Which strategy framework for which problem?

Choose a framework by the question you are asking. Strategy questions can mostly be structured into seven groups. Each group has a few frameworks that fit it. The wrong framework still produces a neat page. It just answers a different question.

Start with the question

A leadership team that reaches for the framework it knows best gets the answer that framework gives. A SWOT for a portfolio decision lists strengths and weaknesses, but it cannot say which business to sell. A growth-share matrix for a single business shows one dot.

Name the question first. Is it about how an industry works? About one business against its rivals? About where the money should go? The question decides the tool.

Seven kinds of problem

• Understanding an industry
  • The five forces
  • Structure, conduct and performance
  • The industry lifecycle
  • Market driver tree
  • The industry cost curve
• Understanding one business
  • The value chain
  • SWOT, with its "so what"
  • The strategic triangle
  • Porter's generic strategies
  • Cost leadership
  • Returns by segment
  • Customer purchase criteria
  • Competitive advantage
  • Tests of a lasting advantage
• Setting priorities and portfolio roles
  • The growth-share matrix
  • Impact and ease
  • Three horizons
  • Are we the right owner?
• Testing a strategy
  • Aspiration, themes and business cases
  • Five linked choices
  • The strategy diamond
  • Find the purpose by asking why
  • Test the strategy before you commit
• Planning for uncertainty and rivals
  • Trends and critical uncertainties
  • Scenarios
  • Four levels of uncertainty
  • Competitor-response game
• Finding growth options
  • Products and markets grid
  • Options in three places
  • Core competencies
  • Blue ocean strategy
• Delivering and tracking the strategy
  • The delivery roadmap
  • Forecast against plan, explained
  • Balanced scorecard and strategy map

The frameworks library groups its entries by these seven:

• Understanding an industry. Why it earns what it does, and where it is heading. Michael Porter's five forces, Edward Mason and Joe Bain's structure, conduct and performance, the industry lifecycle and the industry cost curve fit here.
• Understanding one business. Where it stands against rivals, and why. Porter's value chain, a SWOT, Kenichi Ohmae's strategic triangle and customer purchase criteria fit here.
• Setting priorities and portfolio roles. Where money and people should go. The Boston Consulting Group's growth-share matrix and a simple impact-and-ease grid fit here.
• Testing a strategy. Whether it is complete and hangs together. A. G. Lafley and Roger Martin's five linked choices, and Donald Hambrick and James Fredrickson's strategy diamond, fit here.
• Planning for uncertainty and rivals. How the future could break, and how rivals might answer a move. Scenarios and a competitor-response game fit here.
• Finding growth options. Where the next growth could come from. Igor Ansoff's products and markets grid fits here.
• Delivering and tracking the strategy. Turning choices into projects, and checking progress against them. A delivery roadmap and a bridge from plan to forecast fit here.

Adapt it to the business

The standard shape is a start. In practice the parts get renamed for the business in front of you. A good frame fits on one page, its parts do not overlap, and it ends in a "so what". If a framework's output would read the same for any business, it has not been adapted yet.

Where to go next

• The strategy frameworks library, with how to run each framework and where it goes wrong.
• The strategy health check, about ten minutes, which shows where your strategy is weakest.