The first thing we are going to do so that you can know the meaning of the term competitiveness is to discover its etymological origin. In this case, we can state that it is a word that derives from Latin as it is the result of the sum of several components of that language:
-The prefix “com-”, which means “together”.
-The verb “petere”, which is synonymous with “attack”.
-The suffix “-dad”, which is used to indicate quality.
Starting from all the above, we can indicate that competitiveness means “quality relative to fighting to achieve an objective”.
According to DigoPaul, competitiveness is called the power to compete: to dispute the domain of something, to compete to stay with what another or others also intend to achieve. The idea of competitiveness refers to having the necessary capacity to face competitors.
The concept is frequently used in the economic and commercial sphere. The companies or competitive countries are those that, thanks to its resource management can gain advantages over the rest and gain market share.
Many factors affect the competitiveness of a company. Among the most important are the level of wages and prices of inputs and the relationship established between the quality and cost of the product.
According to the theory, a company that pays wages according to its income, accesses inputs at convenient prices and offers a good quality product taking into account its cost, will be competitive. On the other hand, the company that pays high wages, buys expensive inputs and markets products with a poor quality-cost ratio is not competitive.
These ideas are often transferred to countries. However, depending on how these variables are managed, serious social problems can be caused. Suppose that a government, in order to make its nation more competitive, encourages a reduction in wages. This decision can result in many workers not being able to have the necessary income to satisfy their needs. The increase in competitiveness, therefore, implies a worsening of the quality of life.
Within the scope of work, it is very common for there to be competition between different workers in order to be recognized and even to get a promotion. However, it is especially important that those who are in charge of companies do not hesitate to promote competitiveness that is healthy and not counterproductive. That is something they can do through measures such as these:
-The leader or person in charge must bet on recognizing and praising each of the employees in those aspects that they have managed to highlight.
-It is important that it is clear that there are limits to competitiveness. That is, not everything goes to achieve goals.
-No less relevant is that collaborative competitiveness should also be promoted. What this means is that each employee must be made aware of something positive that by joining with the qualities of others they can make a solid and large project. It’s about fostering a team feeling.
In sports, competitiveness is associated with the chances of a team or an athlete to defeat any rival. For example: “With the retirement of our captain, we have lost competitiveness”, “Our team showed his competitiveness again at the end of the tour with six games won and only two lost. “
