Rate each activity 1 to 5 on all six dimensions. The hotspot score weights the gap between strategic importance and capability most heavily, because that's the fixable distance between how much an activity matters and how good you are at it. Add your own activities, or edit the value chain below.
New to this? What a value chain is and what each column means
You're breaking your business into its main activities and rating each one. Every column is scored 1 (low or weak) to 5 (high or strong). The plain-English meaning of each is below, so you don't need to know the framework.
- A value chain is just the list of the main things your business does to turn inputs into something a customer pays for, from getting supplies in, through delivering the work, to marketing, sales and after-sales. The rows are already filled with a typical set; rename them, or add your own with + Add activity.
- Mark each activity Primary (it directly creates and delivers what you sell) or Support (it helps the primary work happen, like IT, HR or finance).
- Rate each activity 1 to 5 on all six columns. 1 means low or weak, 5 means high or strong.
- The tool finds your hotspot: the activity where a big capability gap sits on something that also matters strategically, financially and to customers. That's usually the best place to improve first.
- Primary vs Support
- Primary activities directly make and deliver what you sell (operations, delivery, sales, service). Support activities keep the primary ones running (systems, people, admin, procurement).
- Capability
- How good you actually are at this activity, honestly. 1 = weak or unreliable. 5 = genuinely excellent.
- Strategic importance
- How much winning in your market depends on this activity. 1 = barely matters. 5 = you can't win without it.
- Customer value
- How much your customers notice and care about it. 1 = invisible to them. 5 = a big part of why they buy.
- Financial impact
- How much money runs through this activity, in revenue or cost. 1 = tiny. 5 = a large share of the numbers.
- Risk exposure
- How much risk is concentrated here (a single point of failure, a key person, a fragile supplier). 1 = low. 5 = high.
- Differentiation
- How distinct you are here versus competitors. 1 = the same as everyone. 5 = clearly better or different.
- Confidence
- How sure you are of the ratings in that row. Low confidence trims the hotspot score so a guessed row doesn't outrank an evidenced one.
- Hotspot score
- The tool weights the gap between strategic importance and capability most heavily, because that's the fixable distance between how much an activity matters and how good you are at it, then adds the financial, risk and customer weight. The higher the score, the more worth fixing first.
Example inputs are loaded. Replace them with your own figures to explore your scenario.
| Activity | Type | Capability | Strategic importance | Customer value | Financial impact | Risk exposure | Differentiation | Conf. | Hotspot |
|---|
Highest-ranked activity under your assumptions
15.2 hotspot score
This result uses the figures and judgements entered above. Check the assumptions before acting, particularly where an input is uncertain or several effects overlap.
Every activity, ranked by hotspot score
Biggest capability gaps
Important, but undifferentiated
A Commercial Assessment builds this from evidence; the Competitor Scorecard tests whether your strong activities are actually differentiated, and the APG Platform turns the top hotspot into an owned, valued initiative.
A structured judgement aid, not a causal model. The value chain is a snapshot: activities interact, and improving the top hotspot can shift the binding constraint elsewhere, so treat the ranking as where to look first. Scores are your own judgement, so rate honestly; marking everything strategically vital tells you nothing. The hotspot score uses the four self-contained terms of APG's model (capability gap ×2, financial, risk, and 0.75 × customer value) with a confidence multiplier. Not financial advice.
Being good at something is not the same as it mattering. The hotspot is where the two diverge most.
A value-chain read turns 'the business needs to get better' into one specific activity, for specific reasons. A Commercial Assessment is where that becomes a costed, owned move.
Book a conversation →Prefer to start on your own? Try the two-question check →