John Mullins, Associate Professor of Management Practice in Marketing and Entrepreneurship, presents a toolkit for assessing and shaping market opportunities and a better way for entrepreneurs to assess the adequacy of what they bring to the table as individuals and as a team. These seven domains address the central elements in the assessment of any market opportunity. This was first published in Business Strategy Review, Volume 25, Issue 2 - 2014. Subscribe today to receive your quarterly copy delivered to your home or work place. http://bit.ly/BSR-subscribe

1. © Copyright 2014 London Business School
John Mullins’ seven domains of
attractive opportunities

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The seven domains are:
1. Market attractiveness
2. Target segment benefits and attractiveness
3. Industry attractiveness
4. Competitive and economic sustainability
5. Mission, aspirations, propensity for risk
6. Ability to execute on CSFs
7. Connectedness up and down the value chain

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This model offers a toolkit for assessing and shaping
market opportunities and a better way for entrepreneurs to
assess the adequacy of what they bring to the table as
individuals and as a team.
These seven domains address the central elements in the
assessment of any market opportunity.

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The model doesn’t just summarise what everyone already knows –
or claims to know – about assessing opportunities. The model goes
further to highlight three crucial distinctive and observations that
most entrepreneurs – not to mention many investors – overlook:
• Markets and industries are not the same.
• Markets and industries must be examined at both macro-and
micro- levels
• The keys to assessing entrepreneurs and entrepreneurial teams
aren’t found on their resumes, in character surveys or
psychological tests.

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The model’s seven domains are not equally important.
Nor are they additive. A simple checklist won’t do. In
fact, the wrong combinations of them can kill your
venture. On the other hand, sufficient strengths on
some factors can mitigate weaknesses on others.
And attractive opportunities can be found in less
attractive industries.

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The model is comprised of four market and industry
domains, including both macro and micro levels and three
additional domains related to the entrepreneurial team.
These seven domains address the central elements in the
assessment of any market opportunity:
• Are the market and industry attractive?
• Does the opportunity offer compelling customer
benefits as well as sustainable advantage over other
solutions to the customer’s needs?
• Can the team deliver the results they seek and promise
to others?

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In examining your opportunity through the seven domains
lens, concerns will inevitably crop up: the potentially fatal
flaws that can render your opportunity a nonstarter. The
key task in answering the question,“Why won’t my idea
work?” is to find any fatal flaw that cannot be resolved, the
opportunity’s Achille’s heel. Thus, the crucial things to look
for on the downside are elements of the market, industry,
or team that simply cannot be fixed by shaping the
opportunity in a different way.

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But the good news is that opportunities are not static. They can be
shaped in many ways. Potentially fatal flaws are sometimes fixable.
You can choose a different target market that is more receptive to
your proposed offering. The offering can be adapted to better fit
market needs. The opportunity can be pursued at a different level in
the value chain – as a distributor, rather than retailer or
manufacturer, for example – if a different industry setting would be
more hospitable. Adding individuals to help the team deliver on the
critical success factors or who bring connections up, down, or across
the value chain can strengthen the entrepreneurial team.

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Road test your entrepreneurial dream before you even
think about launching a lean startup. If the seven
domains road test looks positive, you will have jump-
started your journey, and you will have gathered a
body of evidence with which to guide your launch. And
what if you’ve found fatal flaws? You can redirect your
entrepreneurial time and talents to another
opportunity with greater potential.

11. This is edited from an article in
Business Strategy Review
Volume 25 Issue 2 2014
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