Porter Competitive Strategy Skills

Turn competitive strategy from abstract theory into structured analysis.

12 executable skills + 1 orchestrator extracted from Michael Porter's Competitive Strategy — the foundational text on industry analysis and competitive positioning. Every skill was sense-checked against the original book via NotebookLM. Every sub-factor, checklist, and decision tree comes from Porter's own language, not summaries or interpretations.

Ask your agent to "analyze this industry" and get a structured five forces assessment with 32 sub-factors rated. Ask "what move should we make?" and get a commitment framework with retaliation predictions. Ask "are we stuck in the middle?" and get a diagnostic checklist with organizational requirements you're missing.

Get started

/orchestrate-porter-strategy

The orchestrator detects what you're asking and routes to the right skill(s). Or invoke any skill directly:

/analyze-five-forces
/profile-competitor
/select-generic-strategy

The 12 skills

Tier 1 — Entry points (no dependencies)

Skill	What it does	Porter source
`/analyze-five-forces`	Assess industry structure across 32 sub-factors (8 entry barriers, 8 rivalry drivers, 7 buyer power factors, 6 supplier power factors, 3 substitute indicators), identify governing forces, rate overall profit potential	Ch 1
`/profile-competitor`	Build a four-component competitor profile (future goals, assumptions, current strategy, capabilities), generate a response profile predicting satisfaction, likely moves, vulnerabilities, and retaliation triggers	Ch 3
`/map-strategic-groups`	Plot competitors across 13 strategic dimensions, select optimal axes, assess mobility barriers between groups, analyze per-group rivalry and bargaining power differences	Ch 7
`/diagnose-industry-type`	Classify an industry as emerging, fragmented, transitioning to maturity, or declining using Porter's 14 evolutionary processes, then route to the appropriate industry-type strategy skill	Ch 8–12

Tier 2 — Build on Tier 1 outputs

Skill	What it does	Porter source
`/select-generic-strategy`	Evaluate cost leadership, differentiation, and focus against your situation. Full requirements tables (skills, org arrangements, control systems), risk profiles, and a stuck-in-the-middle diagnostic	Ch 2
`/read-market-signals`	Interpret competitor actions using Porter's 11-type signal taxonomy. Classify bluff vs. commitment, decode cross-parries and fighting brands, analyze historical behavior patterns	Ch 4
`/analyze-market-entry`	Go/no-go entry analysis with barrier cost estimation, 7 generic entry mechanisms, incumbent retaliation modeling, sequenced entry assessment, and acquisition framework	Ch 16
`/strategize-fragmented-industry`	Porter's 5-step process for fragmented industries. 11 fragmentation causes with overcomability assessment, 9 coping strategies, consolidation vs. cope recommendation	Ch 9
`/strategize-emerging-industry`	Scenario-based forecasting, shape vs. adapt decision, pioneer vs. follower timing, 8 structural characteristics, shifting barrier analysis	Ch 10
`/strategize-declining-industry`	End-game strategy selection using the 2x2 matrix (industry structure vs. firm strengths). 4 strategies (Leadership, Niche, Harvest, Divest) with hospitability assessment and exit barrier analysis	Ch 12

Tier 3 — Requires competitor profile + strategy selection

Skill	What it does	Porter source
`/design-competitive-move`	Design offensive or defensive moves. Cooperative vs. threatening classification, mixed motives exploitation, commitment credibility framework, focal points, deny-the-base defense	Ch 5
`/audit-strategy-consistency`	Test a strategy against Porter's 12 consistency checks across internal consistency, environmental fit, resource fit, and communication/implementation	Intro

Orchestrator

Skill	What it does
`/orchestrate-porter-strategy`	Detect intent, route to the right skill(s), chain outputs, accumulate context. 5 pre-built workflow shortcuts for common analyses

Pick your scenario

"How attractive is this industry?"

/analyze-five-forces

Walks through all 5 forces with every sub-factor Porter identifies. Produces a rated assessment with the governing force highlighted and strategic implications.

"What will our competitor do next?"

/profile-competitor

Builds a four-component profile, detects blind spots via assumption analysis, and predicts responses to your potential moves.

"Should we enter this market?"

/analyze-market-entry

Estimates true entry cost (not just visible investments), models incumbent retaliation, evaluates 7 entry mechanisms, and considers sequenced entry to lower risk.

"We're in a crowded market with no dominant player"

/strategize-fragmented-industry

Diagnoses why the industry is fragmented, whether consolidation is feasible, and which of 9 coping strategies fits your position.

"Is our strategy coherent?"

/audit-strategy-consistency

Runs 12 consistency tests from Porter's Figure 1-3. Flags where goals contradict policies, resources don't match ambitions, or timing is off.

"What competitive move should we make?"

/design-competitive-move

Designs a move that exploits mixed motives — where the competitor's rational response would hurt their own broader goals. Includes commitment requirements and escalation risk assessment.

Workflow shortcuts

The orchestrator includes 5 pre-built chains for common analyses:

Workflow	Chain	Trigger
Quick Industry Check	five-forces → diagnose-type → (type strategy)	"Analyze this industry"
Competitor Deep Dive	profile-competitor → read-signals	"Analyze [competitor]"
Should We Enter?	five-forces → market-entry	"Should we enter [market]?"
What Move?	profile-competitor → generic-strategy → competitive-move	"How should we compete?"
Full Strategic Audit	five-forces → strategic-groups → generic-strategy → consistency	"Full competitive analysis"

What's in the box

porter-strategy-skills/
├── skills/
│   ├── orchestrate-porter-strategy/SKILL.md
│   ├── analyze-five-forces/{SKILL.md, reference.md}
│   ├── profile-competitor/{SKILL.md, reference.md}
│   ├── map-strategic-groups/{SKILL.md, reference.md}
│   ├── diagnose-industry-type/{SKILL.md, reference.md}
│   ├── select-generic-strategy/{SKILL.md, reference.md}
│   ├── read-market-signals/{SKILL.md, reference.md}
│   ├── analyze-market-entry/{SKILL.md, reference.md}
│   ├── strategize-fragmented-industry/{SKILL.md, reference.md}
│   ├── strategize-emerging-industry/{SKILL.md, reference.md}
│   ├── strategize-declining-industry/{SKILL.md, reference.md}
│   ├── design-competitive-move/{SKILL.md, reference.md}
│   └── audit-strategy-consistency/{SKILL.md, reference.md}
└── references/source-summary.md ← Chapter coverage + known gaps

Each skill includes:

Step-by-step procedure using Porter's exact language
Exhaustive sub-factor checklists (not summaries)
Decision logic for synthesizing findings into recommendations
Structured output template
Worked example showing input → output
A reference.md in the same folder — Porter's heuristics and failure modes for that skill, expanded from the source text and loaded only when the skill consults it (not every run)

What Porter covers that this plugin doesn't (yet)

Gap	Porter Chapter	Why it's not here
Global industry strategy	Ch 13	Multi-domestic vs. global competition framework — could warrant a `strategize-global-industry` skill
Vertical integration analysis	Ch 14	Make-vs-buy, quasi-integration, tapered integration — could be its own skill
Capacity expansion	Ch 15	Preemptive capacity, overbuilding dynamics — could fold into `design-competitive-move`
Buyer/supplier strategy	Ch 6	Strategy toward specific buyers/suppliers beyond the five forces assessment

Installation

Every skill is a portable SKILL.md folder — install the whole plugin, or copy individual skills/<name>/ folders (each is self-contained, including its reference.md).

Claude Code

/plugin marketplace add gnurio/porter-strategy-skills
/plugin install porter-strategy-skills

Manual alternative: copy each skills/<name>/ folder into ~/.claude/skills/ (personal) or .claude/skills/ (project, commit it).

Cursor

Install via the Cursor plugin marketplace, or copy each skills/<name>/ folder into ~/.cursor/skills/ (personal) or .cursor/skills/ (project).

Codex CLI

Copy each skills/<name>/ folder into ~/.agents/skills/ (personal) or .agents/skills/ (project).

VS Code (GitHub Copilot)

Copy each skills/<name>/ folder into .github/skills/ (project) or ~/.copilot/skills/ (personal) — Copilot also reads .claude/skills/ and .agents/skills/.

License

CC BY 4.0 — free to use, share, and adapt with attribution.

Built by George Nurijanian · prodmgmt.world