Co-Opetition

Co-opetition presents a refreshing & practical showcase of game theory. The book is concisely written with good case studies. Although the book lacks mathematical detail of game theory, it manages to vividly illustrate how game theory concepts can be applied in the dynamic business world.

Just out of college I was very enthusiastic to use game theory to solve business problems. But never found a way to use it. That was forty years ago. This is the first book that transforms a wonderful theory into something you can apply. The three key concepts are the "value net", PARTS and role-playing. The value net is a simple model of the players to consider. Not just your business and your client, but also the competitors, suppliers and complementors (a complimentor adds value to your product like mustard to hot dogs). PARTS are five ways to look at the game. P from players-who are they; may be add new ones, A from Added Value- how much value do you add to the game, if any, R from Rules-can the rules be changed, T from tactics, and S from Scope- making the game bigger. With role-playing I refer to putting yourself in the shoes of all the other players. How do they see the game? The book contains many practical examples. Some of these do not require game theory to think of them but without game theory you would never see all the interesting options. The book also has "spiritual" content. It shows how to find "win-win" theories and avoid price wars that are "lose-lose".Very worthwhile.

This book applies game theory on business and does so extremely well. I think game theory is clearly the way to approach the subject of strategy, because regular "corporate" and "business" strategy literature seems only loosely connected to actual strategic thinking. Game theory, on the other hand, is an actual theory for thinking strategically. No-one should probably even refer to himself or herself as a strategist without being literate in game theory. The authors do a wonderful job laying out the principles. They introduce and give a thorough treatment of the concept of complementarity ("making the pie grow"), which is bound to make you a better strategist. What I also liked in this book is the notion that the best way of increasing profits is often not to play the game well but to actually change how the game is played. Reading about this really gives your mind a jump-start.PARTS refers to the strategic levers of a game, that is the dimensions across which the game of business can be analyzed and changed (to your advantage of course). The book is filled with case studies where the principles can be seen at work. Co-opetition is simply great value for money. If, after reading this book, you feel like digging further into game theory (there's a good chance you will) I recommend Games of Strategy by Dixit, which is a superb introductory book.

Co-Opetition by Adam M. Brandenburger and Barry J. Nalebuff focuses on using competition to create a bigger market for the industry and for the individual company. It is an interesting approach to building win-win growth opportunities. The PARTS concept is an easy to remember idea that has been successful in several sited examples. Co-opetition discusses viable ideas that should be considered, particularly the "Pay me to play" suggestion. If the strategist carefully considers all options in the "big picture", they would undoubtedly use one or several of the ideas presented in this book. This book serves as a reminder manual when developing strategy.