The former leaves either the buyer the option of going elsewhere and the latter may deter suppliers from being over greedy as a new entrant will change the dynamics of the market. What moderates the bargaining power of either party is moderated by the substitutability of the product or service and the threat of new entrants. Customer bargaining power can be seen as the mirror image of these factors. The bargaining power of your suppliers will depend on a number of factors the volume you require, the number of alternative suppliers in the market place, your growth potential as a customer or even your brand. However, it just takes one company to be aggressively increasing market share for this situation to change and create intense competition between existing incumbents. Similarly, if the market is fast growing and companies are struggling to keep up with the demand, again competition can be reduced. A monopoly situation, or a situation with a few dominant competitors, can mean that rivalry is not intense. Rivalry between competitors often depends on the structure of the industry. The threat of product or service substitution.
