firms involved in interdependent production processes, often in the same industry or industry segment, that are embedded in the local community and delimited by daily travel to work
A business network consists of several firms who have ongoing communication and interaction, and might have a certain level of interdependence, but that need not operate in related industries or be geographically concentrated in
13.a Are there different regions in New Zealand where marine industry companies concentrate? ……… 13.b If yes, where are these concentrations situated?
……… 14.a Which concentration performs best in terms of innovation, growth (turnover and output), and economic performance?
……… 14.b What are the reasons that this concentration performs better than others?
……… 15. How would you characterize the intensity of competition regarding the following dimensions:
Dimension Within concentration Domestic International
Rivalry among competitors Bargaining power of costumers Bargaining power of suppliers
Threat of new entrants Threat of substitutes
Rivalry among competitors:
Rijksuniversiteit Groningen E.H. van den Brand Bargaining power of customers
……… Bargaining power of suppliers
……… Threat of new entrants
……… Threat of substitutes (product, generic, budget)
……… 16.a Which of the following would you recognize as barriers to new entrants, and could you elaborate on the ones chosen?
Absolute cost advantages Government licences Access to distribution channels Government policies
Advertising High wages for employees and managers Asset specificity Investment risk
Availability of skilled labor Know-how
Brand name Level of technology Capital requirements Location
Customer loyalty Patent s (product or process) Customer-switching costs Product differentiation
Dynamic limit-pricing Research and development intensity Economies of scale (Expected) Retaliation by incumbents Excess capacity Seller concentration
Experience advantages Sunk cost Gaps and asymmetry of
information
Technological change Vertical integration
Barriers to entry art. Blees e.a. Explanation question
……… 16.b Do incumbent companies use these barriers strategically to keep new entrants out?
………
Competition
17. On which performance dimensions lies the emphasis in competing with other construction companies? Rating (1-10) Quality … Speed of delivery … Service … Flexibility … Costs … Other … ………
18. What would be the relationship between the intensity of competition and the level of innovation?
19.a Is there a lot of competition between companies for skilled employees? ………
19.b What are the most important impact that skilled employees have on the construction industry?
………
20. What would be the most significant competitive strengths of New Zealand on which it competes internationally? (for example on the 5 performance dimensions, currency exchange, cheaper resources)
………
21. Are the advantages New Zealand has over the other countries sustainable? ………
Partnerships / Cooperation
22. Does this company actively engage in cooperation, if so, with which of the following and what are the reasons (is the nature) for these relationships?
Rijksuniversiteit Groningen E.H. van den Brand 23. Could you give an indication of how it is for construction companies in general? With: Nature of benefit Intensity Stability Formal/
Informal Impact on Innovation Construction companies Suppliers Customers Lead users Related/ Supporting industries Knowledge institutions Government Other: ………
24. Could you give an indication of how it is for the cluster in general? With: Nature of benefit Intensity Stability Formal/
25. Which of the following types of cooperation do you use? join a association
...
26. Is there a large firm in your network, if so, what role does it play in the network ………
27. Looking at the product and market segments the companies serve, would you characterize them as symmetrical or assymetrical?
………
28. How would you describe the influence of the intensity of competition on cooperation? ………
29. What restricts companies to engage in cooperation? (trust/ sharing knowledge/ time, etc.) ………
Innovation:
30. Could you explain the role of innovation in this industry? ………
31. What are the sources where innovations (product and process) originate? ………
32.a What are the recent ‘major’ product innovations? ………
32.b Who initiated the innovations and how far do you think they will be internalized in the production of sailboats?
……… 33.a What are the recent ‘major’ process innovations? ………
33.b Who initiated the innovations and how far do you think they will be internalized in the production of sail boats?
………
34. In what classification of process type would you place your company? ...
35. What kind of technology/equipment is used in the production? ………
Rijksuniversiteit Groningen E.H. van den Brand 37. Do the foregoing subjects allow for customization or standardization?
………
38. What is the role of designers in product- and process innovations? (to reach certain levels of customization?)
………
39. Which of the following would you say that influence your ability to reach economies of scale and scope?
technology materials
partnerships (cooperation)
……… 40. Can you describe the path of diffusion of these innovations? ………
41. How much of these innovations are created by the sailboat industry itself and how much of these innovative technologies are ‘taken’ from other industries?
………
42. From which knowledge field do you expect that future innovations for the sailboat construction industry will come from?
………
43. What will be the trend for the future concerning the use of materials? ………
Government policy
44. If you look at the following governmental policies, could you tell me impact these policies have on the cluster? How involved is the government in the industry?
44a. Governmental policies concerning Small business and medium-sized companies ………
44.b Environmental policies
……… 44.c Labor and education policies
……… 44.d Policies to promote technological
……… 44.e International agreements and integration
……… 44.f Taxation policies
44.g Governmental policies concerning competition
………
44.h General economic policies
……… 44.i Other..
Rijksuniversiteit Groningen E.H. van den Brand
Appendix 2
Questionnaire
This questionnaire of 11 questions will take about 15 minutes of your time. It will be greatly appreciated if you could spare the time to complete it and by that help me with my thesis. The questionnaire will touch the subjects of demand for sailing yachts, your cooperation and competition within the marine cluster and the influences you experience from the government.
Before going into depth on certain aspects, could you tell something about the company? Name: ………..
Number of employees: ……
What is the company’s core activity?
……… 1. What would be the general specification of your costumers?
Age: ….
Level of income: ……..
Education: ……… Profession: ………
2. Could you say there has been a shift in trends over the last 20 years, regarding: Type of boat, length of boat, price, materials of construction?
………
4. Please mark which one of the following characteristics comes closest to how you would describe the marine industry?
Individualistic companies who conduct business in the marine industry. There is no or virtually none relationship between the companies.
Individualistic companies who conduct business in the marine industry. There are some loose connections between the companies.
An industrial cluster, a set of industries related through buyer-supplier and supplier-buyer relationships, or by common technologies, common supplier-buyers or distribution channels, or common labor pools.
A regional cluster, an industrial cluster in which member firms are in close geographic proximity to each other. A more inclusive definition would be: regional clusters are geographic agglomerations of firms in the same or closely related industries Industrial districts, concentration of firms involved in interdependent production processes, often in the same industry or industry segment, that are embedded in the local community and delimited by daily travel to work
A business network consists of several firms who have ongoing communication and interaction, and might have a certain level of interdependence, but that need not operate in related industries or be geographically concentrated.
5. How would you characterize the intensity of the following dimensions? (high/average/low and short explanation)
Dimension Explanation: Rivalry among competitors Bargaining power of costumers Bargaining power of suppliers
Threat of new entrants
Rijksuniversiteit Groningen E.H. van den Brand 6. Does this company actively engage in cooperation, if so, with which of the following and what are the reasons (is the nature) for these relationships?
With: YES/N
O
Nature of benefit Intensity
(+, +/-, -) Formal/ Informal Construction companies Suppliers Customers Related/ Supporting industries Knowledge institutions Government Other: …………..
7. Is/Are there a large firm(s) in the ‘cluster’, if so, what role does it (do they) play in the ‘cluster’?
………
8. How would you describe the relationship of intensity of competition with cooperation? ………
9. What do you think is important in cooperation and why? (trust/ sharing knowledge/ time, other)
……… 10.a Could you explain the role of innovation in this industry? ………
10.b How do New Zealand boat building companies perform on innovation? ………
11. If you look at the following governmental policies, could you tell me impact these policies have on the cluster? How involved is the government in the industry?
11.a Governmental policies concerning Small business and medium-sized companies ………
11.b Labor and education policies
……… 11.c Policies to promote technology
11.d Taxation policies
……… 11.e Governmental policies concerning competition
……… 11.f Other..
Rijksuniversiteit Groningen E.H. van den Brand
Rijksuniversiteit Groningen E.H. van den Brand
