What do traffic congestion, antibiotic resistance, and the overfishing of tuna have in common? When making decisions, individuals often choose strategies that seem most beneficial to themselves. These choices can, however, unintentionally degrade overall system performance and, ultimately, harm individual outcomes.
In this talk, we explore how fundamental concepts from game theory help explain why such situations arise and how harmful behaviour can be avoided. We apply these insights to supply chains, showing how companies (potentially competitors) can achieve better alignment, strengthen collaboration, and thereby seize synergies that improve both individual and collective results.