IDENTIFYING COMPETITORS
The first step, however, is to identify the competition. This may seem a simple question for most firms to answer. For example, at first sight a book publisher’s main competitors might appear to be other book publishers. This is, of course, correct. However, product substitution also has to be considered. This involves looking more broadly at the types of business in which the firm operates. If this is done one can identify many producers of goods and services that people use for leisure, education and other informational needs. Many of these products could be potential competition for the publisher. Many of these products could be used instead of the publishers’ books, i.e. they can be substituted.