Names I could mention include Alfred Müller-Armack, Wilhelm Röpke, Alexander Rüstow, Walter Eucken and Franz Böhm. Over time, they slotted their ideas together to form an overarching concept and helped place the social market economy on the two strong pillars that support it to this very day.
One pillar is anchored in the ordoliberalism of the Freiburg school, the core element of which is competition. But it is no longer the free unbridled interplay of forces but rather orderly competition that prevents the misuse of market power.