Companies operating in diverse environments should be developing their strategies in markedly different ways. But all too often, they are not. Research featured in Harvard Business Review shows how companies can gain an edge by matching their approach to strategy to the conditions of their industry, business function, or geographic market.
Read the full articleThe strategy palette proposes five distinct approaches to strategy, helping leaders to match their approach to their business environment and execute effectively, combine different approaches, and animate the strategic collage of approaches.
Classical Strategy
Classical strategy is based on achieving sustainable competitive advantage by positioning a firm optimally in an attractive market.
Adaptive Strategy
Unlike the classical approach of sustainable competitive advantage, an adaptive approach to strategy rests on the idea of serial temporary advantage.
Visionary Strategy
Rare but incredibly effective, a visionary approach empowers a firm to create or recreate an industry with some degree of predictability by seeing an opportunity and pursuing it single-mindedly.
Explore the history of strategic approaches and frameworks in this interactive.
by Martin Reeves, Knut Haanæs, and Janmejaya Sinha
This new book from BCG’s Strategy Lab cuts through the clutter of strategy frameworks and provides clarity on which approach to strategy and execution—or which combination of approaches—is the best bet in each environment.
Managing Director & Senior Partner, Chairman of the BCG Henderson Institute
San Francisco - Bay Area
Senior Advisor
Geneva
Chairman, India
Mumbai
Download Our App and See the Strategy Palette Come to Life
The Your Strategy Needs a Strategy iPad app and workshop revolves around the strategy palette’s five different approaches to strategy. Building on the book, the app simulates the five business environments through the example of selling lemonade in New York City’s five boroughs. It’s a competition, and putting the right skills to use will give you the advantage as you contend against BCG Founder Bruce Henderson, who knows what it takes to win in each environment. Download the app to find out if you have the strategy it takes to beat him. To schedule an app workshop with your organization, please contact bhi@bcg.com.
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Unternehmen benötigen eine bessere Art, Strategien zu entwickeln und zu implementieren, die der Realität auf dem Markt ebenso wie dem spezifischen, von ihnen gewählten Ansatz entspricht.
A complex world needs multiple kinds of strategies—and strategists. Understanding the specific brain mechanisms that underpin strategic skills can help companies better assess, source, match, and deploy the right talent against specific strategic challenges. In our recent collaboration with pymetrics we studied the relationship between strategy and neuroscience, using games as a vehicle for skill measurement and development.
Your Strategy Needs a Strategy Educator’s Resources: Illustrative Uses for Teaching, Harvard Business Review
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In this TED talk, Reeves advocates transitioning from relying on a single "classical" approach to strategy and moving toward a more tailored approach to strategy and execution, selecting from five distinct patterns of success.
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Understanding the principles that confer robustness in complex systems—such as tropical forests, stock markets, and even companies—can mean the difference between survival and extinction.
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In the 1970s and 80s, nearly half the Fortune 500 are reported to have used BCG’s growth share matrix to design and operate their strategies. Today, technology is transforming every facet of the business experience. The question arises: Is the growth share matrix still relevant?
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The professor of war studies discusses the relevance of strategy in today’s increasingly dynamic world and where the next big advances in strategy will come from.
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