7. Measuring the Entire Degree Centrality in Mazda’s Yokokai Keiretsu: A Parts-Importance Weighted Model

Tsutomu Ito1, Seigo Matsuno1, Makoto Sakamoto2, Satoshi Ikeda2, Mei Ootani3, Takao Ito4, Rajiv Mehta5
1Department of Business and Administration, Ube National College of Technology, 2-14-1 Tokiwadai, Ube, Yamaguchi, 755-0096, Japan
2Faculty of Engineering, University of Miyazaki, 1-1 Gakuen Kibanadai-Nishi, Miyazaki, 889-2192, Japan
3System Development Department Manufacturing Technology Office, NOK Corporation, 1-12-15 Shibadaimon, Minato-ku, Tokyo, Japan
4Graduate School of advanced Science and Engineering, Hiroshima University, 1-4-1 Kagamiyama, Higashi-Hiroshima, 739-8527, Japan
5Martin Tuchman School of Management, New Jersey Institute of Technology, Newark, New Jersey, 07102-1982, U.S.A
pp. 201-205
ABSTRACT
As a most important index in calculating network interrelationships, there are many definitions and more than 400 different centrality dimensions, such as degree, and betweenness, among many others, have been developed. All centrality indexes are calculated using the number of connection lines, and its position in a given network. In the automotive industry, interrelationships among partner firms are tied within a typical systemic network known as keiretsu. As it is widely known that different partners play different roles in assembly line, it is crucial to measure the centrality of transaction network in the keiretsu.. Thus, the relative importance of each partner in a connection line in a transaction network should be measured based upon the pivotal nature of each part, which has never been proposed. This paper contributes and advances our knowledge to the literature by proposing a new parts-importance weighted centrality model.

ARTICLE INFO
Article History
Received 24 November 2021
Accepted 06 April 2022

Keywords
Keiretsu loosening
Degree centrality
Entire degree centrality
Diameter
Production cost rate.

JAALR2407

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