To what extent can Network Effects drive the growth of a business?
Learning about networks effects in class made me think about the extent to which our decisions are influenced by social networks and how companies can leverage these effects for their own gain. The article presents an interesting view about how network effects can be said to account for almost 70 percent of value in the […]
The Network Effect of a Chinese E-Commerce Platform (Alibaba) and Social Media app (WeChat)
Source: https://www.cdxe.de/en/blog/how-alibaba-and-wechat-built-their-ecosystem-with-customer-experience-in-mind Alibaba is an e-commerce and retail service platform like e-bay and amazon. Alibaba.com later became the world’s largest online B2B trading platform for small businesses as of 2014 (Wikipedia). WeChat is a Chinese multi-purpose instant messaging, social media and mobile payment app developed by Tencent (Wikipedia). Both platforms utilize network effects to build […]
Can Game theory explain Social Distancing in Society?
While learning about game theory, the prisoner’s dilemma presented in class poses an interesting and thought-provoking scenario that highlights the mathematical reasoning that lies beneath human decision making. Learning about this specific example made me wonder whether decision making in general can be modeled by a similar payoff matrix, and whether this concept of game […]
Psychopathy and Evolutionarily Stable Strategies
If you were asked to list evolutionary adaptations that make successful people successful, chances are that psychopathy is not what springs to mind. However, psychopathy is a trait that allows individuals to exploit others to give themselves an advantage. This means that if someone else is a non-psychopath, it can be advantageous if you are […]
Can Voter Participation Be Described By Network Effects?
American democracy is often lauded for its citizenship and accessibility. The government is by the people, for the people. Yet, it is abundantly clear that the people do not fulfill their role to the greatest extent. At least, not in terms of voting. Approximately 67% of voting-age Americans participated in the 2020 president election—the […]
Looting as a Cascade
On Saturday night, a Nordstrom in Walnut Creek, California was raided by an estimated 80 people, with an unquantified amount of merchandise being stolen. Reportedly with no correlation to the Rittenhouse verdict, the looting was conducted very quickly, with the raid lasting no longer than one minute. The looters were armed with crowbars, ski masks, […]
eBay Motors asymmetric information
Article: https://scholar.harvard.edu/files/lewis/files/aer2e1012e42e1535.pdf In this article, Lewis talks about how the rise of the internet has led to such a large rise in the amount of goods being traded online. Online trading often intensifies information asymmetries, as the buyer is not able to view the good in person; it is more difficult to infer the quality […]
Collective Action and Voter Turnout
While recently learning about collective action, the connection drawn to political protest under a repressive regime was especially interesting to me because of how it highlighted the consequential nature of network structure. When it comes to political action, it is not surprising that social networks are extremely decisive in who participates in politics, whether that […]
Achieving the Tipping Point for 5G
The market for 5G mobile networks is influenced by network effects, as the use gained from 5G depends on how many others are using 5G and how many compatible devices are available. Increased usage will spike popularity and trust in the product, as well as demand for the necessary infrastructure to be built, which in […]
The Gravitational Power of Network Effects
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/11/style/social-media-stuck.html Online social platforms draw much of their allure from the number of users they already have. No one is going to spend much time on social media if they are the only one that uses that platform. When a company releases an app such as Instagram or Snapchat they are only providing the […]
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