Introducing the OZ/UK/Sweden group

[WILKINSON I]

As requested by Chris Langton a *brief* inroduction to our research 
interests and aims.

Overview

I am part of a small international group working on the analysis of the 
evolution of industrial (marketing and business)  networks.  We have written 
some papers on theory and some simple models have been developed ( 
references below).

We are particularly interested in non anonymous interaction, where firms 
learn about their trading partners and can enjoy benefits (and costs) of 
repeat trading.  Axelrod's work on the evolution of cooperation is helpful 
but needs to be embodied in a network of players where gain comes both 
directly in the dyad and indirectly through the network.  Realistic like 
representations of economic dimensions and social dimensions of relations 
are needed.

Earlier exploratory models were developed with a colleague who is an 
analytical chemist (an interesting academic relationship).  His name is 
Professor Brynn Hibbert, Analytical Chemistry at the University of New South 
Wales, Australia, (which is where I used to be).  At present I am on 
sabbatical until end of May  working with Professor Geoff Easton and Luis 
Araujo in the Marketing Department at the University of Lancaster  trying to 
develop a model to explore the evolution of networks of  firms (when they 
can extractate themselves from admin, teaching and other stuff).

The other member of the group is Professor Hakan Hakansson at Uppsala 
University in Sweden, who has written a  lot about network development and 
technology amongst other things.  He recently visited me at the University 
of Western Sydney, Nepean in Australia (one of the new universities) and 
this allowed us to realise our common research direction.  As a result of 
this we have been exploring Stuart Kauffman's NK models as a vehicle for 
pursuing our research and I have just completed an early draft summary 
(probably fairly basic to most of you) which tries show how the NK model can 
help the research. I would be pleased to email a copy to anyone willing to 
read and coment on it - it is entitled "NK models and the Evolution of 
Networks"

Role of  Swarm

Swarm seems to be a way of getting past the software holdup  - our 
programming skills are rather rudimentary except for the chemist and he is 
too busy to do it all. However some funds are being used to hire tame 
programmers. which should allow us to install Swarm.  The computer systems 
at the four unis involved give us access to various systems. Ideally of 
course we want it on our laptops.


Background

My research in this areas has evolved from an attempt to integrate the 
economic and behavioral theories of marketing channel structure in a 
comparative static way (Dixon and Wilkinson 1986) moving on to an 
evolutionary model (Wilkinson 1990).  Marketing channels and 
business/industrial networks are to me all talking about the same thing.

The comparative static paper borrows from economics and behavioural theories 
of the firm and individual.  The aim in part was to integrate the 
behavioural and economic dimensions that are so often dealt with (at least 
im my area) in different languages and with different analytical approaches, 
such that the underlying linkages are obscured.   In Wilkinson (1990) a 
process model of channel structure is developed, which essentially  is the 
bottom up type approach leading to emergent structures that all the gurus at 
Santa Fe and others have been developing.   The question became more why do 
structures get continually reproduced rather than why they change.  The 
latter being  the focus of research in the past.  The paper outlines a 
simple model based on work in the modelling of urban retail structures  in 
which units could evolve and link with trading partners and  I suggest how 
the emergence of new rules and structures and types of firms might evolve. 


This model became the basis of some exploration when I teamed up with Brynn 
Hibbert,  who was doing vaguely similar things in his field.  This work 
drifted off to explore chaos as a dynamic emerging in the models under 
plausible conditions (Hibbert and Wilkinson 1994).  The model was recast 
into an advertising response model with feedback in order to make the 
response times more meaningful and to provide a basis for testing agains 
scanner data on purchase patterns.  We did some elementary testing of 
scanner data but there is so much noise in the data that we have not gone 
far with that.   We also explored genetic algorithms using the same basic 
model to see how reacting patterns could evolve and this was reported at a 
conference (H and W 1991).

 All the papers mentioned can  be sent to those interested.

REFERENCES

Some references re Wilkinson and Hibbert  (Australia)

 D.F.Dixon and IF Wilkinson "Toward a Theory of Channel Structure"  Research 
in Marketing: A Research Annual: Volume 8. L.P. Bucklin and J.Carman (eds) 
Distribution Channels and Institutions, JAI Press, Greenwich, Conn. 1986 
pp.27-70

I.FWilkinson"Toward a Theory of Structural Change and Evolution in Marketing 
Channels" Journal of Macromarketing Fall 1990 pp 18-46

D B. Hibbert and IF Wilkinson "Chaos in the dynamics of markets" Journal of 
the Academy of Marketing Science 22:3 1994 pp218-233

D B. Hibbert and IF Wilkinson  "Modelling the Evolution of Marketing Systems 
using Genetic Algorithms"  7th I.M.P. Conference, University of Uppsala, 
Sweden September 6-8 1991 (Department of Marketing UWS, Nepean Working Paper 
 Series 4/1991)

Some references re Geoff Easton and Luis Araujo (UK)

Easton, G. and L. Araujo (1994). Market Exchange, Social Structures and 
Time. European Journal of Marketing 28(3): 72-84.

Easton, G. and A. Lundgren (1992). Changes in Industrial Networks as Flows 
Through Nodes. Industrial Networks : a New View of Reality. B. Axelsson and 
G. Easton, Routledge: 88-104.

Kavanagh, D. and L. Araujo (1995). Chronigami : Folding and Unfolding Time. 
Accounting, Management and Information Technologies 5(2): 103-121.


Some references re Hakan Hakansson (Sweden)

Hakansson, H. (1992). Evolution Processes in Industrial Networks. Industrial 
Networks : a New View of Reality. B. Axelsson and G. Easton, Routledge: 
129-143.

Hakansson H.  and Snehota I. (1995) Developing Relationships in Business 
Networks, London, Routledge


Thanks for your indulgence.  Is this brief?


Ian Wilkinson