How industry network and hierarchy positions influence innovation in global semiconductor industry

The social network theory and analysis have been employed in various studies in the organization field and have produced many insightful findings. However, these findings are based on the social ties of an individual actor. The said findings have not taken into account the fact that in some situations, inter-firm interactions are more institutionalization-driven especially in highly specialized and technology-base competence industry. Therefore, we need to investigate how one firm's industrial network position based on institutional ties influence its innovation. We also need to know how one firm's industry hierarchical position influence the relationship between network position and innovation. Using network data containing firm level and processing by UCINET software, we drew graphs and digraphs of the global semiconductor industry. Our investigation found that one firm's centrality and prestige influence its innovation and its hierarchical position will moderate the said relationship. Implications of the results and suggestions for future researches are also discussed in our study.