Thinking Strategically: The Competitive Edge in Business, Politics, and Everyday Life (Norton Paperback) Reissue Edition

"Thinking Strategically" is a helpful and likeable primer for those who want to dabble and/or learn about general everyday concepts of Game Theory. It's also for those who don't want to get too deep into the minutia of the mathematics, calculus, and statistical probability of Game Theory. The real-life examples and matrices used in this book are applied by the author and can be applied by anyone in many everyday-life scenarios: getting a cab, negotiating private contracting work, or general bargaining, for example. In Business, whether two competing magazines should both advertise, have only one advertise, or have both not advertise. (Better for both not to advertise.) Cartels are also examined.Other matrices, examples, and anecdotes, are applied in this book in business, politics, and sports. E.g., the strategy of an NFL football team's offense and defense, Stalin's "Scorched Earth Defense," and how a pitcher rotates his pitching selection are explained quite well, as examples. It seems a good portion of human instincts and traits are involved in the aspects of Game Theory. We already intuitively know about these elements before reading this introductory book. But we can apply GT with more awareness after being exposed to the theory.The renown concept of the "Prisoner's Dilemma:" If two suspects work together they can both mutually benefit themselves together and individually by cooperating. Obviously, this is partly why suspects are separated when they're questioned and interrogated. But they can still both cooperate, even if separated. But will one sell out the other, or will both sell out each other, leading to longer sentences and harsher penalties for both, because one or the two of them decided to use the most Dominate Strategy?In Game Theory, it takes two to Tango. And most of the time it's not beneficial to play the "Dominant Strategy."One of the many examples was the taxi driver who picked up two people (potential customers) in front of a hotel. After telling the driver where they wanted to go, the driver refused to turn on his meter and said he would charge a lower price than the meter because he liked the country where the passengers were from. The driver the stated the price he would charge. The passengers responded by asking the driver to turn on the meter, and at the end of the ride the driver could charge less than the meter. Ah-ha, but the driver didn't agree. And even grew grew angry and didn't take them. They later proved he was being disingenuous by taking a metered taxi to their destination which was the lower than than the "special discount" offered by the first guy.One important point above: it's difficult to use Game Theory with a) irrational people and b) people who don't realize the win-win concept of mutual benefits. Unfortunately reality creeps in....when you deal with people who don't practice "Game Theory," who shoot themselves in the foot and waste your time and energy.Internationally IMO, Game Theory is lacking and sorely needed in certain parts of the world. In Japan this book sold well. Unfortunately it didn't sell much in the surrounding nations.One of the author's former students recommended this book to me. The author made an astute decision to change the spelling of his name. College undergrads can be puerile at times. :)A good book. "Look ahead and reason back."

So I recently moved from Banking industry into consulting. I keep hearing strategy this, Strategy consulting and it just confused me as to how is it different from plan. So I went online and looked this book up, an man is it interesting. It is a good book. So let me make few key points here:- It is fun to read from page one (This is important to note as I am not a reader, i am a watcher, i love to watch movies)- It is laid out well, I was infact so impressed that i started making notes as a I read it, and i suggest to get most out of this book make notes.- Will this help you think strategically, umm I am not so sure, however, it will help you analyze what you read in the newspapers on a daily basis. Be it Budget talks in the white house and how one side is pushing the other over, how they strategize, you can actually guess and understand more than what you read at the surface in the news papers. And trust me it is a cool nerdy feeling. So in a way it helps you look into how people respond and build your best response. So over time it will help train you to become a strong strategist, but don't expect to be running Bain and company by the end of this book.- Finally Price - you cant beat it, so much knowledge for so little, its like the arm chair economist, you should buy that too, if you like fun reads like this.

"Strategic thinking is the art of outdoing an adversary, knowing that the adversary is trying to do the same to you." So begins Dixit and Nalebuff's guide to gaining the competitive edge. They intend this book for "businessmen," politicians, football coaches and parents--anyone who contends with an adversary. Their goal is to teach readers about game theory, the "emerging science of strategy," without jargon or mathematical formulas.They begin with "ten tales of strategy" from a variety of settings. Using examples from sports, politics, history--and even a children's fairy tale--the authors illustrate the pervasive need for strategic thinking. Successive chapters present aspects of strategic thinking and explore their variations. Initial chapters address anticipating a rival's response, seeing through a rival's strategy, and adopting the best strategy in the cooperate-or-betray game of the Prisoner's Dilemma.The authors then explore the art of making strategic moves, actions "...designed to alter the beliefs and actions of others in a direction favorable to yourself." We learn about unconditional moves as well as threats, promises, warnings and assurances. Succeeding chapters explain the value of making credible commitments, of sometimes being unpredictable, and of "playing chicken" with brinksmanship. We learn the relative strengths of cooperative and competitive strategies and how to choose between them. The final three strategy chapters explore the possible moves when adversaries are voting to make decisions and how to make the best use of bargaining positions and incentives.There are numerous brief examples throughout the book. Each strategy chapter closes with a more elaborate case study to be analyzed using the chapter's principles. The final chapter is a collection of 23 fresh case studies that serve as a "comprehensive final exam" by drawing on strategies from all chapters. The authors achieve their goal of a readable, nontechnical introduction. They even lead us into some minimally-painful use of decision trees and contingency tables.I recommend the book as a serious introduction to strategic thinking. Well, perhaps the occasional cartoon it includes disqualifies it as "serious." But its lessons prepare readers to act strategically in serious, real-life situations. Reading it is a good move.