The Concept of Competition and the Objectives of Competitors

The aim of the conceptual paper is to deal with the different meanings of competition, to systemize the versions of concepts of competition arranging these in the same unifying framework, called in this paper the field of competition, and developed in this paper. The unified concept of competition is developed showing of how its meaning depends on the objective(s) of the agents in competitive process. It can be used as the modelling device for analysis. Competition and competitiveness are the terms frequently used both in business and public discussion about the economic units, and about their ability to perform according to the strategic or policy goals. However, the meaning of the terms remain vague and to make things even more complicated, the exact meaning depends on the problem under hand. The paper contributes to the discussion on the meaning of competition and presents a model that may be used to interpret the use of concept. It also gives possibility to resolve some of contradictions between different approaches.