Game theory, cooperation and networked behavior online and offline
At FreelanceCamp Vancouver 2010, I gave a workshop on how “Freelance Is Not Free“, a refined version of my 2009 BarCamp workshop. During the workshop, one of the participants asked me what I was mostly interested in, specifically, when it came to my research. Not exactly sure how the question came up, but I mentioned that I have been, primarily, interested in cooperation for the last 15 years of my life, possibly even 20.
That has been quite visible in my academic and consulting work. I have been interested in the concept of cooperation for decades. Why do people cooperate and collaborate? – this led to an increased interest in Game Theory (a branch of microeconomics that I studied when I did my MBA coursework, under two of the best professors of the University of British Columbia’s Sauder School of Business, Dr. Thomas W. Ross and Dr. Helen Michelson).
I have explored questions of cooperation in my MBA thesis (where I developed a game-theoretical model of strategic alliances amongst biotech and pharmaceutical industries) and my PhD thesis (where I explored the industrial/urban transformation of geographically-concentrated industries – one of the chapters deals with game-theoretical models).
Even after I completed my PhD I have continued to explore issues of collaboration and cooperation (specifically with my involvement in the coworking community, and through one of my research avenues on the economic geography of industrial decline).
When I was giving my seminar, I mentioned that I approach freelancing from a perspective of collaboration (something that, at first glance, could be seen as contradicting the Prisoner’s Dilemma theoretical underpinnings). In a traditional Prisoner’s Dilemma, from the viewpoint of the law enforcement agency, they want the prisoners to NOT collaborate and thus blow the whistle on each other (lowest payoff in what is called a 2×2 game).
However, you’ll see, I think that freelancers who collaborate are like the prisoners, and from their viewpoint, they collaborate. If neither of them blow the whistle on the other, both of them get the maximum payoff for THEM. But if they don’t collaborate and share information, perhaps even about a potentially bad client for both of them, then they both lose (minimum payoff, maximum loss).
I teach microeconomics, and I’ve taught Game Theory before, so I was really excited to bring the issue up. I do continue to collaborate with people, even when my trust has been previously betrayed at some point by others. The truth is, I think only in cooperation can industries flourish. Competition is important, but so is collaboration. That’s why Brandenburger and Nalebuff coined the term, cooperative competition – coopetition. I believe Vancouver’s industrial and freelancebase could learn a bit from using game theory, both online and offline.
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That’s pretty interesting that you’re bringing up coopetition actually.
Jakob and I studied this extensively while studying our MSC’s and before coming back to Vancouver and experiencing the social media landscape and its effect on business, we thought the whole theory was just fluff.
Well, turns out it wasn’t! Great stuff Raul!
This is fantastic. In my work in development economics I taught collaboration (actually, the theory of the co-op) as a radical method of addressing the endemic challenges faced in Africa. It worked very well, and was extremely profitable!
[...] Pacheco expands on the talk he gave at Freelance Camp Vancouver 2010 by offering his post on game theory and the nature of cooperation and networked behavior, both online and offline. What are you doing [...]