Strategy and Game Theory for Management
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Strategy and Game Theory for Management
Instructor: Prof. Viswanath Pingali
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What you'll learn
Your decisions will impact others and others’ decisions impact you. So, how do we anticipate other people’s decisions in our decision making?
It helps you understand the world around you from a fresh perspective. (Refer to the questions in the course description)
It helps refine your thinking on dealing with uncertainty and decision-making
You can develop skills like structured problem-solving and strategic thinking
Skills you'll gain
- Game Theory
- Mergers & Acquisitions
- Organizational Change
- Advertising
- Competitive Analysis
- Innovation
- Culture Transformation
- Risk Management
- Behavioral Economics
- Strategic Decision-Making
- Decision Making
- Market Dynamics
- Complex Problem Solving
- Problem Solving
- Business Strategy
- Critical Thinking
- Business Economics
- Negotiation
- Economics
- Strategic Thinking
Details to know
See how employees at top companies are mastering in-demand skills
There are 5 modules in this course
Game theory explores the art of how people make decisions in situations where their choices affect each other. Learn core game theory frameworks through practical application-based learning to transform your and your organization’s performance. With the increasing complexity of today’s world, game theory offers valuable frameworks and tools to navigate uncertainty and establish scientific rigor for strategy. Today, game theory has applications across businesses (advertising, digital markets, mergers and acquisitions, cartels, innovation etc.) along with policy.
This course on game theory is developed based on courses being offered at IIMA for the past several years by Prof Viswanath Pingali, an award-winning faculty member at IIMA. This course emphasizes an intuitive approach to game theory rather than focusing on quantitative techniques. This course helps you acquire a competitive edge through enhanced strategic thinking, structured problem-solving, and optimal decision-making in complex situations., The course also discusses behavioral economics insights, where applicable. We try and answer a few questions (not exclusive): (1) Why do price wars happen? (2) What is the problem of commons, and what are its implications for the climate change debate? (3) How do modern businesses operate and what are some implications? (4) Why is culture at firms and economies so difficult to change? (5) What is the unicorn mania that is dominating today’s conversation? (6) Why did some companies offer much larger warranty than the market norm? (7) Why is winning risky in markets with uncertainty and how could information asymmetry lead to market failure?
This module aims to introduce you to the game theory course. It introduces you to some real-life questions that you can solve by using the concepts we will learn over the course. Following this, the course introduces you to the idea of a game and to some simple games. Subsequently, the module explores the most famous game in game theory: Prisoners’ Dilemma, where smart people find no incentive to cooperate with each other. The module further explores some real-life examples of prisoners’ dilemma. All learning components will be updated upon the official launch of the course
What's included
11 videos14 readings4 assignments
11 videos•Total 70 minutes
- Course Introduction•3 minutes
- Some Questions in Game theory•9 minutes
- What is a Game?•6 minutes
- Examples of Simultaneous Games•5 minutes
- What is a Dominant Strategy?•7 minutes
- Prisoners' Dilemma I•7 minutes
- Prisoners' Dilemma II•6 minutes
- Applications of Prisoners' Dilemma•8 minutes
- Revisiting Dominant Strategy•8 minutes
- Iterated Elimination I•6 minutes
- Iterated Elimination II•7 minutes
14 readings•Total 130 minutes
- Course Overview•10 minutes
- Reference Watch: Green-Eyed Logic Puzzle•5 minutes
- Essential Reading : Making Game Theory Work for Managers•10 minutes
- Essential Reading: Why We Do Not Try to Walk off without Paying after a Tax-Ride?•10 minutes
- Recommended Reading: The Art of Strategy by Avinash Dixit and Barry Nalebuff (Chapter 1)•10 minutes
- Reference Watch: What is the Tragedy of Commons?•5 minutes
- Essential Reading: Drug Prescribing Regime in India•10 minutes
- Essential Reading: Beauty: A Prisoners’ Dilemma•10 minutes
- Recommended Reading: Cigarette Advertising Ban•10 minutes
- Recommended Reading: The Art of Strategy by Avinash Dixit and Barry Nalebuff (Chapter 3)•10 minutes
- Essential Reading: Median Voter Theorem•10 minutes
- Essential Reading: Level K Thinking•10 minutes
- Recommended Reading: The Travelers’ Dilemma•10 minutes
- Recommended Reading: Level K Thinking Experiments•10 minutes
4 assignments•Total 64 minutes
- Graded Quiz•40 minutes
- Practice Quiz•6 minutes
- Practice Quiz•9 minutes
- Practice Quiz•9 minutes
This module introduces you to the famous concept of Nash Equilibrium. What do you do when there is no Dominant Strategy or Dominated Strategies? Where do thought processes converge? This module further explores several interesting phenomena like Stag Hunt, Battle of Sexes, and Hawk Dove Games. We will explore why some inefficient outcomes happen despite all the players knowing that they are suboptimal. We will also explore questions like whether equilibrium means efficient. All learning components will be updated upon the official launch of the course
What's included
17 videos17 readings5 assignments1 discussion prompt
17 videos•Total 90 minutes
- What is the Idea of Nash Equilibrium?•6 minutes
- A Simple Illustration of of Nash Equilibrium?•6 minutes
- Stag Hunt – Does Equilibrium mean Efficient Outcome?•8 minutes
- Battle of Sexes – Does Equilibrium mean Equality?•5 minutes
- Hawk-Dove – Does Equilibrium mean Playing Symmetric Strategies?•5 minutes
- Stag Hunt and Development of Economies•7 minutes
- Digital Markets - Stag Hunt and Single Homing•5 minutes
- Digital Markets - Stag Hunt and Multi Homing•6 minutes
- Digital Markets – Some Recent Issues •5 minutes
- Competing with Rivals in Coordination Games •3 minutes
- Inequality Inherent in Equilibrium•4 minutes
- Introduction to Mixed Strategies •4 minutes
- Mixed Strategies: Zero Sum Games •4 minutes
- Expected Values and Mixed Strategies•5 minutes
- Computing Mixed Strategies •6 minutes
- Behavioral Aspects to Mixed Strategies •6 minutes
- Action Bias and Mixed Strategies •4 minutes
17 readings•Total 168 minutes
- Reference Watch: Simulating the Evolution of Aggression•14 minutes
- Essential Reading: Climate Change and Nash Equilibrium•10 minutes
- Essential Reading: Coordination Games•10 minutes
- Recommended Reading: The Tower of Babel as a Coordination Game: Political Linguistics in Ghana•10 minutes
- Recommended Reading: Review of 'Why Nations Fail'•10 minutes
- Recommended Reading: Dynamics of two-sided internet markets•10 minutes
- Recommended Reading: Small Firms and Digital Platforms•10 minutes
- Essential Reading: Are User Shares Indicative of Market Power?•10 minutes
- Essential Reading: Small Businesses and Digital Platforms•10 minutes
- Essential Reading: Google Antitrust Lawsuit•10 minutes
- Recommended Reading: The Art of Strategy by Avinash Dixit and Barry Nalebuff (Chapter 4)•10 minutes
- Reference Watch: Memorable Movie Death•4 minutes
- Essential Reading: Rock Paper Scissors Game•10 minutes
- Essential Reading: Behavioral Strategies and Randomness •10 minutes
- Essential Reading: The Case of Penalty Kicks in Soccer•10 minutes
- Recommended Reading: Minimax Play at Wimbledon•10 minutes
- Recommended Reading: The Art of Strategy by Avinash Dixit and Barry Nalebuff (Chapter 5)•10 minutes
5 assignments•Total 67 minutes
- Graded Quiz•40 minutes
- Practice Quiz•9 minutes
- Practice Quiz •6 minutes
- Practice Quiz•3 minutes
- Practice Quiz•9 minutes
1 discussion prompt•Total 10 minutes
- What is your Strategy in Rock, Paper, Scissors?•10 minutes
This module introduces you to the games that are sequential in nature. That is, we look at the cases where players alternate in their moves. Further, there are cases where games repeat themselves. We will look further at when we can expect competitors to cooperate in a prisoners’ dilemma situation. We will also explore some interesting games such as the ultimatum game and the trust game. All learning components will be updated upon the official launch of the course
What's included
15 videos15 readings5 assignments
15 videos•Total 82 minutes
- Basics of Backward Induction•6 minutes
- Analyzing Backward Induction: Centipede Game •5 minutes
- Backward Induction: Ultimatum Game •6 minutes
- Behavior and Ultimatum Games •5 minutes
- Emotions and Ultimatum Games •6 minutes
- Trust Games•6 minutes
- What Happens When there is No Intellectual Property? •5 minutes
- Backward Induction and Innovation•6 minutes
- Arguments against Intellectual Property•6 minutes
- Rare Diseases and Backward Induction•3 minutes
- What Happens when Prisoners’ Dilemma is Repeated Finitely? •7 minutes
- Introduction to Tit-For-Tat in Large Repetitions •5 minutes
- Outlook of the Future and Cooperation •5 minutes
- What does Cooperation Entail? •4 minutes
- The Economics of Cartels•8 minutes
15 readings•Total 160 minutes
- Essential Reading: Backward Induction•10 minutes
- Essential Reading: Ultimatum Game•10 minutes
- Recommended Reading: The Art of Strategy by Avinash Dixit and Barry Nalebuff (Chapter 6)•10 minutes
- Reference Watch: Two Monkeys were Paid Unequally•3 minutes
- Essential Reading: Ultimatum Game•10 minutes
- Recommended Reading: Social Preferences and the Brain•10 minutes
- Essential Reading: Why Intellectual Property is Essential for your Business•10 minutes
- Essential Reading: Hypotheses on Intellectual Property and Inequality•10 minutes
- Essential Reading: Understanding Evergreening of Patents in the Pharmaceutical Industry•10 minutes
- Recommended Reading: Balancing Affordability and Availability in a Drug Patent Regime•10 minutes
- Recommended Reading: Rare Diseases •10 minutes
- Reference Game: The Evolution of Trust•10 minutes
- Reference Watch: Axelrod’s Experiments•27 minutes
- Essential Reading: The Prisoner's Dilemma•10 minutes
- Recommended Reading: What Determines Cartel Success?•10 minutes
5 assignments•Total 76 minutes
- Graded Quiz•40 minutes
- Practice Quiz•9 minutes
- Practice Quiz•9 minutes
- Practice Quiz•9 minutes
- Practice Quiz•9 minutes
Often, full information is not available, especially regarding the other players. In this module, we will look at scenarios with partial information. We will explore several interesting applications of such games and look into concepts like winners’ curse and adverse selection. We will also explore the link between biology and game theory All learning components will be updated upon the official launch of the course
What's included
13 videos12 readings4 assignments1 discussion prompt
13 videos•Total 84 minutes
- Second Price Sealed Bid Auction vs First Price Sealed Bid Auction•7 minutes
- Revenue Equivalence•7 minutes
- Experimental Evidence in Auctions•5 minutes
- Some Common Auction Experiments•5 minutes
- The Idea of Winners' Curse•7 minutes
- Winners' Curse in Mergers and Acquisitions World•6 minutes
- Why do Winners' Curse Happen?•6 minutes
- Avoiding Winners' Curse•5 minutes
- Problem of Lemons and Peacock's Feathers•7 minutes
- Problem of Adverse Selection•4 minutes
- Why do People Study and Why do Peacocks have Bright Feathers•8 minutes
- Screening and Multiple Contracts•6 minutes
- Conclusion•11 minutes
12 readings•Total 120 minutes
- Essential Reading: A Survey of Experimental Research•10 minutes
- Recommended Reading: Using Field Experiments to Test Equivalence Between Auction Formats•10 minutes
- Recommended Reading: The Art of Strategy by Avinash Dixit and Barry Nalebuff (Chapter 10)•10 minutes
- Essential Reading: Winner’s Curse•10 minutes
- Recommended Reading: Competitive Bidding in High-Risk Situations •10 minutes
- Recommended Reading: The Art of Strategy by Avinash Dixit and Barry Nalebuff (Chapter 10)•10 minutes
- Essential Reading: African Widow Bird•10 minutes
- Essential Reading: The Handicap Principle•10 minutes
- Recommended Reading: The Art of Strategy by Avinash Dixit and Barry Nalebuff (Chapter 8)•10 minutes
- Recommended Reading: Adverse Selection•10 minutes
- Recommended Reading: Job Market Signaling•10 minutes
- Recommended Reading: Insurance Markets•10 minutes
4 assignments•Total 67 minutes
- Graded Quiz•40 minutes
- Practice Quiz•9 minutes
- Practice Quiz•9 minutes
- Practice Quiz•9 minutes
1 discussion prompt•Total 10 minutes
- Awarding Tenders•10 minutes
What's included
1 peer review
1 peer review•Total 720 minutes
- Peer Review Assignment•720 minutes
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Reviewed on Apr 27, 2026
Absolutely loved the course! This was my first course on Game theory, and I can confidently say that I understand the fundamentals of Game Theory now!
Reviewed on Aug 17, 2024
amazing and very useful course in growing one's career graph professionally
Reviewed on Dec 4, 2024
Very Good course and explained in a easy to understand approach by Prof. Viswanath Pingali. Great learning experience.
Frequently asked questions
A traditional game theory course is highly mathematical. In this course, we will keep maths to the minimum (close to zero) and develop an intuitive understanding of the subject
For intuitive understanding, I highly recommend The Art of Strategy by Avinash K Dixit and Barry J Nalebuff. For the technically minded, there are several textbooks out there. Some of the leading authors include Robert Gibbos, Steven Tadalis, Martin J Osborne, etc.
To access the course materials, assignments and to earn a Certificate, you will need to purchase the Certificate experience when you enroll in a course. You can try a Free Trial instead, or apply for Financial Aid. The course may offer 'Full Course, No Certificate' instead. This option lets you see all course materials, submit required assessments, and get a final grade. This also means that you will not be able to purchase a Certificate experience.
More questions
Financial aid available,
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