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The complexity perspective on business and organisations. Nigel Gilbert Centre for Research on Social Simulation University of Surrey Guildford, UK. Principles. The micro and the macro Interaction Emergence Evolution. Micro and macro. Simple economics re-thought.
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The complexity perspective on business and organisations Nigel Gilbert Centre for Research on Social Simulation University of Surrey Guildford, UK
Principles • The micro and the macro • Interaction • Emergence • Evolution
Simple economics re-thought Epstein JM, and R Axtell. Growing artificial societies: social science from the bottom up. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1996.
Examples of successes • Supply chain management • Traffic modelling • Regulated markets • Electricity, gas, telecom, • Environmental resource management • Water, land use • Innovation and R&D policy
Interaction and emergence • Simple rules lead to simple (or complicated) phenomena • Interaction leads to emergence • Variation and selection leads learning Complex adaptive systems
Explanation • “If you can’t generate it, you haven’t explained it” • Path dependency • Point predictions are rarely possible, but • Distributions • Ranges • Scenarios • Attractors may be
Implications • Thinking about the social world and business has been over-reliant on linear models • The complexity perspective can be enlightening in explaining • Positive feedbacks and network effects • Why things rarely repeat themselves exactly • The link between individual action and society
More information from… European Social Simulation Association http://www.essa.eu.org