Influence of a network structure on the network effect in the communication service market

In this study,we analyze the network effect in amodel of a personal communicationmarket, by using amulti-agent based simulation approach.We introduce into the simulationmodel complex network structures as the interaction patterns of agents. With complex network models,we investigate the dynamics of amarket inwhich twoproviders are competing.We also examine the structure of networks that affect the complex behavior of themarket. By a series of simulations, we show that the structural properties of complex networks, such as the clustering coefficient and degree correlation, have amajor influence on the dynamics of the market. We find that the network effect is increased if the interaction pattern of agents is characterized by a high clustering coefficient, or a positive degree correlation. We also discuss a suitable model of the interaction pattern for reproducing market dynamics in the real world, by performing simulations using real data of a social network. © 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.