ABSTRACT
Competitive analysis broadens beyond commercial rivals. The sort of competitive analysis has led public health researchers to conclude that tobacco companies will have to be bought out and replaced by social enterprises that will continue to ensure a supply of tobacco to dependent smokers, but will do so with a clear public health agenda. The fact that social marketers deal with voluntary behaviour means their clients always have a choice – they have 'buyer power' – and hence there is always passive or indirect competition. The nature of the competition is not just influenced by what other companies do, but by more fundamental forces in the marketplace. In social marketing the supplier is, in many instances, very powerful – often more so than in the commercial sector. Substitution is an obvious development of client power. Substitutions and new entrants are significant threats as they often create and script new markets, out-manoeuvring established organisations.
