Network interactions of global supply chain members

Abstract

Supply chain structure of global enterprises tend to develop dramatically. These lead to more difficulty for enterprises in managing and building information sharing systems. Thus, it is a necessary for enterprises to limit the scope of the information sharing system by selecting essential partners. The aims of this study are to quantify the cooperation of each supply chain member, and evaluate and visualize their effects in information sharing systems in order to support policymakers in making their decisions in supply chain management. The network analytical method in network science is applied to indicate the relationship between supply chain members and present a comprehensive supply chain visually. Moreover, Motor Corporation’s topology in Japan is used as a representation of global enterprise features to analyze the relationships between supply chain members. The data for Motor Corporation is secondary data which includes the number of suppliers, manufacturers, and dealers, and the interaction among them. Data is collected and verified from reputable websites such as www.marklines.com, or www.statista.com. As a result, this study contributes by applying a new method for not only determining the impact levels of supply chain members but also giving visual descriptions of impact levels on the large-scale information sharing system.

Keywords

• information systems
• sharing information
• supply chain management
• network science
• network analysis
• global enterprises