ABSTRACT
We define competitiveness as the ability to maintain and develop positions on markets where sales take place in competition with other companies and other countries. The concept becomes easier to discuss if the level of wages is assumed to be given. We have assumed that success in international markets should not be primarily achieved by means of reductions in the level of wages but rather by increases in efficiency. Competitiveness then becomes an expression for efficiency in all functions of the company or the country. We apply the concept of competitiveness at three different levels: the group of companies as a whole, the Swedish companies in the group, and Swedish industry as a whole. This section covers competitiveness at the group and company-within-the-group level while the corresponding discussion which applies to Swedish industry as a whole is dealt with later in the chapter.
