Yearly published competitiveness indexes make possible immediate comparisons of investment and productivity climates around the globe. Against the backdrop of an increasing linkage between competition, “good governance” and poverty alleviation within development rhetoric and practices, this article places the agenda of competitiveness in the context of political struggle. Based on extensive interviews, I situate the “global” discourse of competitiveness in the diverse conditions of two Central American countries, Costa Rica and Nicaragua, in order to explore articulations and legitimacy claims of business associations and labor organizations respectively in processes of labor market flexibilization and economic change. Focusing on labor–capital and state–market relations, the study contributes to the understanding of how principles of competition are promoted, negotiated and contested within transnational divisions of labor.