Global Distribution of Watches: A Network Analysis of Trade Relations

The worldwide market for luxury and fashion goods is dominated today by a handful of multinational corporations (MNCs). The way MNCs access foreign markets and organize distribution, however, remains unclear. In this paper, based on an analysis of foreign trade statistics, we take the example of watches and provide a model to highlight the most important flows as well as regional hubs in this global distribution system. By using this matrix data about watch distribution as a network consisting of countries (nodes) and trades (links), a network analysis is applied to extract hub nodes playing an important role. The network is visualized to represent the distribution system while focusing on heavily weighted links. As a result, the analysis has demonstrated that the flow of watches does not run always directly from the country of production to end consumers. Intermediaries play a key role, especially in regional markets like Asia, Europe and North America.