Executive leaders rarely make decisions in isolation. Every significant business decision—whether involving pricing, acquisitions, negotiations, competitive positioning, market entry, product launches, partnerships, supply chain management, regulatory engagement, or strategic investments—depends on how competitors, customers, suppliers, investors, employees, governments, and other stakeholders respond. Successful managers therefore need more than financial or operational expertise; they must develop strategic reasoning that anticipates the incentives, objectives, constraints, and likely actions of other decision-makers.
This advanced course provides a practical, executive-oriented study of game theory as a strategic management discipline. Rather than emphasizing mathematical proofs or abstract equilibrium calculations, the course focuses on how executives apply strategic interaction models to real business decisions. Students will learn how to anticipate competitor behavior, structure negotiations, influence stakeholder incentives, design effective strategic commitments, manage cooperation and competition, allocate resources under uncertainty, and develop organizational strategies that remain robust in dynamic competitive environments.
Throughout the course, emphasis is placed on practical frameworks used by Chief Executive Officers (CEOs), Chief Strategy Officers (CSOs), Chief Financial Officers (CFOs), Chief Marketing Officers (CMOs), Chief Operating Officers (COOs), corporate development executives, private equity firms, consulting firms, multinational corporations, technology companies, financial institutions, healthcare organizations, manufacturers, retailers, logistics companies, energy firms, and government agencies. Students will develop executive-level capabilities required to make superior strategic decisions by understanding the behavior of rational—and sometimes irrational—actors in competitive and cooperative business environments.
Course Objectives
By the end of this course, students will be able to:
• Apply game-theoretic reasoning to executive business decision-making.
• Anticipate competitor, customer, supplier, regulator, and stakeholder responses to strategic initiatives.
• Design strategies that influence incentives and improve organizational outcomes.
• Evaluate competitive interactions involving pricing, innovation, negotiation, market entry, and investment.
• Integrate game theory into mergers and acquisitions, partnerships, and ecosystem strategy.
• Improve executive negotiation and conflict-resolution decisions through strategic reasoning.
• Assess uncertainty and strategic risk in multi-party business environments.
• Design organizational policies that encourage cooperation while discouraging opportunistic behavior.
• Support executive decision-making through structured strategic interaction analysis.
• Apply executive leadership principles to long-term competitive strategy.
