scholarly journals Analyzing the Impact of Firm’s Embeddedness in a Centralized Supply Network Structure on Relational Capital Outcomes

2015 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 55-82
Author(s):  
Lokhman Hakim Osman ◽  
Azhar Ahmad ◽  
Nor Asiah Omar
Keyword(s):  
Network Structure ◽  
Relational Capital ◽  
Degree Centrality ◽  
Supply Network ◽  
Firm Resources ◽  
Focal Firm ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Structural Positions

AbstractThis research looks at the different effects of firms’ network structural positions in an upstream supply network upon the firms’ level of relational capital outcomes. Previous research largely focused on the context of decentralized network structure. However, the supply network is a centralized network because of the existence of the focal firm. The existence of the focal firm may influence the impact of relational capital outcomes. Hence, the objective of this research is to determine the type of network structural positions required to obtain a reasonable relational capital outcome in upstream supply network. This study found that network structural positions, i.e. degree centrality contributed to firms’ level of relational capital trust. Hence, a firm embedded in upstream supply network benefits differently in terms of relational capital through different degree of embeddedness. The firm resources should be re-aligned to match the benefits of the different network structural positions.

Network centrality and multiplexity: a study of sales performance

2012 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 85-94 ◽  
Author(s):  
D.P. Claro ◽  
G.R. Gonzalez ◽  
P.B.O. Claro
Keyword(s):  
Sales Performance ◽  
Individual Performance ◽  
Network Centrality ◽  
Firm Resources ◽  
Performance Impact ◽  
Focal Firm ◽  
Job Promotion ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Conceptual Work ◽  
Specific Impact

Network literature suggests that individual embeddedness leads to performance. The authors argue that resources from intra-firm social networks are critical for gaining advantages. The contribution of the paper lies at the performance impact of the network position. Previous studies have considered two alternative views, degree and closeness, of network centrality that have been shown to impact job promotion, innovation diffusion, and wage increase. To our knowledge no work has been done to identify the specific impact of the network on sales performance. Moreover, two different types of network relations were focused on in order to analyze the multiplexity of ties: friendship and advice. Conceptual work has suggested the impact of overlapping ties on performance, however elaborated empirical evidence is lacking. Estimates from a sample of salespeople in a focal firm of input supplies reveal that having many direct ties (degree centrality) and multi-dimensional relations (advice and friendship) positively influences a salesperson's performance. The results demonstrate that salespeople can structure intra-firm ties in order to leverage firm resources and enhance individual performance.

Impact of Co-Opetition on Firm Competitive Behavior: An Empirical Examination

2006 ◽  
Vol 32 (4) ◽  
pp. 507-530 ◽  
Author(s):  
Devi R. Gnyawali ◽  
Jinyu He ◽  
Ravindranath (“Ravi”) Madhavan
Keyword(s):  
Network Structure ◽  
Steel Industry ◽  
Competitive Behavior ◽  
Cooperative Network ◽  
Empirical Examination ◽  
Cooperation And Competition ◽  
Competitive Actions ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Structural Positions

The authors examine how co-opetition—simultaneous cooperation and competition—affects firms'competitive behavior, proposing that differential structural positions among firms in a coopetitive network reflect resource asymmetries among them and that such asymmetries lead to differences in the volume and diversity of competitive actions undertaken by those firms. Data on cooperative network structure and competitive actions from the steel industry suggest that the firm's centrality is positively related to its volume of competitive actions and that its structural autonomy is positively related to the diversity of such actions. Moreover, market diversity moderates the impact of centrality and structural autonomy on competitive behavior.

scholarly journals The interaction between supply networks and internal networks: performance implications

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Fabienne Chedid ◽  
Canan Kocabasoglu-Hillmer ◽  
Jörg M. Ries
Keyword(s):  
Financial Performance ◽  
Network Data ◽  
Supply Network ◽  
Firm Level ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Geographic Dispersion ◽  
Focal Firm ◽  
Internal Network ◽  
Internal Networks ◽  
The Impact

PurposeThe importance of the supply network to firm performance is well documented. Until now, the firm and its suppliers have been conceptualized as single entities. Yet, multinational corporations (MNCs) are composed of a complex, geographically dispersed internal network of subsidiaries. The supply and internal networks are inherently linked. The purpose of this study is to investigate the impact of the interaction of these networks on firm-level financial performance.Design/methodology/approachBuilding on supply network, internal network and dual embeddedness research, the authors investigate the interaction of these networks using supply network data from FactSet and internal network data from Orbis. We assess the impact at the MNC level, using measures of firm-level financial performance, physical proximity between the two networks and geographic dispersion of the internal network.FindingsThe results show that the performance effect of physical proximity of the firm with its supply network is negatively moderated by the geographic dispersion of the firm's internal network. This effect can be traced back to the diminishing marginal profitability of a firm's assets. Moreover, the benefits of dual embeddedness to the individual subsidiary come at a cost at the firm-level due to the operational challenges of managing a complex subsidiary network.Research limitations/implicationsThis study is the first to investigate the supply and internal networks of MNCs simultaneously.Originality/valueThe paper extends supply network literature by considering the internal network of the focal firm and its suppliers. This paper is one of the first studies that offer an understanding of the interaction between supply and internal networks of a focal firm and the effect on financial performance.

scholarly journals The Impact of Network Centralization on Relational Capital

2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 50
Author(s):  
Lokhman Hakim Bin Osman
Keyword(s):  
Social Network ◽  
Network Analysis ◽  
Network Structure ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Relational Capital ◽  
Economic Activities ◽  
Structural Position ◽  
Analysis Methodology ◽  
Management Of Resources ◽  
The Impact

With an increasing degree of connections among firms forming network of economic activities, it is timely to assess the potential of these upon embedded firms.  This article presents empirical evidence to that end.  It distinguishes between decentralized and centralized network structure that illustrate the difficulties encountered in managing an inter-firm network structure.  Although considerable studies has been performed in network issues affecting firms performance,  very few research analyse the complicating attributes of a centralized network structure on its effects on firms performance.  Thus this article described different attributes of the centralized network and its effects on firms’ relational capital outcomes.  Using social network analysis methodology this study found that certain structural position occupied by firms in network impacts on its relational capital outcome.  This study is significant as it’s contributed to prudent management of resources in managing complex network structure.  Future research is also discussed.

scholarly journals How does the position of firms in the supply chain affect their performance? An empirical study

2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Siddharth Arora ◽  
Alexandra Brintrup
Keyword(s):  
Supply Chain ◽  
Empirical Data ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Individual Performance ◽  
Supply Network ◽  
Supply Chain Networks ◽  
Focal Firm ◽  
Cooperative Competition ◽  
Large Scale Networks ◽  
The Relationship

AbstractThe relationship between a firm and its supply chain has been well studied, however, the association between the position of firms in complex supply chain networks and their performance has not been adequately investigated. This is primarily due to insufficient availability of empirical data on large-scale networks. To addresses this gap in the literature, we investigate the relationship between embeddedness patterns of individual firms in a supply network and their performance using empirical data from the automotive industry. In this study, we devise three measures that characterize the embeddedness of individual firms in a supply network. These are namely: centrality, tier position, and triads. Our findings caution us that centrality impacts individual performance through a diminishing returns relationship. The second measure, tier position, allows us to investigate the concept of tiers in supply networks because we find that as networks emerge, the boundaries between tiers become unclear. Performance of suppliers degrade as they move away from the focal firm (i.e., Toyota). The final measure, triads, investigates the effect of buying and selling to firms that supply the same customer, portraying the level of competition and cooperation in a supplier’s network. We find that increased coopetition (i.e., cooperative competition) is a performance enhancer, however, excessive complexity resulting from being involved in both upstream and downstream coopetition results in diminishing performance. These original insights help understand the drivers of firm performance from a network perspective and provide a basis for further research.

scholarly journals Relationship lending and the use of trade credit: the role of relational capital and private information

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pierluigi Murro ◽  
Valentina Peruzzi
Keyword(s):  
Private Information ◽  
Business Models ◽  
Trade Credit ◽  
Banking Regulation ◽  
Manufacturing Firms ◽  
Soft Information ◽  
Relational Capital ◽  
Relationship Lending ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Italian Manufacturing Firms

AbstractUsing a unique sample of Italian manufacturing firms, we investigate the impact of relationship lending on firms’ use of trade credit. We find that firms maintaining close and long-lasting relationships with their main banks are associated with higher amounts of trade credit extended by suppliers. This result is robust to alternative measures of trade credit and relationship lending, and to different estimation techniques. We also analyze the mechanisms driving the association between relationship lending and the use of trade credit. Regression results suggest that the positive link between accounts payable and relationship lending is especially significant for firms that use to provide soft information to their lenders and for companies with greater relational abilities.Plain English Summary The existence of close and long lasting lending relationships positively affects the amount of trade credit manufacturing firms receive from their suppliers. By relying on the Survey on Italian Manufacturing Firms, we show that the positive link between relationship lending and the use of trade credit is driven by two channels: private information and relational capital. In a policy perspective, our findings reveal a need for banking regulation and supervision to encompass banking business models in evaluating banks. The current approach might not be suitable for local banks investing in soft information acquisition and could weaken SMEs’ chances to receive both bank financing and trade credit from suppliers. Moreover, from a managerial point of view, our results uncover the relevance of firms’ ability to create strong relationships with banks, suppliers, and other companies that may help alleviating financial constraints.

Architecting Fail-Safe Supply Networks

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shabnam Rezapour ◽  
Ramakrishnan S. Srinivasan ◽  
Jeffrey Tew ◽  
Janet K. Allen ◽  
Farrokh Mistree
Keyword(s):  
Service Level ◽  
Level Of Service ◽  
Supply Network ◽  
Flow Dynamic ◽  
Supply Networks ◽  
Uncertainty Sources ◽  
High Magnitude ◽  
Stochastic Events ◽  
Fail Safe ◽  
The Impact

A fail-safe network is one that mitigates the impact of different uncertainty sources and provides the most profitable level of service. This is achieved by having 1) a structurally fail-safe topology against rare but high magnitude stochastic events called disruptions and 2) an operationally fail-safe flow dynamic against frequent but low magnitude stochastic events called variations. A structurally fail-safe network should be robust and resilient against disruptions. Robustness and resilience respectively determine how well and how quickly disruptions are handled by the SN. Flow planning must be reliable in an operationally fail-safe supply network against variations to provide the most profitable service level to customers. We formulate the problem of designing/redesigning fail-safe supply networks as a compromise Decision Support Problem. We analyze the correlations among robustness, resilience, and profit for supply networks and propose a method for supply network managers to use when they need to find a compromise among robustness, resilience, and profit.

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