Correlation Analysis between Internal Transactions and Efficiency of Chaebol Affiliates Using Social Network Analysis

Abstract

As South Korean large business groups, also known as Chaebol, have broadened their influence in the domestic economy, it is important to analyze the influence of internal transactions among Chaebol affiliates on their performance. In this paper, relationship between internal transactions and efficiency of Chaebol affiliates has been analyzed. Top five Chaebol groups in South Korea are selected; they include Samsung, Hyundai Motors, LG, SK, and Lotte group. Based on internal transactions among affiliates, social networks are constructed for each Chaebol group to analyze centrality, network structures and cliques. Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) was conducted to examine the efficiency of the Chaebol affiliates. Then, correlations between the degree centrality and the efficiency of Chaebol affiliates were analyzed, and the network structures of Chaebol groups are presented. The result shows that positive correlations between degree centrality and efficiency are observed among four Chaebol Groups. This paper shows that the Social Network Analysis (SNA) techniques can be used in the empirical research for the analysis of internal transactions of Chaebol groups.