Business Strategy & Planning Best Practices – Free Online & Digital Processes, Tools & Templates

A 2×2 Matrix is a tool that can be used to think about the relationships between two different variables. In business strategy, two variables are typically selected that intersect that allow for an understanding of four unique dimensions related to each quadrant of the related 2×2 matrix.Read More »

An ADL Matrix is a strategy that can be used to help an organization understand its competitive position in the market. To effectively use this matrix, senior leaders need to consider: 1) the amount of influence the organization has in the market, and 2) the age of the industry. The various combinations of these two factors produce a matrix that will indicate where the company sits.Read More »

An Affinity Diagram is a tool and technique widely used in organizations that solicits and categorizes a large set of seemingly disparate ideas identified during a brainstorming session into natural groupings.Learn More »

Baker’s 4 Strategies of Influence are four different persuasion methods that can be used for a variety of purposes. Baker’s strategies are broken down into two main styles and two approaches. Push styles are more assertive methods for proving a point. By contrast, pull styles involve using more subtle persuasion tactics.Learn More »

A Balanced Scorecard is a model that summarizes an organization’s high-level strategic goals, initiatives designed to reach those goals, and metrics, or key performance indicators, that monitor success over time, and shows how they are connected to the mission, vision, and core values of the organization. It is a strategic planning tool used ubiquitously in organizational management that clearly and concisely communicates what the organization has set out to achieve and how it proposes to do it.

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Benchmarking is the process of comparing an organizations performance to those of the top standards in the industry, which can be another organization within the industry or an organization in another industry that operates at the level that the industry is hoping to achieve.

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When the market has reached a peak, organizations create strategies to remain competitive in the mature environment. A Blue Ocean Strategy takes a slightly different approach by providing a means for an organization to create a new market that is completely devoid of competition.

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The Bowman Strategy Clock is a powerful strategy positioning tool used to gather information on a company’s market position relative to the competition. Bowman’s Strategy Clock shows how product positioning is based on two dimensions: price and perceived value.Learn More »

The Build-Measure-Learn Feedback Loop is a process that translates potentially risky ideas or strategies that top management is not completely certain about into beneficial knowledge that can be used to promote progress in the organization.Learn More »

The Business Model Canvas is a template for developing a new business model or clarifying the elements of an existing business model. It is a “canvas” or chart that describes a firm’s value proposition, infrastructure, partnerships, value proposition, customers, finances and other strategic and operational dimensions of the business.Learn More »

The CAGE Distance Framework identifies Cultural, Administrative, Geographic and Economic (CAGE) differences or distances between countries that companies should address when crafting international strategies. It was developed to offer businesses a way to evaluate countries in terms of the “distances” between them.Learn More »

Competitive Analysis is the process of identifying your company’s competitors and evaluating their strategies in order to reveal their relative strengths and weaknesses and discover opportunities for how to position your company to achieve competitive advantage.

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Competitive Landscape Analysis is an investigation that is completed when an organization is interested in knowing who their competitors are and their relative position in the market. More than just identifying competition, a Competitive Landscape Analysis involves determining the strengths and weaknesses of the competition as well as their strategies, services, products and change management plans.Learn More »

Contingency Planning is a methodical and systematic process for preparing for and developing a course of action in the face of unexpected events that can adversely impact your business.

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Core Competence Analysis is the process of identifying a company’s fundamental strengths and attributes that are unique and serve to differentiate it from its competitors, as well as how to capitalize on these core capabilities to build sustained competitive advantage. To be a true core competency, it must be relevant to the needs of customers such that they are strongly compelled to purchase your product or service, it must be difficult for competitors to imitate, and it must be applicable to a wide variety of potential markets accessible to the company.

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Critical Success Factors are the core actions that underlie an organization’s strategic objectives that must be accomplished at the highest level possible in order to achieve the overall goals and mission of the organization.

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Discovery Driven Planning is a business process tool that distinguishes between traditional business planning and the planning required for new business ventures. Whereas traditional planning processes focus on clear goals with specific projections, Discovery Driven Planning can be used for internal corporate ventures and start-ups where the future is highly uncertain and contains many assumptions.

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Economic Value Added (EVA), which can also be referred to as Economic Profit, is the measure of a company’s financial performance based on its residual wealth. The residual wealth is calculated by deducting its cost of capital from its operating profit, adjusted for taxes on a cash basis.Learn More »

The First Mover Advantage describes the dominant position held by the organization who puts a product or service on the market before their competitors. Advantage is achieved because the organization is able to establish themselves as the originator of the product or service and  institute customer loyalty before competitors enter the marketplace.Learn More »

The Five Forces Model, also called Porter’s Five Forces Framework, is a tool for analyzing a business’ competition and competitive environment. The model looks at five forces within any industry to determine the state of the competitive the environment and as a result, the implications for how profitable the industry could be and business strategies for driving success.

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Force Field Analysis is a framework for analyzing and responding to the positive and negative factors that impact a business situation, strategic issue, or business opportunity.

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Gap Analysis is a method of determining how an organization’s current state differs from its desired future state and the steps it needs to take to achieve desired performance results.

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The GE McKinsey 9-Box Matrix is a tool that can be used by an organization to prioritize investment among business units. More specifically, the GE McKinsey 9-Box Matrix offers a systematic approach to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of a business unit along two dimensions: how attractive the unit is and the unit’s competitive strength within the industry.Learn More »

A Go To Market Strategy is a strategic plan that organizations use to outline how they will bring a new product, service, or business model to market. This strategy is created with the intention of attaining competitive advantage in the industry by improving the overall product experience of the customer (e.g., reasonable price, high quality materials, etc.).Learn More »

Hambrick & Frederickson’s Strategy Diamond clearly outlines an organization’s plan for growth. Specifically, this model is an organizational tool that includes all the important information for the organization’s strategy. Using the information that is included in the diamond, business leaders will be sure they are considering all the important details when making decisions.Learn More »

The Hedgehog Model is a corporate leadership concept outlined in Jim Collins’ 2001 book called Good to Great. The idea stems from an ancient Greek poem in which a cunning fox tries and continually fails to eat a hedgehog who is always able to escape at the last moment by rolling into a ball. Collins describes how companies who are more like the hedgehog are more likely to succeed, because they focus on one thing and do that one thing well.Learn More »

The Hook Model of Behavioral Design helps product manufacturers design products that create habit-forming behavior in users via a looping cycle that consists of the following four steps: Trigger, Action, Variable Reward and Continued Investment.Learn More »

The Hoshin Planning System is a seven-step procedure that outlines how to implement business strategy. More specifically, this system aims to align the goals that the organization is trying to achieve with its strategy and the resources that are available within the company.Learn More »

Kay’s Distinctive Capabilities Framework is a strategy that outlines a way for an organization to highlight its unique features (or distinctive capabilities) that give the organization its competitive advantage. This helps the company to be more prominent in the industry and beat its competitors.Learn More »

Key Outcome Indicators help measure the overall performance and success of an organization. Many companies use Key Outcome Indicators across departments to measure the success of specific groups and the organization as a whole.Learn More »

Kotler’s Five Product Levels Model provides a way to show the different levels of need customers have for a product, such as: Core benefit, Generic Product, Expected Product, Augmented Product and Potential Product.Learn More »

Kotler’s Pricing Strategies, also know at the Nine Quality-Pricing Strategy, consists of a matrix of nine pricing options. The goal is the assist companies to position products based on their perceived place in the market relative to the competition. This model relates pricing to the quality delivered.Learn More »

Lafley & Martin’s Five Step Strategy Model requires a thorough understanding of the organization as well as the industry it resides in. This is because this model involves answering a series of questions which are designed to break business down into five options to be successful.Learn More »

The McKinsey 7S Model has stood the test of time as a framework to ensure that all parts of an organization work in harmony. The most common uses of the framework are to facilitate organizational change, implement a new strategy, identify areas that may change in the future, and to facilitate the merger of organizations.Learn More »

McKinsey’s Seven Degrees of Freedom for Growth is a strategy tool that helps companies realize the strategic opportunities to grow.Learn More »

Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) is a general term used to describe the consolidation of companies by various means, such as mergers, acquisitions, tender offers, consolidations, purchase of assets or management acquisitions.Learn More »

A Mission Statement defines the fundamental purpose for why a company exists and may include aspects of the organization’s scope and values.

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Mullin’s Seven Domains Model was created for entrepreneurs interested in starting their own business as well as being a helpful guide for companies working to decide whether to pursue new products.Learn More »

The OGSM Framework is a method that helps to guide organizations from the planning to the implementation phase of the business strategy development process. OGSM is an acronym that stands for Objective, Goals, Strategies, and Measures.Learn More »

Ohmae’s 3 C’s Model focuses on 3 key success factors, namely The Corporation, The Consumer and The Competition, which form a strategic triangle. The 3 factors must be in balance for a business to have sustainable competitive advantage.Learn More »

Partner Relationship Management (PRM) is a term used for the strategies employed to streamline business practices between companies and the partners help develop, distribute or sell their products and services. Partner Relationship Management systems often include software that is cloud-based and contains tools that allow partners to manage revenue, sales metrics, and leads.Learn More »

PEST Analysis is a standard business practice of evaluating the Political, Economic, Social, and Technological dimensions that can impact your organization and its markets. Its purpose is to identify potential threats and opportunities coming from the external environment over which the organization has no control but must anticipate when making strategic decisions.

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A PESTLE Analysis is a tool used to analyze the outside influences on a potential product, project or service prior to launching it. PESTLE is an acronym, an extension of a PEST Analysis, which stands for Political, Economic, Social, Technological, Legal and Environmental factors. When completed, it provides an overall picture of the external environment to help with strategic planning and decision-making.Learn More »

Porter’s Diamond explains the factors that influence how competitive an industry in one country would be internationally. This model specifically names firm strategy, structure & rivalry, factor conditions, demand conditions, and related and supporting industries that might be specific to one country as conditions that differentially exist in certain countries and not others.Learn More »

Portfolio Management centralizes the management of all projects across an organization and their associated components, such as goals, resources, staffing, timeline, and budgets. Portfolio Management provides a high-level overview of the business’ projects and requirements, which allows managers to more effectively prioritize and implement upcoming projects based on ROI, risk factors, and strategic fit. In its broadest sense, Portfolio Management can be applied to any set of projects, but it is most often applied to business strategy and new product innovation management.

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The Purpose Statement defines the basic customer needs the organization exists to fulfill. Not associated with a definitive end point, time frame, or deadline, Purpose Statements essentially answer the question “what business are we in?” in a broad yet focused way.

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The Pyramid of Purpose is a strategic tool that can be used to plan and effectively communicate a business strategy across all levels of an organization. Each level of the pyramid represents a different question about the strategy that an employee could ask.Learn More »

Scenario Planning is a process for businesses to think about and plan for the future. Also known as scenario development or scenario analysis, the process typically involves identify external trends and disruptors, exploring how the future could unfold, what the consequences would be for the business, and how to respond.

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Simonson and Rosen’s Influence Mix is a tool to help marketers think about the impact of social media sites on customers’ purchasing decisions, in order to help them develop a successful marketing strategy.Learn More »

SMART Performance Metrics is a tool used to create criteria to help improve the chances of an organization’s business success. It is an acronym that many businesses use for different purposes, from goal-setting to performance reviews to evaluating innovation.Learn More »

SMART(ER) Goals stands for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-Bound, Evaluate and Re-Do. Setting SMART(ER) Goals helps to clarify ideas, focus individual or team efforts and efficiently use time and resources.Learn More »

SOAR stands for strengths, opportunities, aspirations and results and is a strategic planning tool used as an alternative to a SWOT analysis. It uses “appreciative inquiry” principles to identify an organization’s strengths, opportunities, and ambitions and reframes the negative connotations associated with weaknesses and threats included in a SWOT analysis to avoid resistance and mobilize commitment towards the organization’s desired future state.

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Strategic Goals are the high-level, overarching objectives that an organization sets out to achieve over a set timeframe. They articulate what the organization plans to do to fulfill its mission and vision, and they form the foundation for designing and implementing strategic initiatives, which are the actual projects and programs that get implemented in service of accomplishing the Strategic Goals.

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A Strategy Map is a clear visual representation of the major strategic objectives of an organization, usually based on a framework or model like the balanced scorecard. This representation is useful for communicating the organization’s strategy in a digestible way to employees at all levels of the organization.Learn More »

A Strategy Roadmap, also known as a Strategic Roadmap, is a visual depiction of where the organization currently is and where it would like to go in the future, including a plan to get from the current to the desired state.Learn More »

A Strategy Uncertainty Map is a model that is used to navigate uncertain situations inevitably encountered during the strategy or innovation process. The uncertainty map explains why uncertainty occurs, how it will change throughout the strategy or innovation process, and how project leaders can harness uncertainty to make the most informed decisions.Learn More »

SWOT Analysis is a strategic planning tool that explores an organization’s internal and external environment, including strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats.

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The TOWS Matrix is a tool that can be used to compare and contrast different strategies to select the best one for the organization. The matrix breaks down the strategies according to internal (Strengths and Weaknesses) and external (Opportunities and Threats) factors.Learn More »

The Triple Bottom Line is a framework for measuring an organization’s performance along three dimensions: people, planet, and profit, or the “3 Ps.” A theory of corporate social responsibility, businesses that employ the Triple Bottom Line take responsibility for the impact they have on people and the planet, not solely focus on profits, by making the well-being of their employees, communities, and the environment a core component of its strategy and vision for long-term sustainability.

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The Unique Selling Proposition or USP Analysis is a strategy that is implemented to highlight the special features of a product that is marketed to the organization’s clients. Specifically, this analysis focuses on the product’s elements that distinguish the organization from competitors in the industry.Learn More »

Value Chain Analysis is a method that can be used to identify all the tasks related to the creation and delivery of a product, service, or process. Value Chain Analysis process also helps determine the source of the organization’s competitive advantage.Learn More »

The Value Disciplines Model suggests that in order to be viable a business must be successful in three key areas: Customer Intimacy, Product Leadership, and Operational Excellence. In addition, if an organization wants to become a market leader, it must excel in one of these areas.Learn More »

The Value Net Model provides an alternative view of competition. That is, instead of viewing competition as an impediment to profits, competition can be viewed as a beneficial tool to the organization.Learn More »

Values Statements articulate an organization’s core beliefs and principles that drive performance and behavior. They contain the essential and enduring tenets of an organization.

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Vision Statements define and describe the vibrant future an organization wishes to create and achieve. The intention of a vision is to guide, inspire, and motivate people to reach the desired end state for the organization.

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VRIO Analysis is an internal corporate investigation method used to identify and evaluate resources, with the goal of increasing competitive advantage. VRIO is an acronym for four criteria that are important for a company to consider: Value, Rarity, Imitability, and Organization.Learn More »

Weisbord’s Six-Box Model was developed to uncover organizational issues that get overlooked by senior management. It provides a structured way for management to uncover issues without the task feeling too overwhelming.Learn More »