The Strategic Sweet Spot

The Strategic Sweet Spot involves using your company’s capabilities to satisfy
customer needs in ways that competitors would have the most difficulty emulating.

To use this framework, you’ll want to ask yourself these questions:

 What core competencies does your company have that your competitors do
not? Which of those core competencies are hardest to emulate and develop
from the position of your competitors?
 What are some customer needs that your company is in a better position to
serve than your competitors?
Sources:

 http://www.idea-sandbox.com/blog/strategic-sweet-spot/
 https://phelanbriandotorg.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/strategystatements.pdf
Jobs To Be Done

The Jobs To Be Done framework involves measuring how effective your products
and services can help your customers reach their goals and solve their problems.

The framework includes these steps:

 Determine how satisfied customers are with products and services in an

industry
 Determine how important the products and services are to customers in an
industry
 Using this information regarding satisfaction and importance levels, segment
your customers into three categories: under-served, over-served, and served
right
  Determine which strategies you should use to target each of those customer
segments
Here are further explanations of customers segments:

 Under-Served – customers who have unmet needs and are willing to pay more
to get a job done better; you should offer a better-performing, more expensive
product
 Over-Served – customers who perceive existing products in an industry as
cost-prohibitive and inaccessible; you should offer a simpler, more accessible,
and less expensive product than current offerings
 Served Right – customers whose needs are sufficiently satisfied by products
and services in an industry; you should focus on related “jobs to be done”
 Non-Consumers – people whose current solutions don’t involve the market at
all, or who are not even attempting to get the job done as they cannot afford
any of the existing solutions.; you should offer a simpler, more accessible, and
less expensive product than current offerings
Source:

 Jobs to be Done: Theory to Practice

 Strategyn Home Page

TOWS Matrix
The TOWS Matrix is a more advanced version of the SWOT matrix, and it allows you
to combine internal and external factors with each other to develop new strategies.

TOWS Matrix Strategies:

 Strength-Opportunity Strategies – Use internal strengths to capitalize on

external opportunities
 Strength-Threat Strategies – Use internal strengths to avoid and minimize
external threats
 Weakness-Opportunity Strategies – improve internal weaknesses by using
external opportunities
 Weakness-Threat Strategies – avoid threats and minimize weaknesses; this is
purely a defensive position, and it is most often used when an organization is in
a bad position
Source:

 http://www.volunteerhub.com/blog/the-tows-matrix-putting-a-swot-analysis-
into-action/
Ansoff Matrix

Sometimes called the Product/Market Expansion Grid, the Ansoff Matrix shows you
four strategies you can use to grow your business. The matrix helps you to devise the
most suitable plan for your situation.

Four strategies are detailed:

 Diversification – introducing a new, unproven product into an entirely new

market that you may not fully understand; riskiest of the four options
 Market Development – introducing an existing product into an entirely new
market
 Product Development – introducing a new product into your existing market
 Market Penetration – expanding sales of your existing product in your
existing market: you know the product works, and the market holds few
surprises for you
Source:

 https://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newTMC_90.htm
The BCG Growth-Share
Matrix

The Boston Consulting group’s product portfolio matrix (BCG Matrix) is designed to
help a business consider growth opportunities by reviewing its portfolio of products to
decide what products in which to invest, what products to discontinue, and what
markets in which to develop products.

The quadrants in the BCG Matrix include the following:

  Stars – Products in high growth markets with high market share
 Cash Cows – Products in low growth markets with high market share
 Question Marks – Products in high growth markets with low market share
 Dogs – Products in low growth markets with low market share.
If information about market share percentage is lacking, you could create a matrix
comparing the growth rates of your products to the proceeding 12 months of sales.

Source:

 http://www.netmba.com/strategy/matrix/bcg/

Strategy Canvas
The strategy canvas captures the current strategic landscape and future prospects for a
company. It allows users to clearly see the factors that the industry competes on and
the factors that are being ignored. By reorienting a company towards the factors being
ignored, it can capture uncontested market space.

Source:

 https://www.blueoceanstrategy.com/tools/strategy-canvas/
Six Paths Framework

The Six Paths framework allows managers to look beyond the common restraints of
their industries for new opportunities.

The framework redirects your attention towards the following six tenets under the
Blue Ocean Strategy methodology:

 Looks across alternative industries

 Looks across strategic groups within industry
 Redefines the industry buyer group
 Looks across to complementary product and service offerings
 Rethinks the functional-emotional orientation of its industry
 Participates in shaping external trends over time
Source:

 https://www.blueoceanstrategy.com/tools/six-paths-framework/

Buyer Utility Map

The Buyer Utility Map identifies a full range of utilities that a product or service can
potentially adopt in a buyer’s experience cycle. It helps you to offer value in areas
typically not seen in your industry. The framework also helps to remove roadblocks
that stand in the way of converting noncustomers into customers.

Sources:

 https://www.blueoceanstrategy.com/tools/buyer-utility-map/

Game Theory
Game theory is the study of mathematical models of conflict and cooperation between
intelligent and rational decision-makers. Game theory is often used in economics,
political science, and psychology.

In simplistic terms, the Game Thoery is based on the following principles:

 Dominant Strategy – leads to the best possible outcome available. Players will
choose the dominant strategy regardless of what the other player does because
it’s within reach and it offers the biggest available payoff.
 Nash Equilibrium – a stable state of a system involving the interaction of
various participants, in which a participant will experience negative results if
they change their current strategy while other players continue their current
strategies. Simply put, in a Nash Equilibrium, players benefit more by
continuing what they’re doing as long as other players also continue what
they’re doing.
Sources:

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Game_theory
 http://www2.owen.vanderbilt.edu/lukefroeb/2003/mgt722/topics/game/game.ht
ml
Gap Analysis

Under the Gap Analysis framework, performance gaps are identified by these
scenarios:

 The point between where you are now and where you want to be
 The point between where you are headed if you continue with your usual
actions and where you want to be
The challenge is to develop a strategy and action plan to alter your current and
predetermined trajectory. The starting point of this process often involves determining
the root causes of a performance gap.

Sources:

 http://www.learnmarketing.net/Gapanalysis.html
 http://www.buzzanalysis.com/2016/07/31/gap-analysis-what-and-how-all-you-
need-to-know/

Three Tiers of Non-

Customers

According to Three Tiers of Noncustomers framework, companies can fall into the
trap of targeting markets that are too small and niched. It can be more beneficial to
look outside one’s typical target market and aim to attract noncustomers.

There are three tiers of noncustomers that differ in their distance from a current
market:

 First Tier of Noncustomers – they are closest to the target market and they’re
on the verge of abandoning the industry altogether.
 Second Tier of Noncustomers – people who refuse to use an industry’s
offering after evaluating the products
 Third Tier of Noncustomers – they are farthest from the target market and
they are people who have never considered a market’s offering as an option
All of these noncustomers will not convert until there is a considerable leap in value
in factors that are important to them; traditionally, those factors are ignored by
incumbents in an industry. Companies should seek to understand the key
commonalities across these noncustomers and existing customers. After identifying
the commonalities, companies should develop strategies to attract those noncustomers
into their market.

Source:

 https://www.blueoceanstrategy.com/tools/three-tiers-of-noncustomers/

Business Model Canvas

The Business Model Canvas helps you develop and analyze the possibilities of new
startup ideas and growth opportunities of existing businesses.

The Business Model Canvas consists of nine business model building blocks:

1. Infrastructure

 Key Activities: The most important activities in executing a company’s value

proposition.
 Key Resources: The resources that are necessary to create value for the
customer.
 Partner Network: Buyer-supplier relationships the organization cultivates so it
can focus on its core activity.

2. Offering

 Value Propositions: The collection of products and services a business offers to

meet the needs of its customers.

3. Customers

 Customer Segments: The customers the company is trying to serve.

 Channels: How the company delivers its value proposition to its targeted
customers.
 Customer Relationships: The type of relationships a business wants to create
with its customer segments.
 Cost Structure: The most important monetary consequences while operating
under different business models.
 Revenue Streams: The way a company makes income from each customer
segment.
Sources:

 https://strategyzer.com/canvas/business-model-canvas
 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Business_Model_Canvas

Competitive Analysis Matrix

The Competitive Profile Matrix is an analytical tool that helps you establish your
company’s competitive advantage in an easy to use and read format. At one glance,
you will be able to see your company’s competitive landscape, your position in a
given market, and possible opportunities to differentiate your company’s products and
services from the competition.

Sources:

 https://www.allbusiness.com/the-competitive-matrix-analysis-12278078-1.html
 http://articles.bplans.com/develop-competitive-matrix-plan-pitch/
 https://ilektrarachovitsa.wikispaces.com/Competitive+Matrix
 http://www.webpronews.com/mspot-we-have-the-holy-grail-of-mobile-movies-
2011-08/

GE-McKinsey Nine-Box
Matrix

GE-McKinsey Nine-Box Matrix is a strategy tool that offers a systematic approach

for the multi-business corporation to prioritize its investments among its business
units.

This nine-box matrix plots the business units on its nine cells that indicate whether the
company should:
  Invest in a product
 Harvest or divest a product
The business units are evaluated on two axes:

 Industry attractiveness
 Business unit strength
Various factors under industry attractiveness and business unit strength determine to
what degree a company should invest or divest a business unit.

Sources:

 http://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/strategy-and-corporate-
finance/our-insights/enduring-ideas-the-ge-and-mckinsey-nine-box-matrix
 https://www.strategicmanagementinsight.com/tools/ge-mckinsey-matrix.html
 http://www.quickmba.com/strategy/matrix/ge-mckinsey/

PESTLE Analysis
PESTLE Analysis is a simple and widely used tool that helps you analyze the
following trends in your business’s external environment:

 Political
 Economical
 Social
  Technological
 Legal
 Environmental
This framework helps you understand the “big picture” forces of change that are most
pertinent to your business. Additionally, it helps you take advantage of the
opportunities that these forces of change present.

19 Traction Channels

The 19 Traction Channels is a collection of marketing channels that can help you
reach potential customers and grow your business.

The 19 Traction Channels include:

1. Targeting Blogs
2. Publicity
 3. Unconventional PR
4. Search Engine Marketing
5. Social and Display Ads
6. Offline Ads
7. Search Engine Optimization
8. Content Marketing
9. Email Marketing
10. Viral Marketing
11. Engineering as Marketing
12. Business Development
13. Sales
14. Affiliate Programs
15. Existing Platforms
16. Trade Shows
17. Offline Events
18. Speaking Engagements
19. Community Building
The framework recommends that you narrow down most of your efforts to three
traction channels that are most likely to generate results. Sometimes centering on one
traction channel at a time can give you the focus you need to optimize your results.

Sources:

 https://medium.com/@yegg/the-19-channels-you-can-use-to-get-traction-
93c762d19339#.xy9f5mb9b
 http://tractionbook.com/
 https://www.pinterest.com/pin/311522499202577868/

Innovation Project Charter

The Innovation Project Charter helps team members and stakeholders
comprehensively define a project. Furthermore, it helps you manage the risks
associated with a project. Because of the unique factors it considers, it is, in many
ways, more advantageous than a standard project charter.

The issues that the Innovation Project Charter considers include:

 Business Case
 Job Statement
 Customers
 Unmet Outcome Expectations
 Competing Solutions
 Key Assumptions to be Tested
 Expected Financial Impact
 Milestones/Timeline
 Project Investments
 Team
Sources:

 http://www.innovatorstoolkit.com/exhibit12.1
 http://innovatorstoolkit.com/sites/innovatorstoolkit.com/files/Project_Charter_1
0-1.pdf
 http://bmgi.org/tools-templates/innovation-project-charter

S-Curves Pattern of
Innovation
The S-Curve Pattern of Innovation highlights the fact that as an industry, product, or
business model evolves over time, the profits generated by it gradually rise until the
decline stage. As a product approaches its decline stage, a business should ensure that
it has new offerings in place to capture future profit opportunities. These new products
are often upgraded or related versions of products approaching the decline stages of
their S-Curves.

Price Corridor of the Mass

According to the Price Corridor of the Mass framework, the key to determining the
strategic price of a product or service is to understand the price sensitivities of buyers
who will be comparing your new offering with a host of products and services offered
outside your group of traditional competitors.

You should consider offerings that are beyond your industry’s traditional boundaries
when identifying the strategic price of an offering. Notably, you should be aware of
competing products and services that take different forms but perform the same
function. For example, if your product entertains, be aware of competing offerings
that also entertain to which your target market would be attracted. Other examples of
functions that competing offerings could perform include causing a physical effect,
helping one lose weight, educating on a particular subject, providing inspiration,
providing monetary results, etc.

You should also determine how high or low the strategic price should be without
inviting imitation from competition. A company must consider two sets of factors:

 The level of legal and resource protection the new offering has to block
imitation (Examples: patents, trademarks, etc.)
 The degree to which the company owns some exclusive asset or core capability
that can also block imitation. (Example: hard-to-imitate service capabilities)
The higher the level of protection against imitation, the higher the strategic price can
be within the price range that attracts the mass of target buyers.
Source:

 https://www.blueoceanstrategy.com/tools/price-corridor-mass/

Decision Trees

A decision tree is a schematic, tree-shaped diagram used to determine a course of

action or show a statistical probability of an outcome. Each branch of the decision tree
represents a possible decision, occurrence, or reaction. The tree is structured to show
how and why one choice may lead to the next, with the use of the branches indicating
that each option is mutually exclusive.

Sources:
  http://www.designorate.com/decision-trees-decision-making-process/
 http://www.investopedia.com/terms/d/decision-tree.asp
 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decision_tree

The McKinsey 7-S

Framework

McKinsey 7s model is a tool that analyzes a firm’s organizational design by looking

at seven key internal elements to identify if they are effectively aligned and allow an
organization to achieve its objectives.

The elements include:

 Strategy
 Structure
 Systems
 Shared Values
  Style
 Staff
 Skills
The key is to find out which elements need to be changed to achieve your objectives.

Sources:

 https://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newSTR_91.htm
 http://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/strategy-and-corporate-
finance/our-insights/enduring-ideas-the-7-s-framework
 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McKinsey_7S_Framework
 https://www.strategicmanagementinsight.com/tools/mckinsey-7s-model-
framework.html