the rivalry among sellers trying to achieve such goals as increasing profits, market share, and sales volume by varying the elements of the marketing mix price, product, distribution, and promotion. it is the product of vying for customers by the pursuit of differential advantage, i.e., changing to better meet consumer wants and needs. in economic theory, various competitive states such as monopolistic competition, oligopoly, perfect competition, and monopoly are delineated based on the degree of control that sellers have over price is know as