This article analyses the impact of competitive arenas on schools' logics of action in six local European contexts (London, Paris, Lille, Charleroi, Budapest and Lisbon). It first examines how competitive processes affect different schools' activities (recruitment, provision of options, promotion, tracking, provision for children with special needs and discipline) and how they are perceived by head teachers, teachers and parents. It then presents four ideal leading orientations (entrepreneurial, monopolistic, tactician and adaptive) developed by schools in response to competition according to their position in the local hierarchy and to their vulnerability to market processes, and it further probes into how these leading orientations are linked to the degree of internal coherence and consensus in schools. The conclusion insists on the importance of taking into account these local processes both to better understand schools as specific organisations and to improve their effectiveness. (Contains 2 tables and 1 note.)