Market sharing occurs when firms who are obvious competitors collude and agree to divide a market so that they are protected from competitive practices. The market may be shared geographically or by customer sector. Market sharing can also involve an agreement not to compete for established customers or to avoid the production of similar goods and services. As an example, bidders may decide to reply to tenders with inflated bids so as to guarantee the incumbent retaining the account, in return for reciprocal behaviour on other subsequent tenders. See also Collusion.