Intrasexual Competition
Direct rivalry-based competition where companies (or customers) compete for positional advantage rather than absolute quality.
The tragedy of intrasexual competition: everyone would be better off if everyone scaled back spending. But individual incentives prevent collective de-escalation.
Male elephant seals fight each other directly for access to harems. The competition isn't about attracting females through displays - it's about defeating rival males. Winners get harems of 50+ females. Losers get zero. This creates winner-take-all dynamics and extreme investment in competitive weaponry. The key difference from intersexual choice: the competition is among members of the same sex, not between sexes. Males don't compete to be chosen by females - they compete to control access to females.
Business Application of Intrasexual Competition
Direct rivalry-based competition where companies (or customers) compete for positional advantage rather than absolute quality. The Rolex executive arms race exemplifies this: when everyone escalates from $5K to $10K watches, relative positions remain unchanged but total spending doubles. These are zero-sum dynamics with no natural endpoint - as long as hierarchy exists, differentiation is required.