Competition strategy for a digital company depends on market definitions, business conduct and observable economic effects. Commercial research can organize product, pricing, contractual and ecosystem evidence without asserting that a firm is dominant or that particular conduct is unlawful.
Competition strategy for a digital company depends on market definitions, business conduct and observable economic effects. Commercial research can organize product, pricing, contractual and ecosystem evidence without asserting that a firm is dominant or that particular conduct is unlawful. This page outlines an illustrative consulting scope for platform strategy leaders; enterprise counsel; m&a diligence teams; economic research groups, with deliverables tailored to available documentation and confirmed expertise.
Identify customer jobs, substitution patterns, platform sides, switching costs and relevant geography. A market hypothesis should be testable using customer evidence and competitor offerings, rather than merely the company’s internal category name.
Review exclusivity, tying, preferred-placement, interoperability and API-access arrangements for factual effects and commercial rationale. Mark possible competition questions for competition counsel and economists.
Build a source register of agency guidance, enforcement priorities and published decisions with dates. Avoid copying a single enforcement case into a broad rule for unrelated business models.
A defined assignment can turn a broad business concern into inspectable documents. Outputs below are examples for scoping, not claims that a particular regulated result will be delivered.
A traceable document that maps source evidence to specific management decisions and marks facts that still require independent verification. For this scope, records should be attributable to a source, date and accountable reviewer.
A practical register that groups missing inputs, assigns a follow-up owner and identifies which unresolved questions must be escalated. For this scope, records should be attributable to a source, date and accountable reviewer.
A review-ready output with dated assumptions and explicit decision points, suitable for discussion with relevant specialized advisers. For this scope, records should be attributable to a source, date and accountable reviewer.
The following categories provide an issue map, not a claim that every listed activity is provided as a standalone service. They are used to identify project boundaries and appropriate experts.
Record the precise source of each finding and distinguish a verifiable observation, a business assumption and a question requiring external specialist judgment. Document the countries, products and dates to which the finding relates.
Record the precise source of each finding and distinguish a verifiable observation, a business assumption and a question requiring external specialist judgment. Document the countries, products and dates to which the finding relates.
Record the precise source of each finding and distinguish a verifiable observation, a business assumption and a question requiring external specialist judgment. Document the countries, products and dates to which the finding relates.
Agree the intended decision, audience, countries, source material and deadlines. Establish what is outside the engagement before requesting confidential records or implying a professional representation relationship.
Organize primary records, validate dates and provenance, and document unresolved inconsistencies. Distinguish customer representations and internal estimates from independently published facts.
Present the evidence matrix, assumptions, options and follow-up owners. Route jurisdiction-specific legal, clinical, financial or technical assurance issues to an appropriately qualified professional when needed.
A software platform changes its API access policy for third-party vendors. A research project documents access terms, user switching costs and contemporaneous business reasons, producing a factual dossier for competition counsel and commercial leadership.
Consult the applicable primary materials for current context and have qualified local advisers check any formal regulatory or legal conclusions. References provide context, not endorsements or proof of an engagement.
Start with a clear business decision and the source documents that record market boundaries and substitutes. The first output should distinguish verified facts from assumptions, identify responsible reviewers and list the questions for specialist advisers.
Provide the transaction or project objective, relevant markets and jurisdictions, applicable contracts and operational records, key stakeholders and the decision deadline. Sensitive materials can be reviewed only after the scope and appropriate confidentiality arrangements are confirmed.
Share the decision you need to make, the available records, relevant jurisdictions, preferred work product and decision date. The scope will be reviewed before any consulting engagement is proposed.