Competing or collaborating, with no symmetrical behaviour: Leadership opportunities and winning strategies under stability

Silvana Stefani, Marcel Ausloos, Concepción González-Concepción, Adeyemi Sonubi, Ma Candelaria Gil-Fariña, Celina Pestano-Gabino and Enrico Moretto

Mathematics and Computers in Simulation (MATCOM), 2021, vol. 187, issue C, 489-504

Abstract: In this paper, a new dynamic mathematical model describing leadership emergence or disappearance in agent based networks is proposed. Through a generalised Verhulst–Lotka–Volterra model, a triad of agents operates in a market where each agent detains a quota. The triad is composed of a leader, who leads communication, and two followers. Communications flows both ways from leader to followers and vice versa. Competition, collaboration and cheating are allowed. Stability solutions are investigated analytically through a fixed point analysis. Various solutions exist depending on the type of behavioural interactions. Results show that communication counts: survival of the leader is a condition for stability. All configurations with the leader out of the market are unstable. Conversely, the two followers position is highly difficult. The three agents cannot all survive unless they behave under mutual collaboration and in very special conditions. For followers, cheating the leader, especially if the leader is collaborating, can be a disaster. By the way, collaboration with the leader may not always ensure market survival. However, this can be a strategy to survive and even share the leadership, in particular when the other agent cheats (or is cheated by) the leader. Cheating is a cause of instability. In fact, only a few cases reach stability: this occurs when cheating comes from the leader and the leader always wins. The leader may be interested in cheating if she does not want to share the leadership with a follower, that is to get the monopoly of the market.

Keywords: Leadership; Cooperation; Competition; Cheating; Stability solutions (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0378475421000884
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:matcom:v:187:y:2021:i:c:p:489-504

DOI: 10.1016/j.matcom.2021.03.013

Access Statistics for this article

Mathematics and Computers in Simulation (MATCOM) is currently edited by Robert Beauwens

More articles in Mathematics and Computers in Simulation (MATCOM) from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().