Decision Guides

Resources

Practical preparation for high-stakes decision moments, from vendor selection and consulting proposals to market entry and M&A.

Each guide targets a specific commitment moment: the weeks before a contract is signed, a budget is approved or a recommendation goes to the board. They focus on the blind spots and questions that decide outcomes, not on generic best practice.

Read before you commit

Each guide is built for the weeks before signature or approval, when changing course is still cheap.

Resources Hub

Guide

Before Hiring a Consulting Firm

A decision guide for executives about to sign a consulting engagement letter. It covers the gap between the pitch team and the delivery team, the economics of extensions, and the questions that expose a weak proposal before it becomes a weak engagement.

Open resource

Guide

Before Selecting a Vendor

A guide for procurement and business leaders at the final stage of vendor selection, covering the difference between the demo and the configured product, the true shape of total cost, and why scoring models tend to confirm the favourite.

Open resource

Guide

Before Entering a New Market

For leadership teams weighing geographic or segment expansion. This guide covers the difference between addressable and reachable demand, the channel economics that sink entries, and why the exit criteria matter more than the entry plan.

Open resource

Guide

Before Approving a Transformation Budget

For executives and boards asked to sign off a multi-year transformation programme. This guide examines why transformation business cases inflate, where the run costs hide, and the approval conditions that keep a programme honest after the money is committed.

Open resource

Guide

Before Presenting to the Board

For executives finalising a board paper or investment committee presentation. This guide covers framing the ask precisely, presenting genuine options rather than decoys, and surfacing the dissent the board will otherwise discover for itself.

Open resource

Guide

Before an M&A Decision

For boards and corporate development teams approaching a signing decision. This guide covers the synergy numbers set before diligence, the integration questions deferred until after close, and the deal-fever dynamics that make stopping feel more expensive than proceeding.

Open resource

Guide

Before Choosing a CRM

For commercial and operations leaders selecting or replacing a CRM platform. This guide covers why adoption fails independently of platform quality, the data migration nobody budgets honestly, and why the implementation partner matters more than the logo.

Open resource

Guide

Before Implementing AI

For leadership teams moving from AI experimentation to committed spend. This guide covers use-case selection by economics rather than enthusiasm, the data and workflow readiness that pilots conceal, and the error-tolerance question that determines where AI can safely run.

Open resource

Guide

Before Outsourcing Operations

For executives evaluating an outsourcing or managed-services deal. This guide covers the baseline games that inflate savings, the knowledge that leaves during transition, the retained organisation nobody designs, and why year three is where these deals are really decided.

Open resource

Guide

Before Changing ERP

For executive teams considering an ERP replacement or major upgrade. This guide covers the data migration that always takes longer, the customisation creep that rebuilds the old system, integrator dependency, and the go-live choices that decide how much of the business is at stake at once.

Open resource

Guide

Before Hiring an Agency

For marketing and commercial leaders selecting a creative, media or digital agency. This guide covers the pitch-to-delivery gap, scope drift inside retainers, the measurement of media claims, and the ownership questions that only surface when the relationship ends.

Open resource

Guide

Before Launching a Product

For product, commercial and executive teams approaching a launch decision. This guide covers the difference between internal enthusiasm and demand evidence, the channel and support readiness that launches assume, and the kill criteria that almost no launch plan contains.

Open resource

Guide

Before Renewing a Major Contract

A guide for buyers of large software, outsourcing and services contracts approaching renewal: the moment when incumbents price captivity, and the twelve months of preparation that shift the balance back.

Open resource

Guide

Before Signing an MSA

A guide for executives and procurement leaders about to sign a master services agreement, on the clauses that allocate risk for years: caps and carve-outs, IP ownership, exit rights, rate escalation and audit.

Open resource

Guide

Before a Restructuring

A guide for leadership teams planning a restructuring, on why cost-led redesigns shed the people they most needed to keep, what happens to those who stay, and the difference between moving boxes and changing work.

Open resource

Guide

Before a Strategic Partnership or Joint Venture

A guide for executives structuring a partnership or joint venture, covering mismatched time horizons, how contributions get valued, deadlock design, channel conflict and the partnership that is really an acquisition.

Open resource

Guide

Before Accepting Private Equity Investment

A preparation guide for founders and management teams weighing a private equity offer: what changes on day one, who you will actually work with, how incentive structures behave, and which references deserve trust.

Open resource

Guide

Before Selecting Software

A guide for leaders choosing business software of any category, from finance systems to collaboration tools. It covers why demos mislead, how to gather requirements that describe real work, the five-year cost picture and the reference checks that actually inform.

Open resource

Guide

Before Appointing a Board Member

For chairs, nomination committees and chief executives adding a board member. This guide covers defining the gap the appointment must fill, testing independence as behaviour rather than status, the limits of referencing, and the balance between chemistry and challenge.

Open resource

Guide

Before Replacing a Senior Executive

For chief executives and boards about to replace a senior leader. This guide covers separating role problems from person problems, what the vacancy signals internally, the underused interim option, and protecting continuity while the seat is contested.

Open resource

Guide

Before Entering Retail

For consumer brands weighing a move into physical or online retail. This guide covers the gross-to-net economics of trade terms, listing fees and margin arithmetic, supply readiness, and why sell-in numbers flatter while sell-through decides.

Open resource

Guide

Before Changing Distributors

For manufacturers and brand owners preparing to replace a distributor. This guide covers termination clauses and notice realities, inventory and receivables during transition, channel conflict, and the question of who actually owns the customer.

Open resource

Guide

Before Expanding Internationally

For leadership teams scaling beyond their first markets. Where market validation asks whether demand exists, this guide covers what expansion does to the organisation: operating model, entity decisions, leadership at a distance, localisation depth and sequencing.

Open resource

Guide

Before Choosing a Market Research Partner

For leaders commissioning customer or market research. This guide covers matching methodology to the actual question, testing sample quality, telling insight apart from reporting, and when your own team should do the work instead.

Open resource

Guide

Before a Price Increase

For commercial and finance leaders preparing a price increase. This guide covers the evidence that actually predicts acceptance, competitor response, the sequencing of communication, churn tolerance and the rollback criteria almost nobody sets.

Open resource

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