| name | market-entry-analyzer |
| description | Walks a market-entry decision through the four buckets in the right order and chooses the entry mode with a Buy/Build/Partner analysis. Use this skill whenever the user is weighing whether to enter a new market, geography, or segment, says "should we expand into X", "should we launch in [country/segment]", "how should we enter this market", "buy build or partner", or is excited about an entry mode before checking whether they can win. Trigger it whenever the question is whether and how to enter a market, even if the user jumps straight to "should we acquire someone". It exists to stop entry-mode excitement from skipping the harder question of the right to win.
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Market Entry Analyzer
The opportunity always looks compelling, so everyone focuses on the opportunity. What they skip is
the harder question: do we genuinely have what it takes to win here, and what is the realistic
downside? This skill forces those questions in the right order, because the most common and expensive
mistake is jumping straight to the entry mode.
The method
Four buckets, and the sequence is the whole point.
- Is the market worth entering at all? Size, growth rate, margin structure, competitive
intensity. If the economics are poor, stop here. (market-sizer does the deep sizing;
five-forces-pressure-test does the deep attractiveness read.)
- What is the competitive landscape? Who is entrenched, and is there a real gap to occupy?
- Do we have the genuine right to win? Not theoretical capability. Actual assets, relationships,
brand, and technology that beat incumbents. This is the bucket people skip.
(advantage-auditor's VRIO gates are the test to apply here.)
- How do we enter, and what could go wrong? Only now does entry mode come up.
Entry mode is the last question, not the first. When you reach it, run Buy / Build / Partner:
- Buy — acquire the capability immediately; certain but expensive, and integration typically
takes 18 to 36 months, which is the most underestimated cost.
- Build — develop it internally; full control but slow.
- Partner — access it through an alliance; faster than build, cheaper than buy, but you share
decisions and partnering on your core differentiator slowly gives it away.
Four questions drive the choice: How urgent is the capability? How central is it to our right to win?
Do we have capital for an acquisition? Does a quality target exist at a sensible price?
Output format
- Bucket-by-bucket assessment, in order, each with a short verdict.
- Entry mode: the Buy/Build/Partner recommendation with its reasoning.
- Verdict: Go / No-go / Not yet, with the one condition that would change it.
How to run it
Default to producing the analysis: all four buckets plus the mode call. Switch to coaching when the
user signals they want to reason it out: hold them at each bucket before advancing, especially the
right-to-win bucket. If they've already fixed on an entry mode, walk them back to bucket one and show
why mode comes last.
Where this breaks
The four buckets assume you can assess the market from the outside before entering, but some markets
only reveal their real economics once you're in (network effects, regulatory nuance, local
relationships). In genuinely uncertain markets, a small, reversible probe can beat a full up-front
analysis, and forcing a confident verdict overstates what you can know. Say so when it applies.
Style
Plain language, define terms on first use, no em dashes, short paragraphs. Never let the analysis
open with the entry mode.
