Library supply: an extended view of competition

In September 1995 the UK Publishers Association decided to abandon the Net Book Agreement (NBA). This has had major repercussions on all sectors of the book trade but the library sector is the segment most affected by its change. This article looks at how the collapse of the NBA has led to major changes in the competitive environment of library supply. It achieves this through the application of a well established model of competition in business strategy. The article concludes that there have been major changes in the competitive environment of library supply and these have had a knock‐on effect on industry profitability. The industry is still highly unstable with the new rules of the game yet to be established. Firms need to identify how their own position in the industry has changed and develop a strategy to make any new rules work in their favour.