Specify the capability gap
Describe the outcome needed, performance threshold, assets to retain and time window before comparing ownership forms.
- Outcome
- Deadline
- Retained assets
08 · Build, buy or partner
Build, buy or partner: compare growth paths
WHAT TO CHECK
An option comparison with a recommendation condition, owner and review milestones.
- 01Define the required capability and deadline.
- 02Compare total cost and integration effort, not transaction price alone.
- 03Test dependence, control and exit conditions for each option.
Compare whole-life options
Include build learning, acquisition integration and partner governance alongside direct financial costs.
- Total cost
- Time
- Control
Plan governance
For the chosen path, name decision rights, dependencies, exit terms and milestones that reopen the choice.
- Decision rights
- Dependencies
- Exit trigger
VALIDATION DOSSIER
State the decision contract
Use the question “Which path creates the required capability at acceptable speed, cost, control and integration risk?” as a contract: name the owner, deadline, scope and alternatives before collecting more material. Build, buy and partner are alternative ways to obtain a capability. Compare their incremental economics, time to usable outcome, governance burden and reversibility—not their headline price alone. Record what is deliberately outside scope, who can challenge the framing and what consequence follows from postponement. This prevents an attractive framework, actor list or market story from silently replacing the decision that the analysis is meant to support.
- Owner and deadline
- Comparable alternatives
- Explicit boundary
- Cost of delay
VALIDATION DOSSIER
Build an inspectable evidence register
For every material statement, retain the original source, publication date, observation period, method, unit and relevant population. Distinguish observed facts, calculated estimates, interview judgements and assumptions. Connect the register to the promised output: An option comparison with a recommendation condition, owner and review milestones. Missing or contradictory evidence remains visible with a responsible owner and a collection action; it is never converted into certainty merely to complete the page.
- Primary source
- Method and unit
- Confidence
- Evidence gap
LIMIT
No option is universally superior: changing requirements or partner behaviour can reverse the choice.
- OECD, Competition Assessment Toolkit (opens in a new tab)Reference for examining alternatives, market structure and constraints.