Study on the influence diffusion of SMEs in open-source communities from the perspective of complex networks

In the era of digital economy, enterprise research and development (R&D) tends to be open-source. Due to their limited resources, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) can join open-source platforms to get additional creative resources and technical support. In this context, from the perspective of complex networks, the influence diffusion of SMEs after embedding open-source innovation networks is studied in this paper. First, an integrated simulation model including a network model, agent model and innovative diffusion model is constructed. Second, the influence diffusion strategy is proposed considering initial impact, embedding timing and connection mode (same-match and heterogeneous) of the enterprise. Third, the dynamic simulation of the influence diffusion process of SMEs demonstrates that embedding timing has a significant impact. There is no significant difference in the influence diffusion at the early and mature stages in the evolution process of open-source innovation networks. The initial impact of enterprises has a significant influence on the diffusion during the developing period, but the effect on its influence diffusion at the initial and mature stages is not obvious. Finally, in light of experiment results, it is clear that the open-source platform plays an important role on the growth of SMEs as evidenced by the close correlation between the spread of SMEs' influence within the open-source innovation network and the community's stage of development.