Provisioning of Large-Scale Systems: The Interplay Between Network Effects and Strategic Behavior in the User Base
研究了广告支持的在线服务中，服务提供商与用户之间的战略互动，发现更强的网络效应和用户非合作行为会导致服务更拥堵但增加提供商利润，且非合作行为的影响远大于网络效应。
In this paper, we consider the problem of capacity provisioning for an online service supported by advertising. We analyse the strategic interaction between the service provider and the user base in this setting, modeling positive network effects, as well as congestion sensitivity in the user base. We focus specifically on the influence of positive network effects, as well as the impact of noncooperative behavior in the user base on the firm’s capacity provisioning decision and its profit. Our analysis reveals that stronger positive network effects, as well as noncooperation in the user base, drive the service into a more congested state and lead to increased profit for the service provider. However, the impact of noncooperation, or “anarchy” in the user base strongly dominates the impact of network effects. This paper was accepted by Noah Gans, stochastic models and simulation.