A Stochastic Model Using Self-Organization to Explore the ICT Industry Evolution

Motivated by the recent restructuring and convergence of the information technology (IT) and telecommunications (TELCO) industries and the business trend towards the formation of networks, this research focuses on examining the evolutionary dynamics of the convergent Information and Communication Technology (ICT) industry. The agent-based computational economics (ACE) and network economics (NE) theories provide the theoretical background for studying the collaborative behaviour of firms in this economy, while the self-organization approach, adopted by the physics discipline, guide the development of a stochastic model depicting the value interactions of firms in the ICT industry. The paper's results, derived from the mathematical solution of this model, reveal the potential that the ICT industry will soon reach at a consolidation phase, featured by many firms or networks of firms of equivalent market power.