---
name: strategic-rationale-generator
description: "Generates a board-ready strategic rationale narrative for an acquisition or partnership target, structured across strategic fit, capability gap closure, competitive positioning, growth thesis, synergy logic, and risk framing. Use when building the strategic case for a target company, preparing a deal screen memo, drafting an investment committee narrative, or articulating why a specific acquisition or partnership advances corporate strategy."
argument-hint: "[target-company] [strategic-goal]"
allowed-tools: ["Read"]
---

# Strategic Rationale Generator

## Purpose
Produce a concise, defensible strategic rationale narrative for a specific acquisition or partnership target — connecting the target's assets to the acquirer's strategy through capability gaps, competitive positioning, and a growth thesis. Replaces the blank-page struggle of the first deal-screen write-up with a structured narrative a Corp Dev team can put in front of an investment committee.

## When to Use
Invoke this skill when the user asks to:
- Write the strategic rationale for a potential acquisition or partnership target
- Build a deal-screen memo or investment committee narrative for a specific target
- Articulate why a target company advances the corporate strategy
- Assess whether a target closes a capability gap or strengthens competitive position
- Draft the "strategic fit" section of a diligence or IC document
- Compare the strategic case for two or more candidate targets

## Inputs Required
Before starting, collect:
- **Target company**: Name and a 2–3 sentence description of what it does
- **Acquirer context**: The acquiring/partnering company, its core business, and current market position
- **Strategic goal**: The specific corporate objective this deal is meant to serve (e.g., enter a new segment, add a capability, defend a position, accelerate a roadmap)
- **Capability or gap in focus**: What the acquirer currently lacks or wants to strengthen
- **Deal type**: Acquisition / minority investment / partnership / joint venture
- **Competitive landscape**: Key competitors and any relevant recent competitor moves
- **Known constraints**: Budget range, integration risk tolerance, or dealbreakers (if any)

If competitive landscape or constraints are missing, proceed with reasonable industry assumptions and flag each one explicitly.

## Instructions

### Step 1: Frame the Strategic Context
Establish the "why now" before the "why them."
- State the acquirer's current strategic position in one or two sentences — where it is strong and where it is exposed
- Name the specific strategic goal this deal serves, tied to a market shift, competitive pressure, or roadmap gap
- Distinguish whether this is an **offensive** move (enter/accelerate/expand) or a **defensive** move (protect/preempt/close a competitor's advantage)

### Step 2: Establish Strategic Fit
Connect the target directly to the strategic goal.
- Identify the 2–3 target assets that matter most: technology, team, customer base, distribution, brand, or IP
- For each asset, state precisely how it maps to the acquirer's stated goal — no generic "great synergy" language
- Classify the fit type: **capability acquisition**, **market entry**, **consolidation/scale**, **talent/acqui-hire**, or **defensive block**

### Step 3: Articulate the Capability Gap Closure
Show what the acquirer cannot easily do today that the target enables.
- State the gap in operational terms (a product feature missing, a segment not served, a technical capability absent)
- Evaluate the **build vs. buy vs. partner** logic: what would it cost in time and money to build this internally, and why acquiring is faster or more certain
- If the gap is one a competitor has already closed, note the catch-up dynamic

### Step 4: Assess Competitive Positioning Impact
Explain how the deal changes the competitive map.
- Describe the acquirer's position before and after the deal on the dimension that matters (share, capability, geography, ecosystem)
- Identify which competitor(s) are most affected and how they might respond
- Flag any risk that the deal invites regulatory scrutiny or a competitive counter-move

### Step 5: Build the Growth Thesis
State the forward-looking value creation logic.
- Name the primary growth driver: cross-sell, new segment access, margin expansion, platform extension, or geographic reach
- Provide a directional value hypothesis (revenue expansion, cost synergy, or strategic optionality) — clearly labeled as a thesis, not a forecast
- Identify the single most important assumption the thesis depends on

### Step 6: Frame the Key Risks and Counter-Case
Pre-empt the room's objections.
- List the 3–4 most material risks: integration, cultural, technical, customer concentration, key-person, or valuation
- For each risk, give a one-line mitigation or open question for diligence
- Include the strongest reason *not* to do the deal — a credible rationale demonstrates the case has been pressure-tested

### Step 7: Deliver the Rationale Summary
Close with a tight, IC-ready paragraph.
- One paragraph that a decision-maker could read aloud and immediately understand the case
- End with a clear recommendation posture: **Advance to diligence**, **Advance with conditions**, or **Pass — revisit if [trigger]**

## Output Format
- **Structure**: Titled sections following the seven steps, with the summary paragraph as the closer
- **Length**: 700–1,000 words
- **Format**: Structured memo — short prose paragraphs with tight bullet support; suitable for pasting into a deal-screen document
- **Sections**: Strategic Context → Strategic Fit → Capability Gap Closure → Competitive Positioning Impact → Growth Thesis → Key Risks & Counter-Case → Rationale Summary & Recommendation
- **Tone**: Corporate development director — analytical, decisive, and appropriately skeptical; no hype, no filler adjectives

## Quality Checklist
Before delivering output, verify:
- [ ] Every target asset cited is mapped to the specific stated strategic goal — no generic synergy claims
- [ ] The capability gap section includes explicit build vs. buy vs. partner reasoning
- [ ] Competitive positioning describes a before-and-after state, not just "improves our position"
- [ ] The growth thesis is labeled as a hypothesis and names its single most critical assumption
- [ ] At least 3 material risks are listed, each with a mitigation or diligence question
- [ ] The counter-case includes a credible reason *not* to do the deal
- [ ] The closing recommendation takes a clear posture — advance, advance with conditions, or pass

## Notes
- The strongest strategic rationales lead with the acquirer's gap, not the target's features — the target only matters in relation to what it changes for the buyer
- Defensive deals (blocking a competitor) require a sharper competitive-positioning section; offensive deals require a sharper growth thesis — weight the narrative accordingly
- Keep valuation out of the rationale unless a constraint was provided; strategic fit and price are separate arguments and conflating them weakens both
- When comparing multiple targets, run this skill once per target and hold the strategic goal constant so the cases are directly comparable

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## How to use this skill

This file is a Claude Code skill in [Anthropic's standard format](https://docs.anthropic.com/en/docs/claude-code/skills) — 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:**

1. Drag this file into a new chat, or copy and paste its contents
2. Send your task or request as your next message — the AI will apply the skill where it fits

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