A simple definition of competition would be a desire to get a bigger customer base than your competitor (business or an individual who is providing similar service or selling similar goods: same market)
COMPETITIVENESS
There are various definitions of competitiveness but generally it means an aggressive willingness to compete.
LINKS BETWEEN COMPETITION AND COMPETITIVENESS
From the definitions above it is clear that the main difference between competition and competitiveness is that competition is the action already occurring and competitiveness is the mere willingness to compete.
This links us to the point of what is a Global competition now and what is desired by the various nations competition to be in the future. With the increasing Globalisation in the past 25 years competition became a Global thing too. There is an increasing inter-trade between nations that creates a competition for domestically based businesses from the foreign companies. This, in turn makes some countries to create barriers to avoid such competition. However, many other nations believe in lifting such barriers and create an open competitive environment. Many believe that this is the way forward. However, on the other hand there is a view that creating such an open environment only helps developing countries to have new markets for trade.
At present, nations are trying to regulate monopolies. Therefore, if developing or less developed countries open barriers, this might create an opportunity for MNE’s to come and monopolise a foreign market. Therefore, such measures might implicate the regulation and policies on monopolies.
Going back to the competition it is important to recognise that in the long term it is important to co-ordinate and create multilateral competition policy for nations in the world. It is important especially knowing the impact of Globalisation. It is visible now with the present increase in the number of states entering EU and number of other regional agreements that such competition policy would be beneficial. As stated by Debra Johnson and Colin Turner in his book ‘International Business, themes and issues in the modern global economy’ it is known that bilateral policies would work, however big nations might be unwilling to waste their time on bilateral policies and rather prefer multilateral.
The generic role of competition policy is to manage the intensity of competition. This can be done in a positive way by seeking to overcome barriers to free and fair competition or in a negative way by limiting the intensity for ultimately political reasons.
Within a global environment, different national policies increasingly interact and, in some cases, create conflict between states. The rules used to manage competition are designed to meet the two broad objectives of competition policy- namely, efficiency and fairness. The meaning of efficiency is fairly well understood, especially within an economic context (such as the problems associated with monopoly production, etc.). Fairness is more open to different interpretations, although it is generally taken to represent consumer welfare. This can create problems in policy where efficiency and fairness are not mutually compatible. Indeed, one of the major sources of disputes between states stems from differences in the definition of fairness. However, the solution to social and economic problem associated with the processes of global competition should be carefully considered in order to implement successful competition policies.
CONCLUSION
In conclusion, it is clear that for the competition to work globally in the long term the multilateral competition policies should be created. Competition was and will be one of the important if not the most important factor to develop economies not only domestically but also globally. However, considerations should be taken on the barriers that might prevent successful competitiveness.
The policies therefore will be a universal tool to create the best competitive environments if implemented after resolving social and economic issues.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
1. D. Debra and C. Turner. International Business, Themes and issues in the modern global economy. (2004). New York. Routledge Publishers.
2. F. McDonald and F. Burton. International Business (2002). First ed. Surrey, England. Thomson publishers
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D. Debra and C. Turner. International Business, Themes and issues in the modern global economy. (2004). New York. Routledge Publishers
