Three stages: Situational → Fulcrum → Solution
Tap any step, or a stage heading, to expand a short explanation in plain language. Tap again to collapse.
Sets up the analysis before evidence gathering begins: the company, the strategic question, and the boundaries of the study.
Assesses the firm’s external environment. It maps the market into strategic groups, applies the competitive forces analysis, and places the firm on the generic strategy grid. Together these indicate the intensity of rivalry and whether the firm’s position is differentiated.
Source: the Framework (Boardman, Shapiro & Vining, 2004).Documents the strategy the firm is following today, the strategy under examination. It records how the firm competes and how it captures value, so later stages can test whether that approach still earns its cost of capital.
Source: the Framework (Boardman, Shapiro & Vining, 2004).Assesses the firm itself: its resources and capabilities, and whether they convert into competitive advantage. It distinguishes genuine strengths from capable resources that are not yet producing an advantage.
Source: the Framework (Boardman, Shapiro & Vining, 2004).External ⇄ Current Strategy ⇄ Internal: each analysis informs, and is informed by, the current strategy.
Tests whether the current strategy is producing results. Weak or declining performance, and in particular a falling ability to win new customers, suggests the strategy is not translating into sustainable returns.
Source: the Framework (Boardman, Shapiro & Vining, 2004).The pivot of the Framework: a judgement of whether the firm holds a position defensible enough to earn returns above its cost of capital. A narrow or shallow position may prove a model in one niche without being able to sustain the whole business.
Source: the Framework (Boardman, Shapiro & Vining, 2004); Six Drivers hub.Turns the diagnosis into a set of concrete strategic options to evaluate, rather than committing to a single answer chosen in advance.
Source: the Framework (Boardman, Shapiro & Vining, 2004).The standard each alternative is measured against: above all, the requirement to earn returns above the cost of capital. In the original figure, a dashed line marks that these criteria follow from the Fulcrum judgement.
Source: the Framework (Boardman, Shapiro & Vining, 2004); Six Drivers hub (returns above the cost of capital).Each alternative is tested against the goals and the available evidence, and modelled financially, before any of them is recommended. This is where discounted cash flow analysis and similar methods quantify the likely effect of each option.
Source: the Framework (Boardman, Shapiro & Vining, 2004).Stress tests the alternatives across different assumptions and funding paths, so the recommendation holds up under conditions other than the expected case.
Source: the Framework (Boardman, Shapiro & Vining, 2004).Goals & Evaluation Criteria and Scenario Analysis both feed into Impact & Evaluation.
The single strategy the analysis converges on, supported by the evidence gathered at each stage. It identifies the move, or the small number of moves, most likely to shift the firm toward returns above its cost of capital.
Source: the Framework (Boardman, Shapiro & Vining, 2004); Six Drivers hub.Redrawn in Authgnosis styling. Adapted from Anthony E. Boardman, Daniel M. Shapiro & Aidan R. Vining, “A Framework for Comprehensive Strategic Analysis,” Journal of Strategic Management Education 1(2), 2004. Synopses describe each element of the Framework in general terms, as Marissa Wright presents it in The Six Drivers That Drive Business Growth.