Investigation of Network Structure in Taiwan Automobile Industry

Many factors affected the supply chain network are almost based on inter-organizational relationships (IORs). Few supply chain scholars used social network analysis (SNA) to map communication between partners and figure out the supply chain network communication pattern, especially automobile industry. With SNA, the study finds out core-periphery structure, and explores four sub-groups (competition, co-design and developing, knowledge-sharing and proprietorship) in a large automobile network. Centrality is associated with perceived organizational function positively. The research suggested that perceptions of organizational performance are associated with the position in the network; central firms are more likely to perceive the organization performs well than those on the periphery.