The Network Society (0em15, 6 ects)

Innovations in Networks and Alliance Management (0zm05, 5 ects)

Social Entrepreneurship (0a150, 3 ects)


First Semester 2011/2012

course lecturers: Uwe Matzat, Rudi Bekkers, Gerrit Rooks (0a150 mainly) Chris Snijders (+coordination)

In this course we consider the theory and empirics of innovation and technological change from a network perspective. In what kind of networks can innovation and technological change prosper? The course considers how networks, including personal networks, can hamper or facilitate innovation and technological change, focusing primarily at the meso- and micro level. Innovation processes as well as knowledge and technology spillovers are driven by the interactions between actors such as producers, suppliers, customers, knowledge institutes, and are constrained by institutional arrangements and market structures. Over time, networks between these actors evolve. The shape and structure of these networks affect the ease with which innovation processes and technology spillovers occur and develop.

In this sense, it is not only the characteristics of the actors themselves that drive innovation and technology spillover, but also the way in which the ties between these actors are shaped. The course covers the theories explaining the general effects of networks and applies the theories to several empirical examples, with an emphasis on business networks.

The course follows the schedule outlined below and consists of assignments and an exam at the end. We have tried to be as accurate as possible in the schedule below but some changes might occur based on how the course is evolving along the way.



Literature

Papers, slides and lecture notes as supplied on this page and (occasionally, although we will try to keep this to a minimum) during lectures.

 

Grading

Assignment(s) and a written exam, weighed 50% (average of assignments) + 50% (exam). The minimum for each separate assignment and the exam must be at least a 4.0


Being there

Your attendance, attention, and active participation during lectures is much appreciated, and counted on. The material that is being discussed during the lectures is exam material even if not provided on this site.

Please note: presence at the lectures for 0a150 students is mandatory.

 

Exam material 

The exam material consists of all the literature, slides, and the lecture content, except for the papers explicitly marked "extra". So papers that belong to the assignments are also exam material. The exam is paper-and-pencil, no laptop.

What it takes to complete the course will be different for 0em15 vs 0zm05 vs 0a150.

Both 0zm05 and 0em15 have assignments and a written exam. The 0em15 course has an extra assignment, as indicated in the course schedule below. Both 0zm05 and 0em15 have the same exam material though, and that includes the papers on patents that accompanied Bekkers' lectures.

The exam: the first part of the exam will be multiple choice, about 15-20 questions. The second part will be open questions. Part of the open questions can be that you have to manually calculate some network measures on a smaller network (not the hugely complicated network measures, of course). You have 1,5 hour for the exam which we know from experience is usually more than enough.

The 0a150 course participants need to complete assignment 1, and have to attend a separate workshop (see below), and complete the assignments that go with the workshop. Note: attendance is mandatory for the first five lectures and the workshop for the 0a150 students.

Any questions? Give me (CS) an email (please use  c.c.p.snijders {at} gmail.com)

 

Study guide

The table below shows you, on a weekly basis, what you are supposed to do.

Lecture For Date Taught By Subject To Do
Lectures are on Wednesdays, hours 3 and 4 (10:45 - 12:30), Paviljoen L10
ALL September 5 CS Intro to the course
  • If you have not done so, register


    slides


    Bookmark the site by Hanneman, and download his "Introduction to social network methods" (download the pdf version). We will not study all chapters in detail, but it provides a useful general background. Read chapters 1-3.
  • View the presentation by Seth Godin on (among others) networked marketing


    Extra: Link to the cheesy 2-minute tutorial

    Extra: Lots of stuff about social networks at the International Network of Social Network Analysis, including a comprehensive overview of books on Social Network Analysis.

    Extra: the article in Wired that I showed during the lecture.

    Try out Christakis' talk on (among others) the obesity data


  • ALL September 12 CS Small-world networks slides

    SMALL WORLDS


    Many of the issues dealt with in class can be read back in the 2003 paper by Wang & Chen

    Read the following papers (and understand the main message) on small world networks:

    * Travers and Milgram (1969) An experimental study of the small world problem. Sociometry, 32, 4:425-443.

    * Watts and Strogatz (1998) Collective dynamics of small-world networks. Nature, vol 393, 440-442.

    * Dodds, Muhamad, Watts (2003) An experimental study of search in global social networks. Science, 301, 827-828. DOI: 10.1126/science.1081058 (when you are interested, have a look at Dodds' technical supplement as well).


    Six degrees: somewhat similar to my lecture (but shorter, 6m30s)

    Critique on Milgram's six degrees of separation


    Extra


    Think about applications of small world networks to innovation and alliance networks. One such application (more complicated than you need to do actually), is a paper by Hidalgo (=extra material):

    Hidalgo (2007) The product space conditions the development of nations. Science 317, 482. DOI 10.1126/science.1144581

    Have a look at  Wikipedia on Small worlds.

    If you want to run the network simulation as in this lecture, download NetLogo (choose "Networks" in the models-library)

    The story of Erdos numbers (4m37)

    A 1993 documentary on Erdos: watch a genius at work

     

    ALL September 19 UM The basic network arguments

    THE BASIC NETWORK ARGUMENTS


    slides


    Read (available through the library or Google Scholar):

    * Granovetter, M. S., "The Strength of Weak Ties" American Journal of Sociology 78 (6): 1360-1980 (1973). [try here]

    * Coleman, J.S. "Social Capital in the creation of human capital" American Journal of Sociology 94: 95-120 (1988). [try here]

    * Burt, R. (2001) "Structural Holes versus Network closure as Social Capital, in: Social Capital. Theory and Research, ed. by Lin, N., Cook, K. & Burt, R. [try here]


    Read these papers with in the back of your head the idea that you will have to be able to apply similar network arguments to problems of alliance management and innovation science.

    ALL September 26 UM From network arguments to network measurements

    slides


    Read

    Hanneman (2005) "Introduction to social network methods":

    • Chapter 6
    • Chapter 9
    • Chapter 10: intro, degree centrality, closeness centrality, summary
    • Chapter 11: intro, cliques, n-cliques, n-clans, summary.


    Download

    -an example data set: talk01.dl

    -the software Ucinet and try it out with the data: import the data, analyse it (structural holes, density, centrality, cliques, etc). Visualize the data set with NetDraw which is part of Ucinet.

    -Play around with the data! We expect you to be able to use Ucinet for the assignments. That is, you should be able to do the following with Ucinet:

    ...to import data
    ...to conduct data analyses
    ...to understand and interprete the results
    ...to export parts of the output into SPSS


    Extra
    More about the collection of (ego-centered) network data via web surveys (paper).

     

    ALL October 3 GR/UM

    Intro business networks +

    Assignment 1

    Our apologies for the misunderstandig this morning...


    slides
    on personal and business networks


    Required reading (make sure to download when you are at the university, download will then be free):


    Dyer & Nobeoka
    . Creating and managing a high performance knowledge-sharing network: the Toyota case. Strategic Management Journal, Vol 21: 345-367

    Ahuja (2000) Collaboration networks, structural holes, and innovation: A longitudinal study. Administrative Science Quarterly; 45, 3, pg. 425

    Hite & Hesterly (2001) The Evolution of Firm Networks: From Emergence to Early Growth of the Firm. Strategic Management Journal, Vol. 22, No. 3, pp. 275-286 (not treated in class yet, will be treated later)


    Extra

    Wellman (2012) Is Dunbar's number up? British Journal of Psychology, 103:2, pp. 174-176.

    Feld (1991) Why your friends have more friends than you do. American Journal of Sociology, 96:6, pp. 1464-1477.

    - - -


    Assignment


    One big zip
    with the slides, the first assignment, and the data that you need to use for this assignment.

    [Deadline assignment 1: November 4]

    NO CLASS

     

    October 10
     
    only 0A150 October 17 GR

    workshop

    Your personal network (I)


    only 0A150 October 24 GR

    workshop

    Your personal network (II)

     
      October 31   no lectures -- exam weeks (not for this course) --
      November 7   no lectures -- exam weeks (not for this course) --

    First hour: (feedback on 1st assignment)

     

    Second hour:

    0ZM05 and 0EM15 will get their second assignment

    November 14 UM / CS   Assignment 2 and the data that goes with it
    Deadline assignment 2: December 5
    0EM15 and 0ZM05 November 21

    RB

    !!

    The lecture series continues. Please download (a zip file with) the material that you need for Rudi Bekkers' lectures.

     

    0EM15 and 0ZM05 November 28

    RB


    Assignment 3 (zip includes slides and assignment).

    Deadline = Friday, January 11

    Please note that the material that Rudi Bekkers is covering is part of the exam (for both 0zm05 and 0em15) but that the assignment is only for those doing 0em15! (see the slides of the first lecture - you can find it in there as well)

    0EM15 and 0ZM05 December 5 RB  

     

    All slides and materials by Rudi Bekkers

     

    0EM15 and 0ZM05 December 12

    RB

     
    0EM15 and 0ZM05 December 19   !! no lecture !! We reschedule this one until after the break
      December 26   no lecture Merry Christmas ...
      January 2   no lecture ... and a Happy NewYear!
    OEM15 and 0ZM05 January 9 CS Trust in a networked world

    slides on trust 

     

    Read and understand the paper by Snijders and Keren. Think about what trust applications might be related to trust and innovations.

     

    Grades for the assignments are available (please ask a student who was there for the link!)

     

    !! Note: EXAM INFO will be supplied as wel l!

     

    0zm05 and 0em15 January 16   -  -