Or for a company, this translates to In economic theory a
rational entity (a person or people running company) will
estimate the utility of something, and this will be closely
reflected in how much they are willing to give up to get it - eg
how much they are willing to pay for it. A decision process
typically is trying to maximize something - profit for the
company, the probability of winning a competition, the hours of
leisure, the amount of alcohol consumed and so on. Utility is
just the name given to the entity which is to be maximized.
Sometimes an entity is trying to maximize many things which
involve a trade-off (eg the amount of income, and the leisure
time), and utility is the entity which describes the trade-off
ratios.