Competition

David Skarbek on competition:

Competition is never between buyers and sellers. It is always between buyers and buyers and between sellers and sellers. This might sound a bit odd considering it is buyers and sellers who haggle over prices, but these prices are always, at least implicitly, an alternative to the prices offered by others.

A more intuitive way to understand this is to think of relationships. In a healthy relationship, boyfriend and girlfriend are not "competing" against each other. They are competing against other possible boyfriends and girlfriends. The man is cognizant of what other men have to offer to his current girlfriend. They are his competition, not hers. Similarly, McDonalds is competing against other fast food restaurants for people's money, not against buyers of Big Macs.

Well said!