Module 05 · Business & Competitive Analysis¶
What this module does. Moves from the numbers to what produces them: how a business makes money and its unit economics; the industry structure that sets the ceiling on returns; moats and how to test for them in the numbers; the capital cycle; management and capital allocation; corporate governance in India's promoter-led market; and scuttlebutt and primary research within the law.
Why it matters. Valuation's biggest inputs — growth duration and the return on new capital — are judgements about competition and people. This module is where those judgements are made with evidence rather than adjectives.
Lessons¶
| # | Lesson | One line | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 05.1 | Business models & unit economics | Monetisation models; value chain; unit economics for a pump, a store, a customer, a loan | 90 min |
| 05.2 | Industry analysis | Five forces with evidence; structure, life cycle, profit pools; TAM traps; regulation; disruption | 90 min |
| 05.3 | Moats & competitive advantage | Helmer's powers; testing moats in the numbers; erosion; the fade | 100 min |
| 05.4 | The capital cycle | Supply-side analysis; why growth industries disappoint; Indian case files | 75 min |
| 05.5 | Management & capital allocation | Five uses of cash; auditing the record; incentives; say-do tracking | 90 min |
| 05.6 | Corporate governance — the India edition | Promoter model; RPTs and current SEBI rules; pledges, boards, auditors; the checklist | 100 min |
| 05.7 | Scuttlebutt & primary research | Conversations, alternative and government data, the UPSI line; a plan for Kaveri | 75 min |
Connections¶
- Back: Module 04 — the numbers a moat should show up in.
- Forward: moats and fade → 06.1, 06.3; governance → 09.5; management and scuttlebutt → 11.2, 11.3; sector-specific structure → Module 08.
You're ready to move on when you can…¶
- Pass the three-sentence test for any company and compute its unit economics.
- Run five forces with a number attached to each force, and compute an HHI.
- Name a company's moat source and cite the ten-year evidence — or say honestly that there is none.
- Explain the capital cycle and find an industry currently in the capacity-addition phase.
- Audit a management team's capital allocation and build a say-do table.
- Score a company on the governance checklist and cite the current SEBI RPT thresholds.
- Design a scuttlebutt plan that stays on the right side of SEBI's PIT regulations.
Tested by: Mock 2 — Analysis & business quality.