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The Idea of Networks

What is a Network?

A network is an agglomeration of nodes and the links between them
across which information flows.

Networks and Business

Networks for most business people are thought of as 'networking'.
Attending cocktail parties, meeting people, and a host of social
interactions that are typically pursued to advance one's career or
promote/socialize an idea or offering. Through this interaction
process, word-of-mouth recommendations or warnings are spread,
orders are transmitted, information is transferred.

All Human Systems and Contexts Have Embedded
Networks.

Every human system, including every business system and the
business context, contains within it a network of interactions that
support (formal) operations and the (informal) social intercourse that
characterizes all human groupings.

In complexity thinking, such interactions underpin the process of
Emergence and the subsequent diffusion/adoption of ideas, as well as
facilitating the daily operations of a system.

By examining networks, we can understand and computer-model how
ideas are spread, promoted or blocked (including the phenomenon of
virality), and examine patterns of power, alliances and supply
structures, and such economic phenomena as how labor markets
work.

The Structure of Networks

The most basic (micro) element of a network is a node connecting to
another node through a link. This core unit, endlessly repeated, forms

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