TY - BOOK
T1 - The Structure of the Toyota Supply Network
T2 - An Empirical Analysis
AU - Kito, Tomomi
AU - Brintrup, Said
AU - New, Steve
AU - Reed-Tsochas, Felix
N1 - "Journal" has no ISSN/ISBN. It's SSRN published working paper: Saïd Business School RP 2014-03
PY - 2014
Y1 - 2014
N2 - Increasing awareness of the intrinsically complex nature of supply networks has brought the field of supply chain management into the domain of network science. However, due to the difficulties of acquiring large-scale and consistent empirical data sets, a more complete picture of a real-world supply network has remained remarkably elusive. In this paper, we present novel data that characterize the Toyota supply network, and identify key structural features using measures from social network analysis and the more recent field of network science. We show that the network structure for the Toyota supply network departs widely from the simplified models on which much previous work is based. Our analysis reveals the heterogeneous composition of the network and identifies key firms. Further analysis reveals the existence of constituent sub-networks, and we show that their structures reflect various factors, such as product categorization, geographical closeness and business alignment. Mapping the topology, geography, and distribution of productive capabilities for this supply network provides a critical first step for developing a more empirically-grounded theory of distributed production.
AB - Increasing awareness of the intrinsically complex nature of supply networks has brought the field of supply chain management into the domain of network science. However, due to the difficulties of acquiring large-scale and consistent empirical data sets, a more complete picture of a real-world supply network has remained remarkably elusive. In this paper, we present novel data that characterize the Toyota supply network, and identify key structural features using measures from social network analysis and the more recent field of network science. We show that the network structure for the Toyota supply network departs widely from the simplified models on which much previous work is based. Our analysis reveals the heterogeneous composition of the network and identifies key firms. Further analysis reveals the existence of constituent sub-networks, and we show that their structures reflect various factors, such as product categorization, geographical closeness and business alignment. Mapping the topology, geography, and distribution of productive capabilities for this supply network provides a critical first step for developing a more empirically-grounded theory of distributed production.
U2 - 10.2139/ssrn.2412512
DO - 10.2139/ssrn.2412512
M3 - Report
T3 - Said Business School Working Paper
BT - The Structure of the Toyota Supply Network
PB - University of Oxford
ER -