When Lin Chung-cheng, an Academia Sinica researcher in social sciences, examined the early economic differences between native Taiwanese and mainlanders, he discovered that native businesses tended to take root among the general public and situate themselves in downstream manufacturing, while mainlander businesses were mostly developing upstream supply industries which could avoid the market weakness of insufficient human resources.
中研院社會科學研究所研究員林忠正在研究早年本省外省族群的經濟差異時就發現，本省企業的經營項目多往大眾扎根，在整體經濟產業結構上屬於中下游製造業；而外省企業則多往上游的原料工業發展，可以避開人脈資源不足的市場弱勢。