Networks in economy

Dinya, László – Domán, Szilvia

The notion of network economy has come to the front during the past decade, whereas there are still several terminological and methodological issues not cleared so far that hinder research in this field. In addition to the exact interpretation of the economic network, the possible new aspects of such research are outlined, with special regard to the diagnosis of the existence of complex networks having spontaneously come into being, and to the interpretation of the general principles of the function of networks in the field of economic networks. On the basis of national and regional data, the fact is statistically illustrated that the more the general principles of self-organisation assert themselves in the activities of operators within a sector (or region) the stronger their network connections are. It is demonstrated on the basis of the characterisation of the network position of operators by the number of persons employed that both a network and its parts have a similar structure, i. e. a “fractal structure” is characteristic of them. In accord with this the network structure of agro-business, which is the object of research, is also similar in different regions, whereas the distribution of operators is different, which is in relation with the different intensity of network connections, on the one hand, and with the general development of sectoral environment, on the other.

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