Structure Analysis of Supply Chain Networks Based on Complex Network Theory

Supply chain network could be seen as a complex network which consists of lots of suppliers, retailers, consumers and their relations. The structure of complex supply chain network is an important issue. The authors investigated Guangzhou automotive industry supply chain network. This network is formed by 84 enterprises, which Guangzhou Honda, Dongfeng-Nissan and Guangzhou-Toyota are key hubs of the network. Some statistical attributes of the network were calculated, such as degree distribution, average path length, and clustering coefficient,. The statistical result shows that Guangzhou automotive industry supply chain network is a complex network possessing attributes of small-word and scale-free.