Social approaches to the competitive process

Araujo, L. and Burrell, G. and Easton, G. and Rothschild, R. and Rothschild, S. and Shearman, C. (2023) Social approaches to the competitive process. In: The Competitiveness of European Industry. UNSPECIFIED, London, pp. 137-164. ISBN 9781032439952

Abstract

Firms are seen as part of a set of interlinked relationships with other entities within any given industry, and the number and density of these relationships differ as the industry develops. Similarly, ‘competition' is seen to extend beyond the stereotype of individual firms, clearly demarcated one from the other, engaged in cut-throat competition. Close, co-operative modes of action can and do co-exist with competitive interactions. Cumulative benefits associated with geographical proximity and infrastructural resources and support reinforce the already disproportionate advantages enjoyed by some regions at the expense of others. Convergence of technologies may be a further facilitating factor. The temperature control industry can be considered as a subset of the process control instrumentation industry which in turn can be defined as comprising firms manufacturing and/or rendering services in the area of instrumentation measuring, controlling and recording the process parameters. © 1989 Arthur Francis and P. K. M. Tharakan.