What Is Competition Good For

No matter the line of work, competition is the one that keeps us alert or motivates us to become better – it applies for both individuals and companies. Also, in any sport, whether individual trials or team games, competition will trigger high performance.

Even when you go to the gym and have a tough guy for a coach, the results are (way) better than when you choose to exercise on your own.

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Business wise, competition is some kind of as*-hole who is feasting on your market share. THAT market share you worked so hard for and it’s rightfully yours.

However, reality shows us that there are a lot of benefits in having competition, either when considering companies or individuals:

• It pushes you to become better;
• Everyone gets to benefit from fair market competition: better services/products, efficiency measures meant to cut costs and increase product quality. Consider for example the evolution of television sets during the past 50 years;
• You strive to provide better customer care;
• You learn new things when having so many inspiration sources;
• You get more creative in order to cut line and be among the best;
• When used properly, competition driven motivation (even for the little athletes) may increase self-esteem, helps you learn new techniques/gain competence and compels you to go beyond your limitations;
• When you innovate and you are the only market player, the apparition of other players may seem bad at first; nonetheless, think of it as a validation of the things you do/provide;
• It stimulates consumption – just think about the evolution of cell phones;
• You get to differentiate yourself from the others. If you are the only one who provides a certain service/product, there’s no benchmark. If you do things right, others may see here an opportunity to offer the same products as you, and then each should develop a unique value proposition somehow;
• When someone copies your work it means you are certainly doing something right.

Where there’s no competition, the products and services are mediocre, if not awful; any resemblance to state monopoly services is merely coincidental.

This doesn’t mean that your whole strategy should revolve around/against competition. The best approach is to do what you do best, not set your mind on proving competition is stupid/bad.

Good luck succeeding!