Strategic interaction in cycling
Strategic Interaction in Sports

This short paper is about strategic interaction in cycling with reference to the ‘Le Tour de France’ 2013. It will give a short description of the meaning ‘Strategic Interaction’ and it will focus on the teamwork in the different teams from the ‘Le Tour de France’. Furthermore, there will be also given an introduction to an economic principle that can refer to the ‘Le Tour de France’.

Strategic interaction is a term that identifies the process when different parties try to achieve common goals which relies on intensive communication between these parties. This intensive communication is needed to make any progress in pursuing a goal. The meaning ‘Strategic interaction’ comes from ‘Game Theory’. This is the study of strategic interaction between people in a structured environment. A game theory is used in practical ways to predict, explain and prescribe events (Camerer, 2003). “Game theory attempts to determine mathematically and logically the actions that players or team members should take to secure the best outcomes for themselves in a wide array of games” following Avinash Dixit (Dixit, 2008). This is why the goal of game theory is getting benefits from using these strategic interactions. Game theory is what happens when people, genes or nations interact. Strategic interaction could occur in the most simplest situations but becomes more complex and more complicated when it will occur in bigger events. It is a very common term in the business world in firms and between relationships of those firms but it occurs also in sports, so as well in cycling. Actually it occurs on every single day in every single life. A clear example of game theory in sports could be whether tennis players serve to the right or to the left. Strategic interactions in sports do not necessarily need to be about reaching a common goal but it is already a strategic interaction when a coach gives information to his team or in cycling, giving the rival times through to the team members.

In the ‘Le Tour de France’ the individual results and profits were always the most important thoughts of the team players of the cycling teams. In previous years there was only a little bit of support towards each other. The best men of the teams were responsible for their own results, no other team member would really help him to gain that results. This has changed over the last few years. Le Tour de France has become a bit more of a team sport event. Cycling is getting less and less considered as an individual sport. There have been some changes in game theories from the cycling teams.

One point in the cycle sport is the changing in level of communication. Communication within the teams has increased. All of the team members are now communicating constantly with each other and with their managers/coaches and their team cars. A new kind of communication took shape: the live report from their coaches and fellow team members (Gaboriau, 2003). They are forming groups during a cycling tour to support each other. Their common goal is: increasing the team results. By using this strategic interaction it will become easier to achieve their goals. This kind of system was introduced at the ‘Le Tour de France 2013’. Every single team member will get involved and equipped with the information needed to carry out their responsibilities in the most efficient manner possible.

Some economic principles could refer to strategic interaction in ‘Le Tour de France’. The following paragraph will describe the Cost-Benefit Principle.
One of the economic principles that could refer to strategic interaction in the Le Tour the France is the cost-benefit principle with reference to TV commercials/advertising. The sponsors of Le Tour de France invest huge amounts of money to get their brands on the cars, billboards, spots, shirts, bikes and so on. That is a huge cost for these firms. In the end it will only increase the sales of the their product because the brand name is shown everywhere and Le Tour de France is watched all over the world. It reaches a big audience that will get triggered to buy a product of that brand because they get familiar with that ‘logo’ or brand. The benefit of investing in this advertising will be bigger than the costs of it. These investing companies are rational. Before they invest in advertising, they should consider whether the benefits are higher than the costs. The company should take an action, and only if, when the extra cost is smaller or equal to the benefit of it (McDowell, 2009).
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References
Camerer, C.F. (2003). Behavorial Game Theory: Experiments in Strategic Interaction, New Jersey: Princeton University Press.
Dixit, A. (2008), Games of Strategy, second edition, New York: W. W. Norton.
Gaboriau, P. (2003). The Tour de France and cycling’s Belle Epoque, The International Journal of History of sport, 20(2), 57-78.
McDowell, M. et al. (2009). Principles of Economics, second edition, Berkshire: McGraw-Hill Education.

http://www.econlib.org/library/Enc/GameTheory.html retrieved on 13-11-2013