Many countries are now creating world-class universities (WCUs) as essential parts of their higher education reform agendas, and as national goals. It is legitimate to ask whether every country that aspires to build a WCU can do so--especially developing countries. To answer this question, this paper provides a three-step framework. The first step in building a WCU is to understand its characteristics. The second is for the country to systematically assess whether it has the capacity to create a WCU by rationally appreciating the challenges it would face in creating one. Third, it must understand, given the challenges discovered in the second step, what to do to create a WCU. Considering this framework, only a few developing countries have the potential to foster a WCU. Thus it is difficult for many universities in developing countries to enter an existing market already occupied by well-developed education systems and universities.