Competition is commonly defined as the situation of trying to win something – for example, a situation or environment in which you strive to win the customer’s attention and money, when others are trying to do the same. The act of trying to win something, is to ‘compete’. So, running a race against one or more other individuals or even against a standard of some kind, is a form of competition. Thus, ‘running against a clock’ is also a competition, as you would ideally like to ‘beat the clock’ or beat your previous personal best time. This is the idea behind competition.

Competition is a crucial element of every business around the world, Particularly for small businesses that inevitably operate in very competitive marketplaces. Competition can be deemed as the activities of other individuals and organisations that produce or manufacture products, promote and market products, sell product and service/support these products, in instances that these products are identical or similar to the products that your company produces/markets/sells and supports. One could replace products with services in the definition above. A competitor can be deemed as a single individual or organisation that produces a product (or services) that directly or indirectly competes with your product. Together the many competitors that exist make up the competition that you face. Competitors have the effect of taking away potential customers from your business and reducing your total sales and profits, and may impact on the success of your business.