Accepted: 22 February 2016 This paper examines the relationship between business environment, competitiveness and firm performance considering a survey data from three consecutive years: 2013-2015. The comparative analysis showed that over these years business environment, competitiveness and firm performance of Finnish SMEs are slowly deteriorating. Results from correlation analysis revealed that business environment, competitiveness and firm performance are positively correlated. However, the relationships between these variables are not consistent in respect to competitive priorities indicating a dynamic nature of cost, quality, time, and flexibility dimensions. Besides these findings our analysis acknowledged that to improve firm performance, irrespective to the choice of competitive priority, SMEs should pay more attention to their competitiveness rather than blaming the business environment. The paper concludes that simultaneous use of competitive priority dimensions might be more favorable as a source of competitiveness and competitive advantage to improve firm performance. However, the managers are encouraged to compare the results, findings and concepts presented in this paper among themselves and comprehend the specific answer to the question posed in the title.