Component Sourcing Network Strategy and Firm Performance in the Japanese Auto Industry

首先，本研究分析了六个日本汽车装配厂的采购策略，涉及95个零部件。我们发现，使用广泛的分销商供应商网络的公司往往更有利可图。也就是说，具有准市场战略特征的低集中度和高供应商共享度的企业往往比其他企业表现得更好。本研究的结果表明，日本的一些主要汽车制造商可能具有从相对广泛的供应商基础和与单个供应商的合作关系中获益的管理能力。第二，本研究通过对125家供应商的数据进行分析，发现在日本汽车行业中，客户范围广的供应商往往更有利可图。我们断言，这一发现意味着，领先的日本供应商可能有组织的能力，管理合作装配商-供应商关系与多个客户，而不仅仅是一个单一的经连会买家。本研究认为，供应商的管理应该同时关注从企业间合作关系和客户范围经济中获益。最后，本研究进行了网络数据分析，为我们提供了一些现有研究在二元或组织间集合水平上无法检测到的发现。通过对15种零部件的交易网络进行比较，可以发现：（1）日本的零部件制造商的供应商数量比美国少，(2)日本供应商的客户数量大于美国，(3)但是，美国的交易密度比日本高，说明日本的零部件交易更加分散。（4）国内的零部件种类和汽车制造商之间，供应商和顾客的数量、交易密度存在差异。

First, this study analyzed sourcing strategy of six Japanese car assemblers regarding 95 components. We have found that firms using a broad manufacture-supplier network tend to be moreprofitable. In other words, firms with a low sourcing concentration and a high supplier sharing, which are the characteristics of quasi-market strategy, tend to perform better than the other firms.The results in this study have implied that a few leading Japanese automobile manufacturers may have management capabilities in benefiting from both a relatively broad supplier base and cooperative relationship with individual suppliers.Second, By analyzing data of 125 suppliers, this study has found that a supplier with a broad customer scope tends to be more profitable in the Japanese automobile industry. We have asserted that this finding implies that leading Japanese suppliers may have organizational capabilities with respect to managing cooperative assembler-supplier relationships with multiple customers, rather than only with a single keiretsu buyer. This study has argued that management at suppliers should simultaneously focus on benefiting both from inter-firm cooperative relationships and from economies of customer scope.Lastly, this study has conducted network data analysis, which have provided us with some findings that the existing studies at the dyadic or interorganizational set level could not detect. The comparison of the U.S.and Japan in component transaction networks for 15 components has revealed : (1) The number of suppliers is smaller for Japan's sutomakers than for the U.S., (2) The number of customers is larger for Japan's suppliers than for the U.S., (3) Yet, the density of transactions is higher in the U.S.than in Japan, indicating component transactions are more dispersed in Japan, and (4) There are variances in the number of suppliers and customers, and the density of transactions among types of component as well as automakers within the country.