The case of Floyd Landis, plus the earlier doping scandals bedeviling the Tour de France, ought to make us all think again about the true impact of competition. Sport (together with warfare) is one of the commonest sources of ideas about business, so when the world of sport seems to be in trouble, it’s worth…

It’s widely accepted that customer service is probably the most important way for any business to differentiate itself in what is now a global, commoditized and hyper-competitive business world. When competitors can replicate your products or services, and undercut your pricing, about the only thing they cannot do as quickly is to reproduce the image you…

Sport and competition go together. Taking the competition away from sport would reduce it to a pointless, illogical activity. Competition and business go together too, and many links are made between sporting achievement and business success. But work and business are not games. Competition is no longer healthy in the workplace when it gets out…