Market Dominance and Imitative Response to Product Proliferation: A Competitive Dynamics Perspective

In earlier work we presented a stochastic model of spike-timing-dependent plasticity (STDP) in which STDP emerges only at the level of temporal or spatial synaptic ensembles. We derived the two-spike interaction function from this model and showed that it exhibits an STDP-like form. Here, we extend this work by examining the general n-spike interaction functions that may be derived from the model. A comparison between the two-spike interaction function and the higher-order interaction functions reveals profound differences. In particular, we show that the two-spike interaction function cannot support stable, competitive synaptic plasticity, such as that seen during neuronal development, without including modifications designed specifically to stabilize its behavior. In contrast, we show that all the higher-order interaction functions exhibit a fixed-point structure consistent with the presence of competitive synaptic dynamics. This difference originates in the unification of our proposed “switch” mechanism for synaptic plasticity, coupling synaptic depression and synaptic potentiation processes together. While three or more spikes are required to probe this coupling, two spikes can never do so. We conclude that this coupling is critical to the presence of competitive dynamics and that multispike interactions are therefore vital to understanding synaptic competition.

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When an Industry Peer Is Accused of Financial Misconduct: Stigma versus Competition Effects on Non-accused Firms

Administrative Science Quarterly ◽

10.1177/00018392211020662 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 000183922110206

Author(s):

Ivana Naumovska ◽

Dovev Lavie

Keyword(s):

Competitive Dynamics ◽

Negative Consequences ◽

Competition Effect ◽

Market Returns ◽

Stock Market Returns ◽

Fine Grained ◽

Competition Effects ◽

Financial Misconduct ◽

Industry Peers ◽

The U.S

Research on misconduct suggests that accusations against industry peers generate negative consequences for non-accused firms (a “stigma effect”). Yet, building on research on competitive dynamics, we infer that such accusations can benefit non-accused firms that compete with these peers (a “competition effect”). To reconcile these opposing perspectives, we posit that the negative stigma effect will increase with greater product market overlap between the non-accused firm and its accused peer, up to a point, beyond which the positive competition effect will counterbalance it. We further conjecture that the competition effect will be relatively more pronounced when the market classification used by investors for assessing the market overlap is more fine-grained. Accordingly, we suggest that more sophisticated investors, who rely on more fine-grained market classifications, increase their shareholdings in non-accused firms to a greater extent than less sophisticated investors as the market overlap between the non-accused firm and the accused peer increases. Using elaborate data on products and investments, we analyze investors’ shareholdings and stock market returns of non-accused firms in the U.S. software industry following accusations of financial misconduct by their industry peers, and we find support for our predictions. Our study elucidates the interplay between stigma and competition following misconduct by industry peers.

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Towards a More Competitive Mobile Payment Industry: Standardization And Beyond

Journal of Competition Law & Economics ◽

10.1093/joclec/nhaa029 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Xingyu Yan

Keyword(s):

Financial Market ◽

Competitive Dynamics ◽

Mobile Payment ◽

Market Failures ◽

Mobile Payments ◽

The World ◽

Chinese Industry ◽

Definable Groups ◽

Study Case ◽

Bank Card

Abstract Mobile payments are becoming increasingly popular around the world. In countries like China, they appear in the form of barcode payments and are poised to replace cash and bank card payments for day-to-day consumer purchases. Against that backdrop, this paper analyzes the availability of barcode standardization as an approach to interoperability and ultimately to enhanced competition in the mobile payment industry. It uses the Chinese industry as a study case, which features a duopoly structure and shifting competitive dynamics among three definable groups of market players. This paper confirms that standardization can enhance competition and argues that, in this case, a government-mandated standardization is preferable to a voluntary one because the latter is prone to financial market failures. Along this line, this paper makes three suggestions for furthering the barcode standardization. It also advises prudence and competitive neutrality for the financial regulator and calls for more active involvements of the competition and data protection authorities.

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Niches, rather than neutrality, structure a grassland pioneer guild

Proceedings of The Royal Society B Biological Sciences ◽

10.1098/rspb.2005.3084 ◽

2005 ◽

Vol 272 (1570) ◽

pp. 1357-1364 ◽

Cited By ~ 48

Author(s):

Lindsay A Turnbull ◽

Liz Manley ◽

Mark Rees

Keyword(s):

Seed Size ◽

Adult Stage ◽

Niche Differentiation ◽

Competitive Dynamics ◽

Similar Species ◽

Adult Density ◽

Pioneer Species ◽

Trade Offs ◽

Very High ◽

Early Establishment

Pioneer species are fast-growing, short-lived gap exploiters. They are prime candidates for neutral dynamics because they contain ecologically similar species whose low adult density is likely to cause widespread recruitment limitation, which slows competitive dynamics. However, many pioneer guilds appear to be differentiated according to seed size. In this paper, we compare predictions from a neutral model of community structure with three niche-based models in which trade-offs involving seed size form the basis of niche differentiation. We test these predictions using sowing experiments with a guild of seven pioneer species from chalk grassland. We find strong evidence for niche structure based on seed size: specifically large-seeded species produce fewer seeds but have a greater chance of establishing on a per-seed basis. Their advantage in establishment arises because there are more microsites suitable for their germination and early establishment and not directly through competition with other seedlings. In fact, seedling densities of all species were equally suppressed by the addition of competitors' seeds. By the adult stage, despite using very high sowing densities, there were no detectable effects of interspecific competition on any species. The lack of interspecific effects indicates that niche differentiation, rather than neutrality, prevails.

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Keeping Up With the Joneses: Role of CSR Awards in Incentivizing Non-Winners’ CSR

Business & Society ◽

10.1177/0007650320982271 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 000765032098227

Author(s):

Jiangyan Li ◽

Juelin Yin ◽

Wei Shi ◽

Xiwei Yi

Keyword(s):

Corporate Social Responsibility ◽

Spillover Effect ◽

Competitive Dynamics ◽

Difference In Differences ◽

Performance Gap ◽

The Media ◽

Catch Up ◽

Corporate Social ◽

Meaningful Event

We attempt to provide a novel antecedent of corporate social responsibility (CSR) by focusing on the role of CSR awards. Specifically, we investigate how competitors’ winning CSR awards incentivize non-winning firms’ CSR as a competitive catch-up. Using a difference-in-differences research design, we find that non-winners improve their CSR after their competitors have won CSR awards. Furthermore, based on the awareness-motivation-capability (AMC) framework from the competitive dynamics literature, we find that the media visibility of award winners, the performance gap of non-winners with award winners, and the prior CSR of non-winners strengthen the CSR competitive catch-up behaviors. Findings from this study contribute to the CSR research by highlighting the spillover effect of CSR awards as a meaningful event in incentivizing non-winning firms’ CSR and extending the AMC framework to explain the contingency factors of competitive catch-up in the context of CSR research.

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Identification of anticancer drug target genes using an outside competitive dynamics model on cancer signaling networks

Scientific Reports ◽

10.1038/s41598-021-93336-z ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 11 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Tien-Dzung Tran ◽

Duc-Tinh Pham

Keyword(s):

Anticancer Drug ◽

Drug Target ◽

Target Genes ◽

Signaling Network ◽

Competitive Dynamics ◽

Signaling Networks ◽

Molecular Signaling ◽

Dynamics Model ◽

Cancer Signaling ◽

The Impact

AbstractEach cancer type has its own molecular signaling network. Analyzing the dynamics of molecular signaling networks can provide useful information for identifying drug target genes. In the present study, we consider an on-network dynamics model—the outside competitive dynamics model—wherein an inside leader and an opponent competitor outside the system have fixed and different states, and each normal agent adjusts its state according to a distributed consensus protocol. If any normal agent links to the external competitor, the state of each normal agent will converge to a stable value, indicating support to the leader against the impact of the competitor. We determined the total support of normal agents to each leader in various networks and observed that the total support correlates with hierarchical closeness, which identifies biomarker genes in a cancer signaling network. Of note, by experimenting on 17 cancer signaling networks from the KEGG database, we observed that 82% of the genes among the top 3 agents with the highest total support are anticancer drug target genes. This result outperforms those of four previous prediction methods of common cancer drug targets. Our study indicates that driver agents with high support from the other agents against the impact of the external opponent agent are most likely to be anticancer drug target genes.

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