144Tools

Strategy Tools

Mapping Out Your Best Possible Direction

What is strategy? How do you decide what makes your business unique? How can you make sure your business is working in the most efficient and productive way?

These are just some of the questions you can explore. You can then look at how to put your strategy into action once you've developed it, how to prioritize so that the most important things get done, and how to manage suppliers and partners effectively.

Use our resources on marketing strategy to help you get the word out about your work. And our articles on quality can help make sure that your products and services are always the best they can be.

Browse Tools by Category

Start Here (4)

Core Strategy Tools (8)

Competitive Advantage (16)

Strategic Options (11)

Developing Your Strategy

Finding Your Path to Success

14
12 MIN READ
Porter's Generic Strategies

Choosing Your Route to Success

14
11 MIN READ
Bowman's Strategy Clock

Making Sense of Eight Competitive Positions

14
10 MIN READ
Blue Ocean Strategy

Leaving Your Competition far Behind

14
9 MIN READ
Scenario Analysis

Exploring Different Futures

14
8 MIN READ
Mintzberg's 5 Ps of Strategy

Improving the Robustness of Your Strategy

14
8 MIN READ
Understanding Game Theory

Using Reason to Predict Future Behavior

14
12 MIN READ
The Value Disciplines Model

Basing Strategy on Value

14
7 MIN READ
Value-Based Management

Managing for the Long Term by Maximizing Value, Not Profit

14
14 MIN READ
Disruptive Technologies

How to Capture a Market by Appealing to Neglected Customers

14
11 MIN READ
The Hedgehog Concept

Using the Power of Simplicity to Succeed

14
8 MIN READ

Organization Design (15)

Strategic Prioritization (13)

Executing Strategy (14)

The Business Motivation Model

Preparing a Resilient Business Plan

14
9 MIN READ
Mission Statements and Vision Statements

Unleashing the Power of Purpose

14
10 MIN READ
Practical Business Planning

How to Prepare for Success and Win Financial Support

14
14 MIN READ
Simons' Seven Strategy Questions

Improving the Implementation of Your Strategy

14
12 MIN READ
Pyramid of Purpose

Concisely Communicating Your Organization's Strategy

14
6 MIN READ
VMOST Analysis

Ensuring That Organizational Activities Deliver Your Vision of the Future

14
5 MIN READ
OGSM Frameworks

Making Your Strategy a Reality

14
7 MIN READ
The Hoshin Planning System

Steering Everyone in the Right Direction

14
8 MIN READ
The Balanced Scorecard

Looking Beyond Financials to Achieve Organizational Success

14
9 MIN READ
The Triple Bottom Line

Using the 3Ps to Measure Organizational Impact

14
10 MIN READ
10 Common Strategy Mistakes

Developing a Sustainable Strategy

14
15 MIN READ
Turnaround Management

Rescuing a Struggling Organization

14
13 MIN READ
Working With Funders

Building and Maintaining Positive Partnerships

14
8 MIN READ
Corporate Governance

Ensuring Organizational Accountability and Transparency

14
11 MIN READ

Sourcing and Purchasing Strategy (7)

The Outsourcing Decision Matrix

Improving "Buy-or-Make" Decision Making

14
6 MIN READ
Working With Outsourced Suppliers

Communication and Clear Expectations are Key

14
9 MIN READ
The Kraljic Portfolio Purchasing Model

Assessing Risk and Maximizing Profits

14
6 MIN READ
Procurement Management

Increasing the Strategic Value of Purchasing

14
10 MIN READ
Supplier Relationship Management (SRM)

How to Manage Your Suppliers Effectively

14
11 MIN READ
Words Used in... Outsourcing

14
11 MIN READ
Carter's 10 Cs of Supplier Evaluation

Evaluating Potential Suppliers

14
11 MIN READ

Marketing Strategy (32)

Simonson and Rosen's Influence Mix

Learn What Influences Customer Purchases

14
9 MIN READ
Creating a Social Media Strategy

Building a Strong Online Presence

14
16 MIN READ
The Hook Model of Behavioral Design

Creating Habit-Forming Products

14
11 MIN READ
Social Selling

Strengthening Customer Relationships Using Social Media

14
11 MIN READ
Developing Your Marketing Strategy

Connecting Products with Customers

14
9 MIN READ
The Marketing Mix and 4Ps

Understanding How to Position Your Market Offering

14
9 MIN READ
What Are Supply and Demand Curves?

Understanding How Quantity Effects Market Price

14
10 MIN READ
The 4S Web Marketing Mix

Considering Key Online Marketing Elements

14
7 MIN READ
Market Sizing

Estimating Product Potential

14
10 MIN READ
Empathy Mapping

Understanding Your Customers' Thoughts and Feelings

14
9 MIN READ
Market Segmentation

Identifying Your Different Target Markets

14
10 MIN READ
RFM Segmentation

Identifying Valuable Customers

14
9 MIN READ
Segmentation, Targeting and Positioning Model

What Is the STP Process in Marketing?

14
9 MIN READ
The Product Life Cycle

Understanding the Four Stages of a Product's Lifespan

14
8 MIN READ
What Is Content Marketing?

Make Powerful Connections With Customers

14
10 MIN READ
The Product Diffusion Curve

Matching Messages to Client Groups During a Product's Life

14
6 MIN READ
The Sales Funnel

Keeping Control of Your Sales Pipeline

14
5 MIN READ
How to Create Customer Journey Maps

See Your Business Through Your Customers' Eyes

14
11 MIN READ
What Is Business Ethnography?

Redefine Your Customer Relationships

14
12 MIN READ
Designing Future-State Customer Journeys

Planning the Ideal Experience for Your Customers

14
9 MIN READ
Perceptual Mapping

Understanding Customer Perceptions

14
10 MIN READ
The Brand Pyramid

Building Customer Loyalty

14
11 MIN READ
Kapferer's Brand Identity Prism

Identifying Your Brand's Voice

14
9 MIN READ
How to Build a Positive Corporate Brand Reputation

Making a Name for Your Organization

14
10 MIN READ
Using Focus Groups

Using Small Group Meetings to Collect Customer Views

14
9 MIN READ
The Marketing Research Mix

Planning an Effective Research Process

14
5 MIN READ
Developing Personas

Modeling Your Buyers to "Get Closer" to Them

14
13 MIN READ
The Ansoff Matrix

Understanding the Risks of Different Strategic Options

14
8 MIN READ
Customer Intimacy

Providing Lifetime Value to Your Customers

14
11 MIN READ
Keller's Brand Equity Model

Building a Powerful Brand

14
14 MIN READ
The Buy-Sell Hierarchy

Understanding Customer Relationships

14
8 MIN READ
Net Promoter® Score

Measuring Customer Loyalty With a Single Question

14
8 MIN READ

Manufacturing and Operations (15)

PDCA (Plan Do Check Act)

Continually Improving, in a Methodical Way

14
7 MIN READ
Lean Manufacturing

Working More Efficiently by Tackling Waste

14
8 MIN READ
Kaizen

Gaining the Benefits of Continuous Improvement

14
9 MIN READ
Creating Minimum Viable Products

Learning What Customers Really Want

14
12 MIN READ
Kanban

Creating Efficiency in the Workplace

14
7 MIN READ
The Product-Process Matrix

Using the Right Process for the Volume of Work You're Doing

14
9 MIN READ
Just in Time (JIT)

Reducing Inventory, Minimizing Waste, and Responding to Your Customers

14
7 MIN READ
The 5S System

Reducing Waste and Increasing Productivity

14
8 MIN READ
Business Process Reengineering

Using Radical Change to Improve Organizational Performance

14
9 MIN READ
Value Stream Mapping

Adding Value to Your Processes

14
13 MIN READ
Achieving Economies of Scale

Understanding Why Bigger Can Be Better

14
9 MIN READ
The Innovation Circle

A Process for Introducing New Products and Services

14
9 MIN READ
The RATER Model

Five Ways to Measure Service

14
6 MIN READ
The Theory of Constraints (TOC)

Strengthening Your "Weakest Link"

14
6 MIN READ
Green Management

10 Ways to Boost Your Business and Help the Planet

14
11 MIN READ

Quality Strategy (11)

Garvin's 8 Dimensions of Quality

Finding Out What Quality Means to Your Customer

14
8 MIN READ
How Good Is Your Customer Service?

Using the RATER Model to Improve Your Customer Service

14
20 MIN READ
Zero Defects

Improving Product Quality and Eliminating Waste

14
8 MIN READ
Crosby's 14 Steps for Improvement

Organizing Long Term Quality Improvement

14
10 MIN READ
Total Quality Management (TQM)

Delivering Quality at Every Level

14
8 MIN READ
Deming's 14-Point Philosophy

A Recipe for Total Quality

14
10 MIN READ
Six Sigma

Improving Quality Systematically

14
8 MIN READ
House of Quality

Building Customer Satisfaction Into New Products

14
12 MIN READ
The Benefits of Company Awards

Getting Recognized For the Right Reasons

14
9 MIN READ
Benchmarking

Comparing Your Performance With the Best

14
8 MIN READ
Critical to Quality (CTQ) Trees

Translating Broad Customer Needs Into Specific Requirements

14
7 MIN READ

Further Resources

Bite–Sized Training (4)

What Is Operations Management?

14
60 MIN READ
Better Processes

14
60 MIN READ
Essential Strategy

14
60 MIN READ
Marketing Essentials

14
60 MIN READ

Learning Streams (1)

Think Strategically Learning Stream

14
3 MIN READ

Book Insights (74)

Expert Interviews (28)

My Learning Plan

Save My Plan

Recently Added {{latestItems.length}}

{{item.rm_title_short}} {{item.pgr_name}}

My Learning Plan Page

Find Out More