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

首先，本研究分析了六家日本汽车装配商关于95个零部件的采购策略。我们发现，使用广泛的制造供应商网络的公司往往更有利可图。也就是说，准市场战略的特征--采购集中度低、供应商共享度高的企业往往比其他企业表现更好。本研究的结果表明，几家领先的日本汽车制造商可能具有管理能力，受益于相对广泛的供应商基础和与个别供应商的合作关系。第二，通过分析125家供应商的数据，本研究发现，客户范围广泛的供应商在日本汽车行业往往更有利可图。我们断言，这一发现意味着领先的日本供应商在管理与多个客户的合作装配商-供应商关系方面可能具有组织能力，而不仅仅是与单一的经产买家。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，本研究对网络数据进行了分析，这为我们提供了一些现有的二元或跨组织集合水平的研究无法发现的结果。美国和日本在15个零部件的零部件交易网络中的比较表明：(1)日本零部件制造商的供应商数量少于美国，(2)日本供应商的客户数量高于美国，(3)美国的交易密度高于日本，表明零部件交易在日本更加分散，(4)供应商和客户的数量以及国内零部件类型和汽车制造商之间的交易密度存在差异。

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.