"Concurrence", de quoi parlons-nous?

Rarely an economic concept has been so much ill-defined and yet promoted than the concept of competition. Depending on the school of thought, competition means either a dynamic process that creates innovations or a market structure that assures low prices and homogeneous products. But these various conceptions, mutually contradictory, are used together in order to praise the benefits of a norm that makes competition the pivot for a harmonious self-regulation of markets. There is however a clear "impossible trinity" in this vision, as the three objectives of productive emulation, effective self-regulation and consumer maximization appear mutually incompatible. Moreover, clarifying the concept of competition may help to question the Neoclassical conception of markets and its supply curve