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A local partner is a company that already has the ground you need: the supply chains, the sites, the permissions, and the people. It is paid with a share of the venture and a share of its decisions, and that share is priced twice. On the way in it is priced against what the partner brings, at a moment when the venture is worth nothing and half of nothing is easy to give. On the way back, when the venture has worked and you want all of it, the same share is priced against what the venture has become. Almost every room prices the first and none prices the second, and the second is the larger number. By the time the way back reaches an agenda the partner has usually been reclassified from the reason the venture exists into an obstacle to owning it, and the argument is about fifty against fifty-one. That is not the comparison. This pack turns it into two annuities and one division. What the venture earns at scale, across the years after it reaches scale alone and with the partner, less what each route costs, is what the ground is worth. Against it: the partner's share of profit while they hold it, what sharing control costs, and the buyout price, which is the partner's share priced on success. Both costs that carry the share are straight lines in it, so the whole question reduces to the break-even hand-over, how much of the venture you can hand over before going alone is cheaper. A second distance falls out of the same rows: the break-even buyout multiple, the most the partner's share can be priced at before keeping the partner is cheaper than buying them out. It stops on two halts: no one has written down what entering alone would take, and no one has priced the way back.
What is the Local Partner Strategy Pack
The Local Partner Strategy Pack is a complete decision-support kit for one question: you need somebody on the ground, and what do you hand over to get them? It is built around one organizing claim: the share you hand over is priced twice, once on the way in against what the partner brings and once on the way back against what the venture has become. Sixteen files carry it: the foundations, a concept deck, a scored decision wizard, a partner model blank and worked, the moves at each reading, nine sourced partnerships, a fit worksheet, a roadmap template, a practitioner manual, a field checklist, and an orientation page.
The test that runs through every file
the share you hand over is priced twice, once on the way in against what the partner brings and once on the way back against what the venture has become. It is the argument in the deck, it becomes the wizard’s axes, it drives the model’s inputs, and it reappears as lines on the checklist. That is what makes 16 files a product rather than 16 documents.
The model resolves to one number you can negotiate with: The break-even hand-over — how much of the venture you can hand over before going alone is cheaper. It ships blank and worked, and every input is a named cell rather than a figure buried inside a formula, so the number arrives with its assumptions attached rather than on its own authority.
Why joint venture strategy is decided on the way back, not the way in
A local partner is paid with a share of the venture and a share of its decisions. The share is argued about at signing, when the venture is worth nothing and half of nothing is easy to give. It is paid for again on the day the venture has worked and you want all of it, and on that day the same share is priced against what the venture has become. Starbucks paid about $1.4bn in cash for the other half of its East China venture once it had more than 1,400 stores; that price did not exist on the day the share was agreed.
Two figures are missing from almost every draft. What entering alone would take, in years and in capital, which is the figure fifty percent has to be compared against, and which most companies have never written down because the plan exists in one version. And what the partner's share will cost to take back, at the value the venture will have then, which no draft carries because at signing there is nothing to price.
This pack turns that into arithmetic. What the venture earns at scale, across the years after it reaches scale alone and with the partner, less what each route costs, is what the ground is worth. Against it: the partner's share of profit while they hold it, what sharing control costs, and the buyout price. Then the whole decision reduces to the break-even hand-over, how much of the venture you can hand over before going alone is cheaper, and a second distance beside it: the most the partner's share can be priced at before keeping them is cheaper than buying them out.
What is in the Local Partner Strategy Pack
- Foundations. The framework: why the share is priced twice, the arithmetic, the four endings that actually happen, and the conditions that stop the analysis.
- Concept deck. Twenty-three slides for a board or an investment committee, with nine sourced partnerships and what each does not establish.
- Decision wizard. Eight scored questions returning the band, the weakest answer, and either of the two halt conditions.
- Partner model. Eleven candidate shares across the columns, the way back priced on success, and the break-even hand-over and buyout multiple that decide it.
- Strategies and tactics. The moves at each of the four readings, what to do when the model halts, and four ways to make the next hand-over cheaper to judge.
- Case studies. Nine sourced partnerships — six held, two are partial, and one was reversed, and the one reversed arrived without a partner.
- Fit worksheet. The single page of record: what the venture earns, what entering alone would take, what the partner brings, the share, and what the way back will cost.
- Roadmap template. Five phases with gates and owners, the assumptions register, a reporting change and a periodic review line.
- Practitioner manual. The venture's earnings, the years alone, the itemized partner, the share and what it decides, pricing the way back, the board paper, six failure modes.
- Field checklist. The one-pager that survives outside the binder.
- About the package. What each file does and the order in which to run them.
Who the Local Partner Strategy Pack is for
A chief executive with a term sheet that says fifty percent and a room that says it is too much; a chief financial officer being asked to approve a share against no figure for what entering alone would take; a head of strategy or corporate development negotiating a joint venture whose draft has no buyout formula, no deadlock rule, and no exit; a country manager who knows what the partner brings and has never been asked to price it; a general counsel who has read the draft for the day it succeeds and not for the day the two sides disagree; a board member reading a percentage with nothing beside it; a private equity operating partner underwriting a business whose growth market is held through a partner; and the adviser who would otherwise start from a blank page. It is worth buying when a real decision is in front of you. It is not worth buying to read.
An honest note on fit
This is a kit for running a decision, not a research report and not a forecast. Worked examples use an explicitly fictional company with numbers tuned to teach rather than to flatter. In the worked case a venture earning $60m a year at scale would take seven years and $260m to reach alone and is worth minus $78.3m inside fifteen years on that route; a partner who gets there in three years for $120m of the company's capital is worth $290.1m before anything is paid. At fifty percent, partnering beats going alone by $70.4m and the break-even hand-over is 67.5 percent. The plan to buy the partner out in year six at eight years of profit, three times what the partner put in, is worth $21.6m less than keeping them.
Four limits are stated on the page rather than worked around. The model does not price the chance that an entry fails; the years and the capital alone are your own judgment, and the Sensitivity tab sweeps the years because no one can settle them in advance. It treats what the partner brings as years and capital, not as the relationships, the standing, or the reputation a partner may also carry and that may not survive a buyout. It prices what sharing control costs as a figure you enter, which is a judgment. And it says nothing about what handing over a share does to your position in the next market you enter. Nine sourced cases carry the evidence and the framework content is the larger share; each page marks which is which. The set holds no case of a partner walking away with the venture, and the page says so.
Questions about the Local Partner Strategy Pack
- What numbers does the model produce?
- Two headlines and fourteen supporting rows. The break-even hand-over, how much of the venture you can hand over before going alone is cheaper, and the break-even buyout multiple, the most the partner's share can be priced at, in years of the venture's profit, before keeping them is cheaper than buying them out. Around them: what entering alone is worth, what the ground is worth, what the shared table costs, what the partner's share of profit costs, the buyout price when it is paid and discounted to now, what handing it over costs in total, partnering against going alone, what keeping the partner is worth instead, the buyout price against what the partner put in and in years of your own operating profit, and the venture against your profit. The Model tab sweeps the share from nothing to three-quarters, and one row turns from Yes to No where partnering stops beating going alone.
- Is fifty percent too much to hand a local partner?
- Not on that number alone, and that is the whole point of the pack. The share is compared against what entering alone would take, and in the worked case a company that would need seven years and $260m alone is better off by $70.4m handing over half to a partner who gets there in three years, and could hand over 67.5 percent before that reverses. The room was arguing about fifty against fifty-one.
- Should we plan to buy the partner out?
- Only at a price agreed now. In the worked case the plan to buy the partner out in year six at eight years of the venture's profit is worth $21.6m less than keeping them, and the price would have to fall below 6.8 years of profit before the way back paid. The buyout the room treats as the endgame is frequently the one part of the plan that loses money, because it is priced on success.
- What if the law requires a local partner?
- Then the ground is not for sale and the model cannot rank the choice, but the share is still priced twice. The alternative to the partner is the next-best route in, export, license, or stay out, and the model runs against that instead. Rules change: BMW held a shared venture for fifteen years before foreign carmakers were permitted a majority in China, then raised its stake to 75% and extended the contract to 2040.
- Are the case studies real companies?
- Yes. Nine sourced partnerships: Walmart in Mexico, Walmart in Germany, McDonald's in India, Starbucks in East China, BMW Brilliance, BASF at Zhanjiang, Uber in China, Chevron and Hess at Stabroek, and NIO and Hefei. Each is dated, read through what was handed over and what taking it back cost, and each states what its evidence does not establish. BASF is in the set to hold the other end: it built alone, on schedule and below budget, and said why. The worked model, wizard, and worksheet use an explicitly fictional company, labeled as such on every file.
- Is this a subscription?
- No. One payment, one download, sixteen files, yours to keep and to use inside your organization under the license included in the pack.
- What is the Local Partner Strategy Pack?
- The Local Partner Strategy Pack is a decision-support kit for one question: You need somebody on the ground; what do you hand over to get them? It contains 16 files — foundations, concept deck, decision wizard, partner model, strategies and tactics, case studies, fit worksheet, roadmap template, practitioner manual, field checklist, about the package — built around a single organizing test: the share you hand over is priced twice, once on the way in against what the partner brings and once on the way back against what the venture has become. It is what a leadership team uses to run the decision and leave a record of what they assumed, rather than a report about the topic.
- Who is the Local Partner Strategy Pack for?
- Anyone who has to make this call and answer for it: an operator or owner facing the decision, the executive team running it, the board or investor testing the reasoning, or an adviser who would otherwise build the framework from a blank page. It is worth buying when a real decision is in front of you. It is not worth buying to read.
- What is in the Local Partner Strategy Pack?
- 16 files in Word, PDF, PowerPoint and Excel: Foundations (Word + PDF) — The framework: why the share is priced twice, the arithmetic, the four endings that actually happen, and the conditions that stop the analysis. Concept deck (PowerPoint + PDF) — Twenty-three slides for a board or an investment committee, with nine sourced partnerships and what each does not establish. Decision wizard (Excel) — Eight scored questions returning the band, the weakest answer, and either of the two halt conditions. Partner model (Excel, blank and worked) — Eleven candidate shares across the columns, the way back priced on success, and the break-even hand-over and buyout multiple that decide it. Strategies and tactics (Word) — The moves at each of the four readings, what to do when the model halts, and four ways to make the next hand-over cheaper to judge. Case studies (Word) — Nine sourced partnerships — six held, two are partial, and one was reversed, and the one reversed arrived without a partner. Fit worksheet (Word, blank and worked) — The single page of record: what the venture earns, what entering alone would take, what the partner brings, the share, and what the way back will cost. Roadmap template (Word) — Five phases with gates and owners, the assumptions register, a reporting change and a periodic review line. Practitioner manual (Word + PDF) — The venture's earnings, the years alone, the itemized partner, the share and what it decides, pricing the way back, the board paper, six failure modes. Field checklist (PDF) — The one-pager that survives outside the binder. About the package (PDF) — What each file does and the order in which to run them.
- How is the Local Partner Strategy Pack delivered?
- As a single download of all 16 files, immediately after payment, with the same link sent by email. It can be downloaded 3 times and the link is valid for 30 days. There is nothing to install and no account to keep.