Modern technical solutions are characterized by an increased interrelatedness between heterogeneous actors and knowledge-fields. No single firm can keep pace with the development of all relevant technologies. Therefore, firms have to get access to external knowledge sources. Informal networks or cooperative environments are an organizational device for external learning. In the paper the master-equation approach is applied to model the evolution of an informal network. Using this method, we can totally dispense with the rigorous assumption of perfect rationality, usually employed when modeling cooperative behaviour. Our results show, that under a regime, where technology is of major importance, know-how sharing and the emergence of informal networks is possible via self-organization.
JEL-Classification: O34
Contact:
University of Augsburg, Department of Economics, Universitätsstr. 16, D-86135 Augsburg
Ph.: +49 821 598 4179, Fax: +49 821 598 4229,
e-Mail: Andreas Pyka