We extend the popular NK model of complex landscapes to incorporate two realities of NPD: (1) complementary vs. conflicting dependencies in a project and (2) predominantly incremental design changes ...to components in evolutionary NPD projects. We show, through stylized projects that the nature of dependencies among system elements moderate the effect of system complexity. Our study highlights that NPD development times may be longer than the original NK model suggests. We offer a modeling framework that can be used to test hypotheses regarding actual systems. Finally, we discuss promising directions for future research.
We draw on insights from the fitness landscape literature and from models of firm dynamics with learning to hypothesise that: (i) firms in industries with higher company age or size heterogeneity ...have higher exit hazard after controlling for age, size, and a variety of other predictors of firm survival; and (ii) higher levels of R&D investment mitigate the hazard-increasing effects of industry firm heterogeneity after controlling for the direct effects of R&D intensities at industry and firm level. We test for these novel sources of selection with evidence from a panel dataset of 35,136 R&D-active UK firms from 1998 to 2012 and a range of discrete-time hazard estimators. The findings, which remain robust to multiple sensitivity checks, offer two novel contributions to the literature: (i) firm heterogeneity is not just a passive precondition for subsequent selection process in industry evolution; this heterogeneity enhances selection as more firms might be stranded in suboptimal positions; (ii) firms in more heterogenous industries can mitigate the hazard-increasing effects through R&D investment that facilitates adaptation and search for better fitness locations.
The aim of this study is to simulate the self-organized evolution mechanism of inner innovation of large-scale construction enterprises (LSCE) under different contexts. Based on NK stochastic ...combinatorial optimization model with two parameters (N, K), this study proposes three modules—ambidexterity, punctuated equilibrium, and automation—to simulate the change behaviors of the inner innovation system. Furthermore, this study analyses the influence of factor correlation on inner innovation performance under discusses nine different combination situations. The research results show that (a) regardless of how the relationship strength changes, fitness increases with an increasing K value; and (b) the comparison of optimization modes show that the punctuated equilibrium mode can guarantee the long- and short-term inner innovation performance LSCE. This study therefore reveals the mutual effects of the factors in the inner innovation system in LSCE and provides an effective model for internal systems analyses in the construction industry and in other sectors.
► An extended NK model offers a systemic and flexible tool for innovation planning using intellectual capital components. ► Non-binary and weighted intellectual capital components with non-integer ...complexity model an organization better. ► Regression analysis result gives initial conditions for path searching and is more informative than theoretical assumptions. ► Small world communication network allows heterogeneous staff reaches higher innovation performance through knowledge sharing.
Innovation is the driving force for value creation and future survival of an organization. This paper proposes a study of organizational innovation performance with an intellectual capital-based view using complexity theory. It presents the methodologies and model for the study integrating survey study, structural equation modeling and an extended NK model. The constraints of NK model applying in management studies are also addressed. The model is developed based on the NK model, with extensions to allow non-binary alleles, non-integer degree of complexity and weighted contribution of different intellectual capital (IC) components to the fitness value of innovation performance. The weighted and informed NK model simulates an organization’s search for better innovation performance with the consideration of the current IC status of the organization, and the unique complexity and interdependency among the IC components. The methodologies and the simulation model have been applied on a R&D group in the information and communication technology industry with results that demonstrated the descriptive and predictive power of the model.
Self-replicating biomolecules, subject to experimental evolution, exhibit hyper mutation rates where the genotypes of most offspring have at least a one point mutation. Thus, we formulated the ...evolutionary dynamics of an asexual self-replicator population with a finite population size and hyper mutation rate, based on the probability density of fitnesses (fitness distribution) for the evolving population. As a case study, we used a Kauffman׳s “NK fitness landscape”. We deduced recurrence relations for the first three cumulants of the fitness distribution and compared them with the results of computer simulations. We found that the evolutionary dynamics is classified in terms of two modes of selection: the “radical mode” and the “gentle mode”. In the radical mode, only a small number of genotypes with the highest or near highest fitness values can leave offspring. In the gentle mode, genotypes with moderate fitness values can leave offspring. We clarified how the evolutionary equilibrium and climbing rate depend on given parameters such as gradient and ruggedness of the landscape, mutation rate and population size, in terms of the two modes of selection. Roughly, the radical mode conducts the fast climbing but attains to the stationary states with low fitness, while the gentle mode conducts the slow climbing but attains to the stationary states with high fitness.
•We analyzed the evolutionary dynamics of an asexual self-replicator population.•The Kauffman׳s NK model was used as a model of the fitness landscape.•The dynamics was considered based on the local fitness distribution on the landscape.•The first three cumulants of fitnesses in the evolving population were formulated.•We examined how the dynamics depends on several parameters.
Economic models of fiscal federalism, according to different settings, are generally linear and static, offering unique and deterministic solutions starting with simplifying assumptions. This article ...stems from the idea of investigating how decision-makers, abandoning their traditional economic models and focusing on innovative components of evolutionary economics instead, can achieve better performance results in organizing and optimizing an economic system based on fiscal federalism. For this purpose, fiscal federalism must be understood as a dense network of economic relationships between different complex adaptive and co-evolving systems, the jurisdictions, linked by strong interdependencies. A better understanding of the links between interdependence will be provided by Stuart Kauffman's NK model. The relevance of the NK model in the study of economic organizations has been noted in the relevant literature. This literature, however, neglects the problem of co-evolution, which underpins our article.
Modularity is an important concept in evolutionary theorizing but lack of a consistent definition renders study difficult. Using the generalized NK-model of fitness landscapes, we differentiate ...modularity from decomposability. Modular and decomposable systems are both composed of subsystems, but in the former, these subsystems are connected via interface standards, while in the latter, subsystems are completely isolated. We derive the
optimal level of modularity
, which minimizes the time required to globally optimize a system, both for the case of two-layered systems and for the general case of multi-layered hierarchical systems containing modules within modules. This derivation supports the hypothesis of modularity as a mechanism to increase the speed of evolution. Our formal definition clarifies the concept of modularity and provides a framework and an analytical baseline for further research.
The average fitness difference between adjacent sites in a fitness landscape is an important descriptor that impacts in particular the dynamics of selection/mutation processes on the landscape. Of ...particular interest is its connection to the error threshold phenomenon. We show here that this parameter is intimately tied to the ruggedness through the landscape’s amplitude spectrum. For the NK model, a surprisingly simple analytical estimate explains simulation data with high precision.
Complexity theory has become influential in recent models in social science. In the context of innovations and new technologies, most applications have focused on technology adoption and technology ...diffusion, whereas the topic of the innovation process has received less attention. This paper discusses three families of complexity models of technological innovation: fitness landscape models, network models and percolation models. The models are capable of analysing complex interaction structures (between components of technologies, between agents engaged in collective invention) while avoiding 'over-parameterisation'. The paper ends with discussing the methodological challenges and critiques regarding the application of complexity theory that remain.
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