value-chain

Follow CLAUDE.md Writing Standards strictly. Lead with the bottleneck and who holds pricing power, no hedge words, tables over prose.

Map where one company sits in its value chain and where the pricing power actually is. The output is the node the portfolio-supply-chain workflow fans out to assemble the portfolio's full chain graph and find single points of failure.

Arguments

$ARGUMENTS = a ticker or thesis name. If empty, ask which thesis.

Read-only

This skill REPORTS analysis; it does not modify vault files. To persist, the user asks explicitly.

Mental Models gate (MANDATORY — CLAUDE.md)

Read [[Mental Models/Generalist - Overview]] + matching Industry -/Lens - files. The Value Layer Monopoly lens is central: does the company own a layer of the stack everything above must pay to traverse, and is that mispriced? Apply the READING PROTOCOL.

Method (single source of truth — the portfolio-supply-chain workflow reads this section)

1. Read the thesis + its Industry Context / Related Research + the sector note (from sector:). Read _graph.md once for peers already in the vault.
2. Locate the company on its chain, naming real entities (not roles):
   • Upstream — critical suppliers / inputs / tool or IP providers it depends on.
   • The company's own layer — what it makes, and whether that layer is a chokepoint (sole/near-sole supplier) or commoditized.
   • Downstream — direct customers and the end-demand they serve.
   • Competitors / substitutes — at its layer, and adjacent layers threatening to integrate into it.
3. Locate the bottleneck & pricing power: which node in this chain can raise price without losing volume, and is it this company or someone up/downstream of it? Note the trajectory (gaining / losing).
4. Flag single points of failure: any node whose disruption cascades to this thesis (and, for the workflow, which other vault names touch that same node).

Output (solo run)

A chain map (upstream → company's layer → downstream, with named entities), a bottleneck / pricing-power verdict (who holds it, direction), and a single-points-of-failure list. Prefer a compact table plus one diagram-in-prose line. No filler.

Workflow reuse

portfolio-supply-chain (.claude/workflows/portfolio-supply-chain.js) fans this ## Method out, then stitches the per-thesis chains into one portfolio graph (optionally a .canvas file) exposing shared suppliers, shared customers, and cross-thesis single points of failure. Keep ## Method the single source of truth.