Supplier-Customer Network of Kyoto’s Traditional Craft Industry

Due to changes in consumer demand and generational transformations in recent years, Kyoto’s traditional craft industry has suffered substantial revenue losses. This research aimes characterizing Kyoto’s traditional craft industry by analyzing the supplier-customer network which involves individual firms within the Kyoto region. In the process, we clarify the community structure, key firms, network topological characteristics, bow-tie structure, robustness, and supplier-customer network vulnerability as crucial factors for sustainable growth. The community and bow-tie structure analyses clearly shows that the traditional craft industry still occupies an essential position in Kyoto’s industrial network. Furthermore, we clarify the relationship between the modern and traditional craft industries’ network characteristics in addition to their relative profitability and productivity. It is found that the traditional craft industry has a different network structure from modern consumer games and electric machinery industries. Modern industries have a strongly coupled component, and the attendant firms there create high value-added and play a significant role in driving the entire industry, while more traditional craft industries, such as the Nishijin silk fabrics and Kyoto doll industries, do not have this strongly coupled component. Moreover, the traditional crafts industry does not have a firm or a dense network for integrating information, which might be an essential factor to avoid the decline of the traditional craft industry.