About us
We transform the groundbreaking insights of game theory into benefits for our clients.
“Theory without practice is empty, practice without theory is blind.” (Kant)
With the game theory, we achieve amazing success for you.
We bring the insights of game theory to the street and support you with theoretical excellence and practical experience: you benefit from the implementation of hundreds of projects in a wide range of industries, targeted knowledge transfer and high ROIs. We achieve very good results, especially in complex situations.
During the joint implementation, we support you with professional project management. We pick up the members of the project team where they stand and implement projects in their entirety – from the initial analysis to successful completion.
The founders
Dr. Gero von Grawert
(Managing Partner)
is a game and auction theorist and an expert in negotiations in purchasing and sales. For more than 20 years, he has been working on the optimization of price negotiations by applying scientific methods of game, negotiation and auction theory. Through innovative theoretical solutions, he continuously develops Competitio’s game-theoretical optimization approach GAIN (GAme theory In Negotiations). Dr. von Grawert has published a number of books and articles and has given numerous lectures on the use of game theory in negotiations.
Dr. Christoph Pfeiffer
(Managing Partner)
is an expert in the game-theoretical analysis and optimization of negotiation, award and divestment processes. With his expertise, he supports companies in efficiently designing complex purchasing and sales structures and achieving sustainable results through targeted incentive mechanisms. He makes a significant contribution to the success of major international projects, restructurings and high-volume transactions in particular.
He combines his academic work in applied game theory with extensive experience in artificial intelligence and data science to promote data-driven decision-making processes. As an author, coach and consultant, he supports organizations in continuously optimizing their negotiation and divestment strategies and aligning them for the future.
Marcel Engelhardt
(Partner)
is an expert in game theory and mechanism design with extensive experience in the strategic application of game theory methods in procurement organizations. His work focuses on the development and implementation of structures that enable the establishment of a Center of Excellence and enable organizations to effectively apply game theory approaches. He also has extensive expertise in the design and implementation of negotiations with suppliers in monopolistic or bilateral scenarios. As a trainer and coach, he imparts practical knowledge on the application of game theory and supports companies in sustainably optimizing their negotiation strategies and decision-making processes.
Prof. Dr. Christian Rieck
(Scientific Council)
is a game and auction theorist and Professor of Finance and Economic Theory at the Frankfurt University of Applied Sciences. He is a student of the game theorist and Nobel Prize winner Reinhard Selten and works in the fields of competition, market theory and behavioral finance. Prof. Rieck has written numerous books and essays, is a sought-after speaker and maintains a YouTube channel with more than 175,000 subscribers, in which he analyzes and interprets a variety of current topics in an exciting and entertaining game-theoretical way.
Clients
We advise procurement departments of large companies in the private, public and regulated sector worldwide and in all industries.
Motivation
Even after many years of application, we are passionate advocates of our science-based approach.
We are delighted with the successes achieved for our customers and the resulting long-term business relationships.
Experience
Over a period of more than 20 years, we have used game theory to optimize award negotiations worldwide in a variety of industries (aluminium, automotive, rail, construction, electronics, logistics, medical technology, steel, telecoms, utilities, etc.) with a total volume of more than EUR 20 billion as well as sales and bidding strategies for several billion euros.
We have particular expertise in contract awards where collusion is suspected.
Results, ROI
In purchasing, we systematically and repeatedly increase the success of negotiations. In this way, we directly improve our customers’ results.
Furthermore, we recognize competitive potential in processes and established practices.
Finally, we enable clients to successfully apply our methods themselves. In this way, we increase the performance of the purchasing organization indirectly and far beyond our projects.
In sales, we increase the probability of winning orders with an acceptable margin.
The ROIs of our projects are typically in the high two- to three-digit range, depending on the contract volume.
Mission
We aim at turning the groundbreaking insights of game theory into the maximum benefits for our clients.
Economic activity does not take place in isolation: The impact of your strategies depends largely on the behavior of your competitors, customers and suppliers. Analyzing and incorporating the actions and reactions of these players systematically increases your success.
Game theory was developed to analyze situations with interdependencies and to derive the best possible behavior. With the mathematically sophisticated game theory, you can analyze situations of mutual dependencies, derive your own optimal behavior and thus raise strategic decisions to a new level. Great advantages are possible if you can shape the framework conditions of a situation: Those who have the power to set the rules and know which rules lead to the best results for them under the given circumstances can benefit greatly from this knowledge. This is precisely Competitio’s expertise in purchasing.
In sales, we help you to gain a better understanding of the complex situation, your options for action and their implications. Based on the results of this analysis and taking into account all influencing factors and conflicting objectives, we jointly derive your optimal bidding behavior.
We transform the unique findings of game theory into your negotiating success in a systematic and repeatable way.
Working method
In order to make negotiations systematically more successful together, we not only involve the direct project partners but also the relevant stakeholders at all levels and in all functions. Clear processes, clean project management, open communication with all stakeholders, and a view beyond the project’s horizon enable creative joint development of sometimes entirely new solutions with high a potential for success.
Business is done with other people. To increase the success of negotiations, we need to understand the incentives, goals, expectations, and options for action of all relevant agents. However, in most decision models, the perspective of other agents is not taken into account. Interdependencies in decision situations are the central focus of game theory. However, game theoretic models are not easily accessible due to their mathematical complexity.
Competitio transforms the multiple Nobel Prize-winning findings of game theory into applicable processes and methods: That way, we generate significant added value for our customers.
Even after many years of application, we are passionate advocates of our scientifically based approach: We enjoy the successes achieved for our clients and the long-term business relationships that result.
Our consulting is not aimed at one-off projects, but at long-term collaboration and improving our clients’ capabilities through know-how transfer in projects and through training.