Modification of the concept of competitiveness with special regard to the demand emerging nowdays on cooperation

Hurta, Hilda

Keywords: competitiveness, cooperation

What is the activating force that organizes economic affairs? The social side of human nature means that competition alone is not sufficient because competition is the expression of human individuality. Cooperation, which gives expression to human sociality, is the other one. Reality provides many examples indicating that people are more cooperative than is assumed in the standard self-interest model. In the last twenty years the academic view has changed about whether we should compete or cooperate for the higher competitiveness. In the eighties they supported the opinion that the competition is the only way to achieve success in business. Later on the argument started on competition vs. cooperation, and they realized that in some situation the competition, while in others the cooperation is efficient. In the same period the two definitions have changed as well. Different writers defined competition and cooperation variously according to their research’ approach. The study examined competition and cooperation separately, but there exist a new notion, according to which different independent partners can cooperate and compete at the same time with each other. So the opposite approaches can be fused, that is coopetition. Coopetition is a very popular solution for the present complex problems. But according to the everyday people it is not sure, that „working with the enemy” can run.