Artificial economics is a computational approach that aims to explain economic systems by modeling them as societies of intelligent software agents. The individual agents make autonomous decisions, but their actual behaviors are constrained by available resources, other individuals' behaviors, and institutions. Intelligent software agents have communicative skills that enable simulation of negotiation, trade, reputation, and other forms of knowledge transfer that are at the basis of economic life. Incorporated learning mechanisms may adapt the agents' behaviors. In artificial economics, all system behavior is generated from the individual agents' simulated decisions; no system level laws are a priori imposed. For instance, price convergence and market clearing may emerge, but not necessarily. Thus, artificial economics facilitates the study of the mechanisms that make the economy function. This book presents a selection of peer-reviewed papers addressing recent developments in this field between economics and computer science.

When relations are facilitated by communication technologies such as e-business, food supply networks can improve efficiency, flexibility and effectiveness. However, a lack of trust within such transactions can prevent the integration of e-business into this large, economic sector. Using case studies from European countries, chapters discuss trust-building methods for food networks in an e-business environment. Key issues include the influence of cultural disparity and cross-border transactions upon major product groups such as meat, cereal products and fresh produce.

When relations are facilitated by communication technologies such as e-business, food supply networks can improve efficiency, flexibility and effectiveness. However, a lack of trust within such transactions can prevent the integration of e-business into this large, economic sector. Using case studies from European countries, chapters discuss trust-building methods for food networks in an e-business environment. Key issues include the influence of cultural disparity and cross-border transactions upon major product groups such as meat, cereal products and fresh produce.

Exploring Culture brings Geert Hofstede's five dimensions of national culture to life. Gert Jan Hofstede and his co-authors Paul Pedersen and Geert Hofstede introduce synthetic cultures, the ten "pure" cultural types derived from the extremes of the five dimensions. The result is a playful book of practice that is firmly rooted in theory. Part light, part serious, but always thought-provoking, this unique book approaches training through the three-part process of building awareness, knowledge, and skills. It leads the reader through the first two components with more than 75 activities, dialogues, stories, and incidents. The Synthetic Culture Laboratory and two full simulations fulfill the skill-building component. Exploring Culture is suitable for students, trainers, coaches and educators. It can be used for individual study or as a text, and it serves as an excellent partner to Geert Hofstede's popular Cultures and Organizations.

The revolutionary study of how the place where we grew up shapes the way we think, feel, and act-- with new dimensions and perspectives

Based on research conducted in more than seventy countries over a forty-year span, "Cultures and Organizations" examines what drives people apart--when cooperation is so clearly in everyone's interest. With major new contributions from Michael Minkov's analysis of data from the World Values Survey, as well as an account of the evolution of cultures by Gert Jan Hofstede, this revised and expanded edition: Reveals the "moral circles" from which national societies are built and the unexamined rules by which people think, feel, and act Explores how national cultures differ in the areas of inequality, assertiveness versus modesty, and tolerance for ambiguity Explains how organizational cultures differ from national cultures--and how they can be managed Analyzes stereotyping, differences in language, cultural roots of the 2008 economic crisis, and other intercultural dynamics