Purpose
Convert scattered market intelligence into a single defensible attractiveness score with a transparent dimension-by-dimension breakdown, so a strategy leader can rank opportunities and make a go/no-go call without hand-waving. Applies Porter's Five Forces to the competitive dimension and TAM/SAM/SOM logic to the sizing dimension.
When to Use
Invoke this skill when the user asks to:
- Evaluate whether to enter a specific new market, geography, or segment
- Compare and rank two or more market opportunities against each other
- Build the market-attractiveness section of a market-entry business case
- Score a market on size, growth, competition, and regulatory risk
- Prioritize expansion targets for a portfolio or annual planning cycle
- Pressure-test a market a stakeholder is already championing
Inputs Required
Before starting, collect:
- Target market: The geography, vertical, or segment being evaluated
- Product/service category: What is being sold into this market
- Market size: TAM/SAM/SOM figures or best-available revenue estimates (with source or basis)
- Growth rate: Historical and/or projected annual growth (CAGR if available)
- Competitive landscape: Number and strength of incumbents, substitutes, supplier/buyer concentration
- Regulatory environment: Licensing, compliance, tariffs, data/localization rules, political stability
- Customer accessibility: Distribution channels, sales-cycle length, switching costs, ease of reaching buyers
If any input is missing, estimate from the market and category using stated assumptions, and flag every estimated figure in the output as an assumption to validate.
Instructions
Step 1: Establish the Scoring Model
Score across six weighted dimensions to a 100-point total. Use these default weights unless the user specifies strategic priorities:
- Market Size — 20 pts
- Growth Rate — 20 pts
- Competitive Intensity — 25 pts
- Regulatory Environment — 15 pts
- Customer Accessibility — 15 pts
- Profitability Potential — 5 pts
State the weights used at the top. If the user cares more about a dimension (e.g., a growth-stage company prioritizing growth), adjust weights and note the change.
Step 2: Score Market Size (0–20)
Frame the opportunity with TAM/SAM/SOM:
- TAM: Total category spend in the market
- SAM: Portion serviceable given the product and business model
-
SOM: Realistically capturable share in years 1–3 Score on SAM absolute size relative to the company's revenue ambitions, not raw TAM vanity numbers.
-
16–20: SAM large enough to support a meaningful, standalone business line
- 10–15: SAM material but requires share gains against entrenched players
- 0–9: SAM too small to justify entry cost, or SOM negligible
Step 3: Score Growth Rate (0–20)
Score forward-looking CAGR and its durability:
- 16–20: >15% CAGR with structural tailwinds (demographics, digitization, regulation-driven demand)
- 10–15: 5–15% CAGR, stable
- 0–9: <5% CAGR, flat, or declining Penalize growth that depends on a single fragile driver. Note whether growth is expanding the pie or just shifting share.
Step 4: Score Competitive Intensity via Porter's Five Forces (0–25)
Assess each force as Low / Medium / High threat (Low threat = more attractive):
- Competitive rivalry: Number, concentration, and aggressiveness of incumbents; price competition
- Threat of new entrants: Barriers to entry — capital, brand, network effects, regulation
- Threat of substitutes: Alternative ways buyers solve the same problem
- Buyer power: Concentration, price sensitivity, switching costs from the buyer's side
- Supplier power: Input concentration and leverage over margins Translate the five-force profile into the 0–25 score:
- 20–25: Majority Low-threat forces — structurally attractive, defensible position possible
- 12–19: Mixed profile — winnable with a clear differentiated wedge
- 0–11: Majority High-threat forces — margin compression and hard entry likely
Step 5: Score Regulatory Environment (0–15)
Assess barriers and risk: licensing requirements, compliance burden, tariffs/trade rules, data localization, political and currency stability.
- 12–15: Light, stable, predictable regulatory regime
- 7–11: Navigable but adds cost, time, or ongoing compliance load
- 0–6: Heavy licensing, unstable policy, or a hard-blocking rule
Step 6: Score Customer Accessibility (0–15)
Assess how hard it is to actually reach and convert buyers: channel availability, sales-cycle length, switching costs from incumbents, and channel-partner leverage.
- 12–15: Direct, established channels; short cycles; low switching friction
- 7–11: Reachable but requires channel-building or long sales cycles
- 0–6: Gatekept channels, entrenched relationships, or prohibitive switching costs
Step 7: Score Profitability Potential (0–5)
Assess likely gross margin structure and price defensibility given competitive and supplier dynamics.
- 4–5: Healthy margins, pricing power
- 2–3: Average margins, some pressure
- 0–1: Thin margins, commoditized pricing
Step 8: Total, Tier, and Verdict
Sum the six scores. Assign a tier:
- 80–100 — High Attractiveness: Enter; build the case now
- 60–79 — Moderate Attractiveness: Conditional enter; resolve named risks first
- 40–59 — Low Attractiveness: Deprioritize unless a specific wedge changes the math
- 0–39 — Unattractive: Do not enter Give a clear go / conditional-go / no-go recommendation. Do not hedge.
Step 9: Narrative Summary
Write a director-level narrative that names the two dimensions most driving the score up, the two most dragging it down, the single biggest risk, and the one condition that would most improve attractiveness if resolved.
Output Format
- Structure: Weighting statement → scored dimension breakdown → Five Forces table → total score with tier → verdict → narrative summary
- Length: 800–1,100 words
- Format: Scored sections with a Porter's Five Forces table and a final scorecard table
- Sections: Scoring Model & Weights → Market Size → Growth Rate → Competitive Intensity (Five Forces) → Regulatory Environment → Customer Accessibility → Profitability → Scorecard & Tier → Recommendation → Narrative Summary
- Tone: Strategy-director voice — decisive, quantified, willing to make the call and name the risk
Quality Checklist
Before delivering output, verify:
- [ ] All six dimensions are scored with a numeric value inside their weighted range
- [ ] The six scores sum exactly to the stated total, and the total maps to the correct tier
- [ ] All five Porter forces are assessed as Low/Medium/High with reasoning — not skipped
- [ ] Market size scoring is anchored to SAM/SOM, not raw TAM alone
- [ ] Every estimated or missing input is explicitly flagged as an assumption to validate
- [ ] A single go / conditional-go / no-go recommendation is stated without hedging
Notes
- When comparing multiple markets, run the model on each with identical weights, then present a ranked scorecard table so the comparison is apples-to-apples.
- Competitive intensity carries the heaviest weight because a large, fast-growing market with a hostile five-force profile destroys returns more reliably than a smaller, defensible one.
- If the user is championing a market emotionally, lead with the two dimensions dragging the score down — the value here is disconfirming, not confirming.
- Encourage validating the top two swing dimensions with primary research before committing capital; the score is a decision frame, not a substitute for diligence.
How to use this skill
This file is a Claude Code skill in Anthropic's standard format — markdown with YAML frontmatter at the top.
Installing in Claude Code:
~/.claude/skills/<folder-name>/SKILL.md— auto-loads in every session anywhere on your machine (recommended for skills you'll use across multiple projects)<your-project>/.claude/skills/<folder-name>/SKILL.md— auto-loads only when working in that project (recommended for project-specific skills)
Restart Claude Code or open a new session to register.
Using in Claude.ai, ChatGPT, Gemini, or other AI tools:
- Drag this file into a new chat, or copy and paste its contents
- Send your task or request as your next message — the AI will apply the skill where it fits
For Claude Code skill details: https://docs.anthropic.com/en/docs/claude-code/skills