Final answer:
The competitive factors in a marketplace include order winners, qualifiers, and less important factors, and their impact can be evaluated through analysis of market competition, pricing strategies, innovation, and consumer choice. While competition is beneficial for low prices and innovation, excessive growth of firms can impede it, leading to government policy considerations to manage these effects in industries such as technology and airlines.
Step-by-step explanation:
To identify and critically evaluate the competitive factors such as order winners, qualifiers, and less important factors of a company, it is essential to understand how these elements function within a market structure and their impact on firm performance and consumer choice. Order winners are aspects of a product or service that serve as the primary reason for a customer's purchase decision, usually because they provide a distinct competitive advantage over other options. Qualifiers are factors that allow a product to even be considered by a consumer, such as meeting a minimum level of quality or performance. Less important factors are those that may add some value but are not crucial to the purchase decision.
In light of the literature, competitive factors can be critically evaluated by looking at how they influence the marketplace. For example, evidence of serious competition between firms in an industry might include aggressive marketing strategies, pricing wars, and continuous innovation to outdo rivals. Highly competitive industries such as the technology and airline sectors are constantly evolving, with firms seeking to offer better value or new features to attract and retain customers.
The interplay between competition, large-scale production, and market competition is complex. While competition can drive prices down and spur innovation, it also has the potential to be reduced when companies grow significantly, possibly through mergers, resulting in less diversity of choice for consumers. Hence, government policymakers often face challenges in ensuring that the benefits of competition and economies of scale are optimized without stifling market dynamics through excessive intervention.