Market entry — distance and mode
No geography anywhere else in the bank. Screens candidate markets on real distance, then chooses how to enter the ones that survive.
The printable canvas and the handoff into Claude Code are part of a paid plan. See what a plan includes. It needs the Claude desktop app on this machine, and your team and the prompt library already installed in that project — we cannot see your disk, so open it there.
What it is
A two-part screen for international growth. CAGE scores candidate markets on how genuinely distant they are — culturally, administratively, geographically and economically — which is frequently not what physical proximity suggests. The entry mode comparison then tests export, licensing, joint venture and wholly-owned entry against control, speed and capital at risk for the markets that survive the first screen.
- Cultural distance
- Language, norms, religion and social structures. Two countries that speak the same language can still be culturally distant in ways that matter more to a consumer business.
- Administrative distance
- Legal and political systems, currency, trade agreements and historical colonial ties. Often the most underestimated dimension, because it does not show up until the paperwork does.
- Geographic distance
- Physical distance, but also climate, time zones and infrastructure — the practical cost of actually operating there, not just shipping there.
- Economic distance
- Differences in wealth, wage costs, infrastructure quality and consumer purchasing power. The dimension most likely to make a familiar-looking market behave completely differently.
- Entry mode
- Export, licence, joint venture or wholly-owned subsidiary, each trading off control, speed of entry, and capital put at risk. The mode should follow from the distance score and the capability available, not from what worked last time.
- Control versus speed
- Wholly-owned entry gives full control and is slowest and most capital-intensive; a joint venture is fastest into a distant market and gives away the most control. The right answer differs by market, not by company policy.
How you run it
- Build a longlist wider than the obvious marketsInclude markets nobody has personal familiarity with. Familiarity is not the same as opportunity.
- Score each candidate on the four CAGE dimensionsCultural, administrative, geographic and economic distance, with evidence for each rather than assumption.
- Cut the longlist to a shortlist with reasons on the recordThe markets with distance that the business can realistically bridge, given the capability and capital actually available.
- Compare entry modes for each shortlisted marketExport, licence, joint venture, wholly-owned — tested against control, speed and capital at risk specifically for that market, not as a blanket company policy.
- Recommend a mode per market and state the trade-off acceptedEvery mode gives something up. Say explicitly what control, speed or capital was traded for what.
The prompt
Run this tool in your own Claude
The short prompt starts your partner against the library on your disk. The long one carries everything with it and needs nothing installed.
Your playbook
It lands in the earliest stage this tool suits. Move it on the Playbook page.
You’ll need
- A longlist of candidate markets, wider than the obvious two or three
- The capability, capital and management attention actually available for entry
- What control over the business you are willing to give up for speed
You’ll end up with
- Candidate markets scored on genuine distance, not proximity assumptions
- A shortlist ranked and screened
- An entry mode recommended per market, tested against control, speed and capital at risk