49 Taiwan Sporting Goods Manufacturers Association Meanwhile, backend systems employ predictive algorithms to forecast demand and manage dynamic pricing. Retailers are no longer reacting to sales patterns—they are anticipating them (WEF, 2024a). At a strategic level, AI enables retailers to merge transactional and relational value. The same data that drives sales efficiency also fuels brand storytelling and community engagement. A purchase becomes the beginning of a personalized service loop: recommendations, training programs, performance tracking—all linked through the consumer’s digital identity. In this ecosystem, AI does not merely optimize retail—it redefines it as an experience platform, where every interaction becomes a data point in a continuously learning relationship between brand and consumer. 7. Policy and the Geopolitics of Technology Policy, once viewed as a backdrop, has become an active force shaping industrial strategy. The “Liberation Day” tariff policy announced by the United States in 2025 marked more than a trade adjustment—it symbolized the beginning of a new era of technological protectionism (The White House, 2025a; CSIS, 2025). For the sporting-goods supply chain, this translates to structural realignment. Low-cost mass production can no longer rely on stable tariff exemptions or predictable logistics. Instead, governments are linking trade privileges to data transparency, green compliance, and domestic innovation capabilities. In parallel, European ESG regulations such as CBAM are introducing “data borders” alongside tariff borders (European Commission, n.d.-a). Each exported product must now carry a verifiable digital passport detailing its material origin, carbon footprint, and labor compliance. For manufacturers across Asia, including Taiwan, this geopolitical reconfiguration represents both a constraint and an invitation: a constraint on traditional efficiency-driven models, and an invitation to reposition themselves as high-value, AI-enabled partners in global sustainability chains. Policy no longer merely reacts to industry trends: it dictates them. In this sense, the future of sporting-goods manufacturing will depend as much on algorithmic literacy as on regulatory agility.
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MjIwMjA1