摘要 I
ABSTRACT II
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS III

TABLE OF CONTENTS IV
LIST OF TABLES VI
LIST OF FIGURES VII

I. INTRODUCTION 1
1.1 Research Background 1
1.2 Research Motivation 2
1.3 Research Objective 3
1.4 Research Flow 5

II. INDUSTRY OVERVIEW 6
2.1 Types 6
2.2 Application 7
2.3 History of the Industry 7
2.3.1 Europe 8
2.3.2 United States 8
2.3.3 Asia 8
2.4 Market Trends 10
2.4.1 Supply & Demand 10
2.4.2 Raw Material 12
2.4.3 World Economy 13
2.4.4 Trade War 13
2.4.5 Consolidation 15
2.5 Outlook 17
2.5.1 The Rise of China 17
2.5.2 Other Emerging Countrie 18

III. LITERATURE REVIEW 19
3.1 Competitive Advantage 19
3.1.1 Structure-Conduct-Performance (SCP) 19
3.1.2 Resource-Based View (RBV) 20
3.2 Dynamic Capabilities 20
3.3 Strategic Group 21
3.4 Financial Performance 21
3.4.1 Du Pont Identity 22

IV. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 23
4.1 Analytical Procedures 23
4.2 Data Collection 24
4.3 Variable Selection 25
4.4 Analytical Methods 27
4.4.1 Principal Component Analysis (PCA) 27
4.4.2 Cluster Analysis 27

V. DATA ANALYSIS 29
5.1 Descriptive Statistics 29
5.2 Results of Principal Component Analysis (PCA) 31
5.3 Results of Cluster Analysis 34
5.3.1 Ward’s Minimum Variance Method 34
5.3.2 K-Means Clustering 35
5.3.3 Financial Performance for Each Cluster 43

VI. CONCLUSIONS 44
6.1 Summary 44
6.2 Discussion 47

REFERENCES 49

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