Title: The value of a network in the digital era: insights about Doctor Chat case study

Authors: Davide Di Fatta; Francesco Cupido; Gandolfo Dominici

Addresses: Department SEAAM, University of Messina, Via dei Verdi, 75, 98122, Messina, Italy ' Department DICHIRONS, University of Palermo, Via Librio Giuffrè, 5, 90127 Palermo, Italy ' Department SEAS, University of Palermo, Viale delle Scienze ed. 13, 90128 Palermo, Italy; Business Systems Laboratory, viale Fr. Scaduto 2/d, 90144, Palermo, Italy

Abstract: Networks are ubiquitous in our lives in their social, physical, and digital forms. A growing number of firms today rely entirely on networking and lack a physical location or material infrastructure; they are, so to speak, 'liquid'. Through a theoretical analysis and its application to the case of Doctor Chat mobile app, this paper aims to analyse the fundamental laws of networks and to answer the following questions: 1) are the traditional methods to estimate the network value still valid in the current digital age and in particular for mobile applications?; 2) how do the laws of networks work when networks expand? We conclude with some suggestions for a research agenda in order to inspire further researches on the topic.

Keywords: network theory; mobile app; Sarnoff's law; Metcalfe's law; Reed's law; Odlyzko and Tilly's law.

DOI: 10.1504/IJEMR.2017.087713

International Journal of Electronic Marketing and Retailing, 2017 Vol.8 No.4, pp.301 - 315

Received: 08 Oct 2016
Accepted: 18 Oct 2016
Published online: 31 Oct 2017 *

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