ABSTRACT
The efficacy of Game Theory in real-world business decisions was probably never better established than during the energy crisis in California from May 2000 through September 2001. In Game Theory parlance: The State of California could not engage in a mixed strategy. The law was what it was and to change it would require legislation being introduced, debated, voted on and signed by the Governor. The concept of mixed utility has a profound impact on the ability of Game Theory to predict the strategies most likely to be adopted by the various players. Enron's cartage schemes were given names, such as 'Big Foot', 'Ricochet' and 'Red Congo'. Depending on the mixed strategies being deployed or could be reasonably expected to have been deployed by the other players, Enron could invoke one of these named strategies and just watch the profit meter spin at dizzying speeds.
