The Smart Card Firms’ Network Positions:: A Social Network Analysis

Based on a social network analysis, as a methodology that can be used to analyze the relationships among people, as well as a proprietary database built by ourselves on inter-firm agreements formed in the smart card industry, this paper analyses the role and the influence of particular firms on the formation of inter-firm partnerships in this industry over the period 1997–2003. These inter-firm partnerships lead to the development of networks in which smart card incumbents as well as large financial providers are the central players and take a leading role in their formation.