Shih Yen-shiang explains the disjunction of Taiwan's upper stream, midstream and lower stream levels by contrasting it with the seamless division of labor in the U.S. petrochemical industry. In America, universities provide information from research papers related to plastics to firms and public or private research agencies at the midstream level, which then provide production technology to the lower stream level.
施顏祥更進一步以美國石化業的分工，來解釋我國上、中、下游無法「交集」的情形：美國大學中，「生產」和塑膠相關的研究論文，提供資訊給相關的中游﹘﹘企業或公、私營研究機構﹘﹘進一步研發；中游再提供下游生產技術。