!!Context
There is a market with a monopoly of supply. Customers in this market will often seek to introduce competition amongst suppliers, if necessary by inviting new suppliers to bid.
!!Problem
You are a potential [supplier|value net] into a market where there is currently one dominant supplier. One or more of the [customers|value net] invite you to bid to supply them (usually in an attempt by them to reduce monopoly power of their current supplier)
!!Forces
# You might be able to develop new business (often a slice of a large pie)
# You will incur [bid costs|Costs Of Bidding] in trying to enter the market, with no guarantee that you will get any business.
# By entering the market you may start a price war, reducing your chances of profitable business.
# The established supplier will be operating on higher volumes than your likely entry volume, and may be further down the [learning curve|LearningCurve]; they will probably have an initial cost advantage over your operations.
# If the customer asking you to bid is a competitor of one of your existing customers, by lowering their prices you will hurt your existing customer.
# Even if you do not end up securing the business, you have an [added value|PARTS analysis] to the customer(s) because you potentially bring in competition to their monopoly supplier.
!!Solution
Offset your risks by extracting your [added value|PARTS analysis] from the player that is inviting you to join the market.
Reference 1(d) suggests the following tactics as things you could ask for:
# Contributions to your costs of entry
# Sales guaranteed by contract
# [Last look provision|Meet The Competition Clause]
# Access to information
# Access to more senior decision-makers
# Opportunities to bid on other, additional, business
# A price at which the customer will give you the business
# Cash!

!!Resulting Context

!!Notes
* There is also a customer-side version as described in reference 1(c)
* StrategyPatterns
!!References
# [CoOpetition]
(a) pp 70-74 (Coke, Pepsi, Monsanto, Holland Sweetener)
(b) pp 74-78 (Gainesville railways)
(c) pp 78-81 (Mccaw, Lin Broadcasting, !BellSouth)
(d) pp 81-84