Describe the basic elements of a game, strategy, payoffs, dominant strategy, and Nash equilibrium. How game theory can help to understand the behavior of an oligopolistic firm.

Definition Definition Economic decision-making framework that analyzes how different players optimize their outcomes with given pay-offs corresponding to their available strategies. The assumptions of game theory are: The number of players or competitors are finite/limited; All participants are rational The rules of the game are known to every player; and Each participant has a finite set of actions. A common way in which game theory is presented as an ( m x n ) matrix in which m represents the strategies of row player and n represents the strategies of column player. There are several limitations of game theory: Many businesses have a large number of competitors, and selecting an optimal strategy in these circumstances is difficult; Real-life business operating environments are full of uncertainty and difficult to model as a game theory; and The assumption of rationality and utility maximization isn't always an accurate portrayal of human nature.