What are the best tools and frameworks for strategic analysis and decision making?

SWOT has been a great tool in allowing internal and client teams to distinguish the internal and external factors. By using the tool to focus on what can be impacted directly, marketing teams can then ideate toward solutions that mean the most to their end consumer.

In my experience it is difficult for most companies to be critical enough to identify weaknesses and threats. Understanding these key elements and thoughtfully analyzing these gaps can drive a whole list of actionable opportunities.

SWOT is a deceptively simple but powerful mindset that should be a recurring agenda discussion for top executives. Silicon Valley Bank (SVB), for example, should have forced themselves to talk about SWOT at every board meeting. It would have at least made their big risks be discussed regularly (e.g., interest rate spread risk, depositor under-insurance risk).

SWOT is a summary framework for current state assessments, taking stock of the organization's position in the context of the changing environment. With a SWOT in hand, prioritize which opportunities and weaknesses to address, and convert them to strategic options. For example, if there's an (opportunity) growth area in an emerging market, then a (strategic option) could be to enter that market by building from the ground up. Here's an example SWOT analysis prepared by an investment bank: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/84581/000095012310098228/b83165b83165z0008.gif

Do you think Yellow Cab looked at threat of new entrants or substitution as a viable threat to their business model? Uber and Lyft redefined the tired taxi market. As business leaders the question of how to we make ourselves obsolete needs to be exhausted.

The point of industry analysis is to understand the 1) underpinnings of competition and 2) root causes of profitability. This framework begins by defining the industry: ? What products / services are in it? Which ones are part of another distinct industry? ? What is the [geographic] scope of competition?

One potential gap that I have seen with the 5 Forces is government regulation or intervention. Porter doesn’t miss this, he just says it isn’t as important. I wonder if Airbnb would say that about NYC government? I wonder if other industries with the threat of anti-monopoly government action would say that? For example, startups in the social media or advertising space probably used to see acquisitions by Facebook and Google as likely exits. Now FB and Google have to worry about being scrutinized as monopolies before making acquisitions. They still happen. Just not as automatic.

Also add what are the others doing by way of agreements amongst them and those that are highest performing why? What are the drivers to explain.

A lighter lift for a more tactical audience can be a simple white space analysis mapping products and customers on opposing axes. Have found this helpful when the audience is primarily commercial.

While it always easier to sell existing products to existing customers this is not always the most profitable course of action. Whatever the course differentiation of either product or service is critical.

Weighting on the decision matrix is critical and seeking feedback from both internal and external resources will make the analysis more relevant.

Less can be more with a decision matrix. Beware of “false precision.” It can be easy to go down a rabbit hold of false precision in setting up weights and such. They are all imaginary so just make a best guess at a high level. If you are putting probabilities with anything other than a 0 (or maybe even a 5) as the last digit, you might be going for false precision.

Less can be more here too. If you have more than 7 or so scenarios, you might be going for false precision and spreading your analysis and discussion too thin. Of all potential scenarios, the handful of most likely and impactful ones should get the vast majority of your focus. Don’t chase the small stuff at the expense of really digging into the few most important scenarios.

There are two key criteria to rank strategic options: 1. Fit with brand and company strengths 2. ROI highest Risks must be mitigated and future opportunities maximized. These can be factored into ROI estimates.

Whilst good planning is essential, all can fail without flexibility in the light of changing conditions in an ever fluid environment (physical and economic, etc.).

Identify and understand the capabilities of the “players” in the “game” - leverage the Five Cs framework: company, collaborator/completed, customer, competitor, context. Assuming the perspective from the company (or consulting for the company), influence over the five Cs diminishes in that order. 1. Company a. How does the company make money? b. What competitive advantages do they have? (VRIO framework to determine industry parity, temporary, sustainable competitive advantage.) c. Why does the company exist (Golden Circle by Simon Sinek can function as a check or starting point to establish mission, values and purpose.) 2. Collaborator / Complementor a. Do partnerships “fill the hole” of company’s weakness? b. Identify complementors…

This article presents a very good introduction to the main strategy analysis frameworks out there. In my opinion, everyone should know and frequently refresh their organization or business SWOT analysis. That is the foundation and starting point, then expand the analysis with a thorough Porter’s 5 forces analysis and discussion. Lastly, the decision matrix is a fantastic and simple tool to truly get an objective assessment of the most valuable option based on the assigned criteria to each option or course of action.

It's interesting that all of these examples don't go deep on the customer. If customer insights fuel strategy, a good framework to adopt is Jobs to be Done. You've probably heard it before, but no one really talks about how to get there. I'll try to summarize below: 1. Segment your market using psychographics (and company attributes if you're B2B) 2. Understand pain points and motivators for different personas 3. Find the "value metrics" that are most important to them 4. Use the info above to outline their jobs to be done. The famous example is a McD's milkshake. People don't "hire" milkshakes because they need a milkshake, but because it satisfies their job: easy to hold and eat while driving.

These are good approaches. Others I have found very useful in my day to day work: - McKinsey Strategic Problem solving framework: great for identifying and clearly defining the real problem you are trying to solve, taking an issue tree or hypothesis driven approach to develop options, and then iterating solutions - Decisive - lighter touch approach developed by Chip and Dan Heath using WRAP process: Widening options, Reality-testing assumptions, Attaining distance and using different lenses to test proposed options, Preparing to be wrong and developing real alternative scenarios before making decisions