Geography, inter-firm network and socio-economic structural change

Firms' production activity is based on complex inter-firm network and construction of better network is a key for firm growth. However, in a super aging society, the number of total firms are declining and domestic inter-firm network is shrinking, which is more striking in periphery regions. As a firm metabolism, due to aging of firm CEO, ratio of voluntary exit exceeds that of bankruptcy. Therefore, it is important to consider firm selection mechanism to improve macro productivity on the premise of chain of firm voluntary exit, which is accelerated by COVID-19 shock. Further, COVID-19 shock is expected to bring about major changes in geospatial factors related to network formation and human mobility. This project aims to get policy implication about how to make use of properties of inter-firm network considering aging population, regional problems, and macro structural change with and after COVID-19. We will analyze inter-firm production network, network related to knowledge creating-activity, and their relationship with firm performance focusing on geospatial factors.

November 2, 2020 - April 30, 2023

(During the research project period, the research activity period is set from November 2, 2020 to October 31,2022, and the data usage reporting period is set from November 1, 2022 to April 30,2023.)