Analyzing core-periphery structure of complex product development using social network analysis

This paper explores the core-periphery structure of complex product development process from the perspectives of information flow and social network. We use the design structure matrix to display product development process, and employ the social network analysis to identify and explain the core-periphery structure in complex product development process. We discuss how to detect the core and periphery processes in product development based on social network analysis, and suggest that the importance of a product development process can be evaluated by the core-periphery structure analysis. The findings are explained in a real-world product development case.