By Competitive Gaming, we mean that other actors in the market are competing against our decision making and they may change their decisions and tactics based on our choices.

• For the high frequency hedge fund, counter parties are constantly trying to assess the relative imbalances between supply and demand, and price accordingly.  Optimal buying and selling, therefore must be careful to avoid “signaling” intent.
• The asset management company is in a “co-opetition” environment, where its major customers are sharing assets but also competing against each other.  Optimizing equipment utilization for the industry means serving each clients’ needs and reducing the possibility and incentives for a company to purposefully reserve equipment simply to deprive its competitor.
• Both the freight railroad and service network company are in an industry with only a few large players and they must be careful not to compete against themselves as customers often move demand back and forth between suppliers in an attempt to ratchet down costs. Optimization helps by providing the true network cost and therefore the lowest negotiable price for each deal.