In this short introductory chapter, we give a broad presentation of the book and indicate how we think it is best to use it. We start by explaining the title of the book: what do we mean by ‘markets’ and by ‘strategies’, and why do we associate the two terms? We argue that it is market power and the exercise of it that relate markets and strategies to one another. Next, we outline the approach that we adopt in this book: we believe in formal modelling, which explains that the book is theory-based; yet, we also believe that it is important not to overload readers with techniques and to motivate the analysis with real-life cases; our aim is thus to blend up-to-date theoretical developments and real-life applications in a rigorous and concise manner. Finally, we describe the level, the scope and the organization of the book.

Markets

Markets allow buyers and sellers to exchange goods and services in return for a monetary payment. Markets come in a myriad of different varieties. Examples are your local farmers' markets (local) and the market for passenger jets (global), the market for computer software (product) and software support (service), the market for electricity (homogeneous product) and markets for highly specialized steel (differentiated product). These markets may exist in physical or virtual space.