New TCAPA Chairman Aims to Build Membership Among Goals

Hsiao also has won unprecedented official subsidies to attend global trade shows

Eugene Hsiao, an entrepreneur in Taiwan's auto parts and accessory industry and elected at 45 as the 8th chairman of the Taipei County Auto Parts Association (TCAPA) in 2010, quickly proved his leadership in only several months by significantly enhancing cooperation and interaction among the trade group's 250-to-300 members.

The TCAPA, soon to be renamed the New Taipei City Auto Parts Association (NTCAPA) with the upgrading of Taipei County to New Taipei City, has been responding to governmental policy making, setting up industry standards, building inter-member bonding, and trying to acquire more resources for members and the association.

Addressing the group during the handover of the chairmanship, Hsiao thanked the earnest efforts by the former TCAPA chairmen who built a sound foundation for the trade group, whose operation had been smooth, membership increasing and reputation enhanced. He also thanked his predecessors and members for sharing opinions, suggestions to enable him to continue expanding the association.

Hsiao also said that he has been working hard with the association staffers to enhance the sustainability of the organization to benefit its membership, and to promote the more effective development of the auto-parts and accessory industry in Taiwan.

Priority
“My first priority is to upgrade the association website to enable the TCAPA membership to computerize their business. We have achieved initial success to set the TCAPA website as example for all auto parts-related trade groups in Taiwan, whereby our website offers the most comprehensive information, interactive content, and updated dynamics,” Hsiao said, adding that “we have been trying to set up online links with major organizations, no matter business or technical, to build a broader network for TCAPA and our members, who can now easily find membership application, group benefit information, programs for TCAPA activities, and other members' websites.”

The TCAPA has also been persuading all members to computerize their operations to upgrade efficiency, enabling enhanced exposure to customers to be better prepared for a brighter future in the traditional business; and more importantly members must not only have computers but be able to use them, said Hsiao.

Another unprecedented goal achieved by the new chairman immediately after taking office is to win governmental support for TCAPA members to attend international exhibitions. After intensive negotiations with official authorities, Hsiao said that the TCAPA for the first time won subsidies for members to attend major auto-parts trade fairs globally and promote the members in various media.

Attend Trade Shows
The next step for the TCAPA, said Hsiao, will be to aggressively encourage the members to participate in trade shows worldwide, which is especially important for companies in the traditional industry to go global to compete rather than stay in Taiwan. So Hsiao has been canvassing its members to attend trade shows collectively.

“I'm confident that in the post-recession period, high-quality, competitively-priced parts made in Taiwan offer the easiest, most reliable, and most efficient solution to both original equipment (OE) and aftermarket (AM) parts makers, buyers, and end-users worldwide,” Hsiao noted. Taiwan's automotive-parts industry has unmatched, integrated competitiveness; while consumers in the post-recession era are more conscious of cost/performance (C/P) value, which Taiwan's auto-parts makers are ready to maximize, according to Hsiao.

In addition, China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) markets are providing increasing opportunities for Taiwanese auto-parts makers, so the TCAPA will try its utmost to consolidate its membership to tap these new, rapidly rising markets, said Hsiao.

Membership Building
Another of the TCAPA's goal is to build membership to strengthen influence.

According to Hsiao, the TCAPA membership dropped modestly in 2008 and 2009, but rose clearly after his takeover. “We receive official notification of new companies set up in Taipei County, so we immediately ask our directors nearby to try to recruit them as members.” Hsiao said the TCAPA aims to have over 300 members soon.

Background
Also the president of Shine Jean Industrial Inc., a supplier of high-end automotive upgrade accessories, Hsiao runs a business that is globally known as a developer, manufacturer and trader of upgrade/decorative accessories for the top-two German brands: Mercedes-Benz and BMW.

Hard work has led to success, but Hsiao concedes that luck played a part. He became involved in the auto parts and accessories industry in 1984 when he began working for a major company as international sales specialist, hence accumulating abundant experience and establishing close relations with domestic suppliers of high-quality products.

Hsiao set up Shine Jean in 1995 to concentrate on the design and production of fender trim for Mercedes and BMWs, and has diversified into other lines and established ties with local suppliers of exterior and interior accessories for the two brands.