Dresden 2009 – scientific programme

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AGSOE: Arbeitsgruppe Physik sozio-ökonomischer Systeme

AGSOE 8: Traffic Dynamics, Urban and Regional Systems II

AGSOE 8.3: Talk

Tuesday, March 24, 2009, 11:15–11:45, BAR 205

Spatiotemporal dynamics of supply network growth — •Karsten Peters — Institute for Traffic and Economis, TU Dresden

Supply networks are complex networks designed to fulfill certain functional requirements. Based on expansion data of a large grocery retailer network for more than 40 years we developped a model for the spatiotemporal expansion of supply networks, involving the setup of new stores an the coevolution of a distribution center network. Surprisingly the evolution of such networks reveals properties which are similar to the growth of tumors in tissues. Using this model, we where able to investigate the influence of different expansion strategies to the overall development, potential earnings and spatial coverage of such business structures. It turns out, that the tradeoff between large spatial expansion steps and optimal local coverage leads over the time to significant differences in the efficiency of different strategies. These results can be used to optimize the structure of retailer and supply networks but point also towards a new modelling paradigm for spatial economic growth, which uncovers the analogies with other, biological spatiotemporal expansion processes.