Explain four forms of competition classified by Mercer and Wanderer (1970).
1. Pure and limited competition.
2. Absolute and relative competition.
3. Personal and impersonal competition.
4. Creative and non-creative competition.
The explanation of the above mentioned four forms of competitions is given as below :
1. Pure and Limited Competition :
(a) Theoretically, competition may be pure. It means that competition is pursued without any cultural restrictions.
(b) Pure competition is an abstraction. When competition involves co-operation and individuals compete according to rules, it is a case of limited competition. This effectively limits competition by co-operative adherence to agreed behaviour.
2. Absolute and Relative Competition :
(a) Absolute and relative competitions are different from the earlier ones. Sometimes, individuals and groups compete for a goal which is scarce. Only the successful candidate gets it exclusively. For instance, there may by only one winner in an election to the Vice-President of India. The loser cannot share in the attainment of the office. This is known as absolute competition.
(b) On the other hand, when sometimes people compete for prestige, power, wealth, etc. in the society and also get success in their attempts, they do not hope that their competitors will have none of these acuisitions, even though the proportion in which the latter have these may be smaller. This is called relative competition.
3. Personal and Impersonal Competition :
(a) Sometimes, competition takes place between two persons. They directly interact with each other. One of them becomes succeful in achieving the desired goal. This is personal competition. For example, when several people compete for a job as aspirants they compete with one another personally.
(b) Impersonal competition is found among the big business houses when they compete with each other for marketing of the products. When radio-manufacturing firms in India compete with each other, they compete as firms, but not by way of a personal interaction among the employees of these companies.
4. Creative and Non-Creative Competition:
(a) Some competitions are creative in nature. These can produce some positive output of competition with one another for getting of objective. For instance, when traders compete with each other for attracting customers, they can, inadvertently, expand the market. In attracting the customers new products are produced with high qualities as well as of higher aesthetic value. In this way, the competition becomes truly creative and productive of desired social values.
(b) Contrary to this, some competitions are non-creative in as much as they may destroy natural resources for gaining immediate advantage. Non-creative competition is common among the oil, mining and agricultural industries, which quite often waste scarce natural resources.
