One way you can approach this is as follows:

1. Ask yourself what type of company would be a competitor. Are you only interested in long-term care pharmacies or in all pharmacies? What about suppliers to hospitals, hospices and similar organizations? What about suppliers to old age and convalescent homes?
   
   
2. The next step will be to identify potential customers in the region and phone them to ask them about pharmacy vendors. I would also ask my customers the same questions, as this will give information as well. (Ideally, this should NOT be done by your organization, but by an independent company to ensure bias free answers. If the company has a prejudice for or against your company, you will not get good answers. An independent company should not need to divulge your name).
   
   
3. Having a list of competitors, I would follow up with conventional competitor research. Get their annual reports. (Use company registries or company information providers). Look to see what is in the press about them. I would also try and get copies of marketing material - perhaps directly from the competitor.
   
   
4. Finally I would also look at who is exhibiting in trade shows in my area - as these are potential competitors too, and collect information on these companies.

Using this kind of approach you can generally find out who your competitors are some basic information on each. However this will not generally tell you what they are going to do next, how they view you, or similar information. It also won't tell you about companies from outside your area (geographical or current business sector) who may be planning to move in - especially if they see it as a lucrative business target.