Westinghouse and General Electric are competing on the newest version of clothes washer and dryer combinations. Two pricing strategies exist: price high or price low. The profit from each of the four possible combinations of decisions is given in the following payoff matrix:
Westinghouse's price
High ($4000) Low ($2000)
General Electric's
price High ($4000)
Low ($2000)
Payoffs in dollars of profit.
a) Which strategy offers both Westinghouse and General Electric the best financial outcome?
b) Does either firm have a dominant strategy? If yes, which firm and what strategy?
c) The Nash equilibrium is for Westinghouse to set its price at __________ and earn a profit of __________ and for General Electric to set its price at ______________ and earn a profit of _____________.
d) Why do we see that the strategy that results is not the strategy that offers both players the best financial outcome?