competitiviness,development,and engineering: some definitions and reflections

Abstract

This paper is addressed to those who propose or develop models, processes, and products of interest to any organization, seeking the improvement of its competitiveness, to create more jobs and contribute to the education and usage of human abilities, whereby fulfilling people’s life and basic needs. This paper is neither addressed to experts in the subject nor is a handbook of methods and procedures for improving competitiveness. It is a basic introduction to the subject, written in a simple language, to discuss, in a clear and pleasant way, some issues related to competitiveness, development, and engineering, underlining their mutual relationship. Firstly, the definition of each term (taken from the Royal Academy of the Spanish Language Dictionary) is introduced. To gather more judgement elements, these definitions are followed by a discussion of some concepts given by various authorative experts. Lastly, some reflections are given on the important role played by engineering in development and competitiveness.