In this paper some of the difficulties in utilizing much of economic theory as an aid to the study of decision-making at the level of the firm are reviewed. New theories, techniques and experimentation aimed at overcoming these difficulties are then discussed. The area covered is, of necessity, broad. No attempt is made to provide more than an indication of the type of work in progress and the nature of the problem to which it is addressed. References are supplied for those wishing a more detailed exposition of the many topics noted here.
In this paper some of the difficulties in utilizing much of economic theory as an aid to the study of decision-making at the level of the firm are reviewed. New theories, techniques and experimentation aimed at overcoming these difficulties are then discussed. The area covered is, of necessity, broad. No attempt is made to provide more than an indication of the type of work in progress and the nature of the problem to which it is addressed. References are supplied for those wishing a more detailed exposition of the many topics noted here.
The primary purpose of this work is to begin to develop a unified approach to the various theories of competition and markets. The main set of techniques employed to achieve this end are those of game theory.
[Spanish Edition: Estrategia y Estructura de Mercado, Barcelona: Omega, 1962. French Edition: Strategie et Structure de Marches, Paris: Dunod, 1964]
(Editor) This book is a brief collection of an introduction and ten readings designed to present individuals in administration and the social sciences, who do not necessarily have a formal training in mathematics, with the basic ideas of game theory. The introduction and most of the articles are entirely non-mathematical and use no symbols whatsoever. The article by Abraham Wald, which is a review of the book, Theory of Games and Economic Behavior, and the article by Jacob Marschak, which deals with the problem of constructing a preference scale for decision-making, can be followed by the non-mathematician but need careful reading. Another article by John McDonald and John W. Tukey gives an example of a simple strategic situation in which the computations required for the “Colonel Blotto” tactical problem are carried out.