Porter's Five Forces Scope - AFPS Tracker
Stage 1 review page for `$competitive-analysis/frameworks/porter-five-forces`. This page proposes the research boundary and evidence plan only. It does not score competitive forces, rank alternatives, or write the canonical Porter artifact.
Scope Evidence
Observed context only, not findings: the repository has an approved competitive-analysis parent packet and a canonical ICP for AFPS Tracker. The active manifest also lists `research/exec-loop-tracker`, but the approved parent packet explicitly excludes that product path from this competitive-analysis lane.
research/afps-tracker/_working/preliminary-competitive-analysis-research.md is approved for framework inheritance.research/afps-tracker/icp.md defines AFPS power users and AI workflow operators as the primary ICP.tasks/todo.md has Porter Five Forces as the first approved framework execution step.research/.progress.yaml marks AFPS Tracker active and keeps Exec Loop Tracker as a separate active path.Proposed Market Boundary
The proposed Porter lens is the structure around tools and workflows that help repo-local AI product/research operators understand research-stage branch state, evidence provenance, and agent handoff context.
| Boundary Item | Include In Stage 2? | Reason For Scope |
|---|---|---|
| Manual repo navigation and AFPS-native artifacts | Yes | These are primary current-state substitutes for reading source-of-truth workflow state. |
| Manual PM and task tools | Yes | They may compete as generic external trackers when users tolerate duplicated state. |
| Product discovery suites | Yes | They are adjacent budgeted alternatives for idea, roadmap, and product evidence workflows. |
| Research repositories | Yes | They compete for evidence centralization and research recall, even if not repo-native. |
| AI workflow control planes | Yes | They may address context continuity, session state, and trust-gated agent workflows. |
| Execution-stage development tracking | No | Reserved for `exec-loop-tracker`; include only as excluded adjacent scope unless approval expands it. |
Source Plan
Stage 2 will use current web search for every competitor or market fact and will prefer sources from the last 12 months where available. Older sources can be used for stable documentation, pricing pages, or product pages, but they will be flagged.
| Source Category | Examples To Search | Purpose In Porter Analysis |
|---|---|---|
| Competitor and alternative homepages | Product pages, docs, launch pages | Validate category boundaries, rivalry, and substitute classes. |
| Pricing and packaging pages | Published pricing, plan limits, enterprise packaging | Assess buyer power, switching friction, and monetization pressure. |
| Docs and integration pages | Git, IDE, AI-agent, research, and workflow integrations | Assess supplier/platform dependencies and channel power. |
| Recent activity | Changelogs, release notes, announcements, public repos | Assess new entrant threat and intensity of active rivalry. |
| User sentiment and community discussion | Forum posts, reviews, community threads, public complaints | Identify unmet needs and substitute usage without treating anecdotes as market proof. |
| Repo artifacts | Approved idea brief, ICP, parent packet, progress manifest | Keep analysis aligned to AFPS Tracker and distinguish repo facts from market facts. |
Assumptions And Confidence
| Assumption | Current Basis | Confidence | What Could Change It |
|---|---|---|---|
| AFPS Tracker scope is research-stage branch and approval-state tracking. | Approved parent packet and ICP artifact. | High for repo scope. | Approval YAML expands scope to execution tracking or broader agent orchestration. |
| Competitors are likely a mix of substitutes and adjacent categories, not one direct category. | ICP current alternatives list. | Medium. | Stage 2 search finds direct products focused on repo-native research workflow state. |
| Published competitor facts will be uneven because AFPS Tracker is a niche workflow concept. | ICP notes direct AFPS adoption evidence is not public. | Medium. | Search finds public AFPS-like workflow tools, repos, docs, or user communities. |
| Stage 2 should not evaluate product features or positioning recommendations. | Porter subskill constraints. | High. | User explicitly changes the skill objective, which would require replanning. |
Output Paths And File Changes
| Path | Stage | Purpose | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
alignment/porter-five-forces-afps-tracker.html | Stage 1 | Scope approval page. | Created for review. |
research/afps-tracker/_working/preliminary-porter-five-forces-research.md | Stage 2 | Non-canonical Porter research packet after scope approval. | Proposed only. |
research/afps-tracker/competitive-analysis-porter-five-forces.md | Stage 3 | Canonical framework intermediate after artifact approval. | Still gated. |
alignment/index.html | Stage 1 | Central index entry for this review page. | Updated for review discoverability. |
Research-Scope Approval Gates
Final compiled YAML may approve Stage 2 only if all required gates are answered and no unresolved `needs-clarification`, `down`, or other negative feedback remains. Feedback-only YAML can be sent first for revisions without answering every gate.
Compile Feedback Or Approval YAML
Use feedback YAML for revisions, or final compiled answers to approve Stage 2 research scope. The final approval remains disabled until every required gate has an answer.