The Influence of Inter-firm Relationships on Corporate Performance

Using data drawn from a sample of automotive Japanese firms constituting a keiretsu, this book reports the findings of three separate, independent and distinct empirical investigations that examine the extent to which corporate performance—as manifested by sales revenues and profits—are impacted by (a) Fragility, (b) Degree, and (c) Momentum, which embody inter-firm relationships and ties among member firms. The occurrence of the inter-relational structural changes noted above within keiretsu systems provided the impetus for this book, which begged the following research questions: What is the status quo of automotive keiretsus? Are transnational relationships in keiretsus still associated with increasing corporate performance? Owed to the paucity of research, answers to these questions are not readily available in the literature. Thus, to augment the extant knowledge in this field and documenting answers to these larger research questions, this book partially makes a contribution by bridging this gap in our understanding of keiretsus.