Most country plans I have read spend pages on the competitor.
Their reps. Their launches. Their share.
Rivalry matters. It is only one of five forces.
Michael Porter's five forces model asks a wider question: what decides how much a market lets you earn? In a Gulf pharma market, each force has a familiar face.
Rivalry. More brands of the same molecule, calling on the same prescribers.
Buyers. Distributors, tender committees, insurers and pharmacy chains. They shape your net price long before a rep walks into a clinic.
Suppliers. One plant, long lead times. A stock-out does not wait for your apology. The doctor simply writes something else.
New entrants. Registration slows new generics down. It does not stop them.
Substitutes. A new class, a new guideline, sometimes a procedure instead of a tablet.
In my experience, brands that lose margin quietly are rarely beaten by a competitor's reps. They are squeezed by a tender, a formulary decision or a supply gap that nobody put on the agenda.
So once a year, for each key brand, I map all five with the whole leadership team. Then we decide where to defend and where to accept the pressure.
“Rivals fight you for share. The other four forces decide what that share is worth.”
Lesson 7 of 16 in Step 1: Setting strategy, with the full guide and a checklist for this week.