- competitive
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1. used to describe situations and behaviour in which businesses are trying very hard to be more successful than others, for example by selling their goods or services more cheaply than others:
• The food retail market in the UK is becoming increasingly competitive.
• The airline industry remains intensely competitive. Average fares are at all-time lows.
2. competitive prices are similar to or less than other companies' prices for the same product:• Japanese consumers are being denied access to foreign goods at competitive prices.
competitive with• Cutting the cost per unit would make nuclear fuel far more competitive with gas and coal.
3. if a process is competitive, people have to compete with each other and those who do best will be successful:• Administrative service members are recruited through an annual competitive examination.
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competitive UK US /kəmˈpetɪtɪv/ adjective COMMERCE, ECONOMICS► involving or encouraging competition: »highly/extremely/fiercely competitive
»The severe downturn in the worldwide semiconductor market has increased competitive pressures in the Japanese market.
»The corporate watchdog law requires large companies to formalize competitive processes for selecting vendors.
► competitive prices, services, etc. are as good as or better than other prices, services, etc.: »The technology exists to convert grain and sugar to ethanol at a competitive price.
»We know we have competitive products to sell, if only consumers had access to them.
»The hotel works hard to offer competitive salaries and benefits to our employees.
»We can't put up our prices and still remain competitive with similar brands.
competitively /kəmˈpetɪtɪvli/ US /-ˈpeṱəţɪv-/ adverb► »In order to encourage customers to switch providers, broadband services must be competitively priced.
Financial and business terms. 2012.
