Competition refers to an activity that takes place among people, companies, organizations, or countries.

In competition, each player aims to take more resources or territories than the other. This occurs when parties want to acquire the benefits of something in a situation in which sharing is not possible.

Competition takes place in all levels of existence, be it among plants, animals, or human beings. Among humans, though, competition is not limited to material resources, but may also involve a quest for fame and other intangibles.

In the world of sales and marketing, competition may be for sales, product improvement and development, as well as the acquisition of new resources and technology for production. Competition has the function of improving the quality of products and, for the benefit of consumers, lowering prices of products.

The first kind of competition is called direct competition. Under this, companies which offer the same type of products try to sell more. In the event that one of the companies sells a new product, it is likely that the competitor will come out a counterpart to compete with the new release, thus ensuring that its own market share is not lost.

On the other hand, indirect competition involves products which may be related or may serve as alternatives. Sugar substitutes, for example, can serve as competition for regular sugar products. Budget competition is much broader than these, though, because this takes place among items that may be purchased with a given amount of money. The contest lies in one product being allocated with a bigger portion of this pie.