TY - JOUR
T1 - Disentangling the complexity of supply relationship formations
T2 - Firm product diversification and product ubiquity in the Japanese car industry
AU - Kito, Tomomi
AU - New, Steve
AU - Reed-Tsochas, Felix
N1 - Funding Information:
We thank the current and former colleagues in the CABDyN Complexity Centre, University of Oxford, for fruitful comments and suggestions. This work was supported in part by the Saïd Business School Foundation ( MQRYKG00 ), and JSPS KAKENHI ( 26870151 and 25101001 ).
Publisher Copyright:
© 2018 Elsevier B.V.
PY - 2018/12
Y1 - 2018/12
N2 - The factors and mechanisms that drive the formation of inter-firm supply relationships are complex, and reflect varying strategies that different firms use when building product portfolios. This study aims to disentangle these complex patterns of interactions specifically by focusing on product diversification and product interdependencies in individual firms, as well as product rarity/ubiquity. The empirical data, which captures the formation of supply relationships between carmakers and their suppliers for 200 products, was analyzed using methods developed in the emerging field of network science. The results provided significant insights into how firms’ portfolios vary and interdepend, how firms diversify their portfolios, and how the effect of these may be reflected in the formation of inter-firm relationships.
AB - The factors and mechanisms that drive the formation of inter-firm supply relationships are complex, and reflect varying strategies that different firms use when building product portfolios. This study aims to disentangle these complex patterns of interactions specifically by focusing on product diversification and product interdependencies in individual firms, as well as product rarity/ubiquity. The empirical data, which captures the formation of supply relationships between carmakers and their suppliers for 200 products, was analyzed using methods developed in the emerging field of network science. The results provided significant insights into how firms’ portfolios vary and interdepend, how firms diversify their portfolios, and how the effect of these may be reflected in the formation of inter-firm relationships.
KW - Complexity
KW - Diversification
KW - Network analysis
KW - Product portfolio
KW - Supply relationships
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U2 - 10.1016/j.ijpe.2018.09.002
DO - 10.1016/j.ijpe.2018.09.002
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85054657910
SN - 0925-5273
VL - 206
SP - 159
EP - 168
JO - International Journal of Production Economics
JF - International Journal of Production Economics
ER -