What you’ll learn to do: show how common analytic tools are used to inform the organization’s strategy

When a company is developing its strategy, it is faced with a vast array of considerations and choices. It needs to take into account its resources and capabilities, the strength of existing customer relationships, the competitive landscape, the economic and legal environments, important societal trends—the list of inputs goes on and goes on. Then, based on that information, it must devise a plan—a strategy—that contains the best options for addressing the inputs. But which inputs are most important, and which options should be included in the strategy? To answer these questions, businesses have at their disposal a number of strategic planning tools that help to simplify, organize, and focus both the inputs and the possible strategy options. In this section you’ll learn about three: the SWOT analysis, the Boston Consulting Group matrix, and the strategic growth matrix.

The specific things you’ll learn in this section include:

• Conduct a SWOT analysis and describe how it informs the organization’s marketing strategy
• Explain how businesses use the Boston Consulting Group matrix to inform growth strategies
• Explain how businesses use the strategic growth matrix to inform growth strategies

Learning Activities

The learning activities for this section include the following:

• Reading: SWOT Analysis
• Reading: BCG Matrix
• Reading: Strategic Opportunity Matrix
• Self Check: Strategic Planning Tools