The competitive environment must include global as well as domestic competition. Moreover, four major types of competition need to be addressed: (1)horizon-tal competition, where similar firms at the same level of the channel complete with each other; (2)intertype competition, where different types of firms at the same level of the channel compete; (3)vertical competition, where firms at different levels in the same channel compete with one another and (4)channel system competition, where entire channels compete with each other.