In discussing competition, we note a comment of one of the participants in the study who claimed that competition was about ‘kill or be killed’. This may be an extravagant assertion but the passion and often virulence with which comments were made about this issue indicates how competition is viewed and experienced in the sector.

There are three important sub-issues that arose in the research:
•    Levels of competition
•    Proprietary intellectual knowledge
•    Heterogeneity

We also queried how we might understand the concept of competition in the sector and suggest a number of reasons as the basis for the problem including:
•    The way in which collaboration is viewed in the sector;
•    The sector’s capacity (or lack of) to innovate;
•    The reactive culture in the sector;
•    Symptom or cause (revisited);
•    The conception of competition current in the sector.

We suggest that the best ‘explanation’ for our observations is found in the conception of ‘contract competition’ embedded in the policy-ideology of Government. The need for further enquiry about the nature of competition is proposed in the final section of the chapter.

Discuss this article on the forums. (0 posts)

Related articles: 

• Proprietary intellectual property  
•  Heterogeneity
• Understanding competition  
• The philosophical nature of competition