Business executives, managers, and negotiators regularly interact in ways that resemble a game of chess. Yet while game theory is the leading tool in academia for analyzing such independent choices, its use in the business world has been limited by its perceived lack of practicality. Until now, that is.

 

Game Theory for Business: A Primer in Strategic Gaming outlines a straightforward, practical approach for using game theory. The book demonstrates how Strategic Gaming has, can, and should be applied to help savvy strategists and negotiators shape and play the game of business more effectively.

 

JLJ - Interesting, but Papayoanou is still trapped in the classroom with his ideas. To apply things further he needs to apply the scenario planning concepts discussed by Kees van der Heijden and Peter Schwartz, or show how his approach is better than the gold standard.

 

What's missing here is that business is not a game - it is a war (with your competitors) and wargaming is the approach you need. By telling coherent stories about what happens next, we come to understand the complex and uncertain relationships which exist in the world and how to manage them. Complexity and uncertainty require a strategy - without which you are out of the "game". At least, that's my theory. Schemas and frames do not seem to matter, critical success factors either. An academic adrift in the real world - puzzled that critical pieces of "game theory" do not seem to apply.