"Competition brings out the best in products and the worst in men” has been credited to David Sarnoff (1891-1971), the longtime head of the Radio Corporation of America, since at least 1964. The exact quotation has not been located; “men” is often replaced with the word “people.”


The Quote Garden
Quotations about Business
Competition brings out the best in products and the worst in man.  ~Author Unknown

Wikipedia: David Sarnoff
David Sarnoff (Belarusian: Даві́д Сарно́ў, Russian: Дави́д Сарно́в, February 27, 1891 – December 12, 1971) was an American businessman and pioneer of American commercial radio and television. Throughout most of his career he led the Radio Corporation of America (RCA) in various capacities from shortly after its founding in 1919 until his retirement in 1970.

Google Books
Esquire
Volume 61
1964
Pg. 98:
There seems little reason to doubt General David Sarnoff’s axiom that “competition brings out the best in products and the worst in people.”

28 January 1965, Newark (OH) Advocate, “My Personal Prejudices” by Sydney J. Harris, pg. 4, col. 6:
Every system has its merits and drawbacks; the chief drawback of our system was tersely expressed by Gen. Sarnoff, head of RCA, when he observed: “Competition brings out the best in products and the worst in men.”

Google Books
David Sarnoff:
A Biography
By Eugene Lyons
New York, NY: Harper & Row
1966
Pg. 229:
“Competition brings out the best in products, and the worst in men,” he once quipped — and he did not exempt himself from this dictum.

Google Books
Boone & Kurtz Contemporary Marketing
By David L. Kurtz
Mason, OH: South-Western Cengage Learning
2012
Pg. 361:
“Competition brings out the best in products and the worst in people.” —David Sarnoff (1891–1971)