Competitiveness is often associated with product price, quality, resource productivity, costs of production, as well as competitive advantage (J. E. Lombana, Competitiveness and Trade Policy Problems in Agricultural Export, University of Gotingen 2006: 33).
Competitiveness understood as such means ability to compete; that is to function and to survive market competition (M. Gorynia (ed.), Luka konkurencyjna na poziomie przedsiębiorstwa a przystąpienie Polski do Unii Europejskiej, Wydawnictwo AE w Poznaniu, Poznań 2002: 48).
Therefore competitiveness is related to evaluation of competitors' business outcomes, as well as their abilities to gain future profits in a changeable micro-environment (J. W. Bossak, W. Bieńkowski, Międzynarodowa zdolność konkurencyjna kraju i przedsiębiorstw. Wyzwania dla Polski na progu XXI wieku, Wyd. SGH, Warszawa 2004 :18).
It may as well mean the ability and way of coping with competition when one can define competition mechanisms and tools for a long-term and a short-term perspective (Z. Pierścionek, Koncepcje konkurencyjności przedsiębiorstwa, „Przegląd Organizacji” 2005 : 9).
Thoughtful literature overview of the topic combined with authors' research experience in examinating company competitiveness enabled them to define the most important scope of interests and definitions of the competitiveness integrated model.
Picture No.1 shows its visual representation and situational context that enables competitiveness.
Picture No. 1. The Competitiveness Integrated Model
Source: elaborated by the authors.
For enterprises competitiveness is an abstract and universal concept one should introduce different components of this concept.
The competitive potential - it consists of resources, which a company holds or should hold and which can be used to create or maintain its ability to compete. The concept refers to all of the enterprise capabilities resulting from its material and immaterial means. It can be discussed relatively and it deals with many aspects.
The strategy of competition - is an accepted plan to gain competitive advantage over other business entities acting in an external business environment in order to meet enterprise's basic aims and objectives.
The competitive advantage - is defined as the ability of an enterprise to offer material and immaterial values to its clients provided by the market. This one can also be treated relatively and covers many different aspects.
The competitive positioning - understood as the market and economic outcomes of an enterprise. These outcomes depend on the extent to which the abilities to compete have been or will be used. Competitive positioning can also be analyzed relatively as a multidimensional concept.
What influences enterprise competitiveness is business environment. In the Competitiveness Integrated Model business environment is referred to as the platform of competition and means features of a macro/operating and a micro/operating environment which surround enterprise of the given sector. The influence of the features of the macro/operating environment is equal for every enterprise acting in the same sector. Whereas features of the micro/operating environment may influence them differently.