Economic Games People Play
(cont)
decidophobia. This is also pathological.
Other strategies that business people use
- Innovate Vs wait. The decision to fund R&D is based on a perception
of risks (lost use of capital) and reward (success of research). Each
person has their own perceptions of these risks and rewards. Thus, in
the same situation, two different, but both rational persons could choose
diametrically opposed uses of business funds.
- Dominate Strategy. The course a company will follow regardless of its
competitors actions.
- Competition Vs Cooperation. In our society, economic competition is
expected and encouraged. Through the use of two-by-two decision matrices,
the authors explore detailed parts of the economic scene. In numerous
cases, if both cooperate, both do well. If one cooperates and the other
competes, the cooperator
does less well, but the competitor
does better than
when he cooperates. However if
they both compete,
neither one does as well as if
they both cooperated. I
find this mainly useful in determining
the cultural aspect
of a firm.
- Zero Sum and Non-Zero Sum Games. This book didn't explain how one could
separate the various areas of a firm's interaction into Zero or Non-Zero
Sum games, except after the full characteristics of the 'game' were described.
If one could isolate a component of games that separated them into one
of the two forms, it would further theoretical discussions in this area
a good bit. For example, all games are Zero Sum in the short run. Or that
mineral producers are in a Zero Sum game or that all R&D industries
are in Non-Zero Sum games, albeit with a cap on growth.
.
