Which brand strategy is recommended for a firm with rapid market growth and strong competitive position?

Following the tradition of previous strategic tools such as the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats matrix, the Grand Strategy Matrix is a relatively recent tool growing in popularity. Designed to help gain insight into strategic options depending on a business’s position and market growth, the Grand Strategy Matrix is a valuable analysis tool that can help businesses decide on their next move.

What Is the Grand Strategy Matrix?

The Grand Strategy Matrix is a tool that identifies several strategic options for companies depending on the strength of their competitive positions and the growth of their industries, the team at Lucidity writes. Broken into four quadrants by an x- and y-axis, each quadrant represents a combination of a company’s competitive position and growth of the market.

The x-axis represents the company’s competitive position, with the left side indicating weak competitiveness and the right indicating strong competitiveness. The y-axis represents market growth, with the top half indicating rapid growth and the lower half indicating slow growth.

Within each quadrant is a list of strategic options that could benefit a company depending on where they fall.

Rapid Market Growth Quadrants

Quadrant 1 is home to strong competitiveness and rapid market growth. According to the writers from Lucidity, strategic options for these companies include market and product development, market penetration, backward and forward integration, and concentric diversification.

Quadrant 2 is home to companies in a weak competitive position and a rapidly growing market. Companies in this situation may consider market and product development, market penetration, horizontal and vertical integration, liquidation and divestiture.

Slow Market Growth Quadrants

Quadrant 3 is within a weak competitive position amid slow market growth. Companies that find themselves here may consider retrenchment, related or unrelated diversification, conglomerate diversification, liquidation or divestiture.

This quadrant is not an advantageous position to be in, and companies should focus on ways they can improve their competitiveness to move into Quadrant 2.

Quadrant 4 is for companies in a strong competitive position within a slowly growing market. These companies should focus on related or unrelated diversification, horizontal or vertical diversification, conglomerate diversification and joint ventures to improve their position.

Grand Strategy Matrix Differences

The Grand Strategy Matrix is often compared to the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats, better known as the SWOT matrix. While both are matrices that present strategic options, SWOT is static compared to the dynamism of the Grand Strategy, the team from Welp Magazine writes.

Unlike SWOT, the Grand Strategy Matrix depicts a company’s life cycle as both its strength and the market fluctuate, making it a more generalized option available to companies without much modification necessary to fit their needs.

When used in tandem, both matrices can provide insights into leveraging certain strengths and opportunities, depending on a company’s competitiveness and market growth.

Grand Strategy Matrix Advantages and Disadvantages

The Grand Strategy Matrix visualizes the business life cycle within an industry. Company competitiveness and market growth fluctuate over time, causing companies to reassess their options regularly. The Grand Strategy Matrix also helps companies react realistically by revealing that certain growth might not be possible for a company in a particular situation.

Suppose a company is looking to enact a particular strategic option but realizes that option is located in the complete opposite quadrant from theirs. In that case, it can save the company from a decision that might make their situation worse.

The Grand Strategy Matrix, however, does not apply to all companies in all industries. The matrix does not include company size, which can make it difficult for small companies to gauge their position in a large market.

The name sounds impressive, but what is the Grand Strategy Matrix… 🎩

3 min read

The Grand Strategy Matrix is a newer strategic tool comparatively (decades younger than SWOT, ADL and co). It’s used to look through alternative strategies for companies and is gaining popularity since the launch in 2017.

What is the Grand Strategy Matrix?

The Grand Strategy Matrix charts two dimensions – the market growth vs the organisations competitive position. Each of the four quadrants has a number of strategic options and the framework is designed to assist you evaluate the potential direction you decide to move in as a business.

First Quadrant:

If your business is in this quadrant then you have a strong competitive position and the market is in rapid growth. Arguably this is the best quadrant to be in, with opportunity high and your position strong.

Second Quadrant:

If your business is in this quadrant then you have a relatively weak competitive situation as a business, but there’s a lot of opportunity to go for and a lot of success to be had within the market. The strategies in this position are all about why you’re not taking advantage of the position. If you’re placed in this quadrant then you know you can change to improve results.

Third Quadrant:

Being in the third quadrant means you have a weak competitive situation and the market is also quite slow. This is a tricky position because you’re already not doing well and there isn’t the huge opportunity that presents itself like the second quadrant. If you find yourself here you need to consider major changes to improve your competitive position, consider areas such as cost reduction, differentiation or diversification.

Fourth Quadrant:

If you’re placed within the fourth quadrant you have a strong competitive situation, which is great, but your market is slow to grow or in decline. This lends itself to strategies such as diversification as you have the funds to innovate in numerous areas before the market decline becomes unsustainable. Watch out for cheaper competitors entering the market to attack you as the leader.

What are the strategies in the Grand Strategy Matrix?

Strong Market Position + Strong Market Growth Strategies:

• Market Development
• Product Development
• Market Penetration
• Backward Integration
• Forward Integration
• Concentric Diversification

Weak Market Position + Strong Market Growth Strategies:

• Market Development
• Product Development
• Market Penetration
• Horizontal/Vertical Integration
• Liquidation
• Divestiture

Weak Market Positioning + Weak Market Growth Strategies:

• Related / Unrelated Diversification
• Conglomerate Diversification
• Retrenchment
• Liquidation

Strong Market Positing + Weak Market Growth Strategies:

• Related / Unrelated Diversification
• Horizontal / Vertical Diversification
• Joint Ventures
• Conglomerate Diversification

What are the advantages of the Grand Strategy Matrix?

The Grand Strategy Matrix has a number of advantages:

• It’s simple to use and understand
• It has a comprehensive list of strategic options
• It can stimulate discussion and help frame decisions
• It can be applied to any industry or marketplace

What are the limitations of the Grand Strategy Matrix?

There are some limitations such as:

• It only provides options rather than success criteria around them
• You need to use it with other tools
• The matrix is simplistic so loses some nuance
• Your business may operate in multiple quadrants if you have many products or services

The Grand Strategy Matrix is a tool to chart the position of a product or company within a market, much like the ADL Matrix, and select certain strategies, similar to the Strategy Clock or Generic Strategies.

What preparation should be done before using a Grand Strategy Matrix?

You’ll need to understand your current performance within a market and the trajectory of that market in order to correctly position yourselves on the Grand Strategy Matrix.

How often should a company use the Grand Strategy Matrix?

Whenever a company is assessing their strategic options, the Grand Strategy Matrix can be used to generate discussion and options.

Which brand strategy is recommended for a firm with rapid market growth and a strong competitive position?

Which grand strategy is recommended for a firm with rapid market growth and a strong competitive position Mcq?

When a company has a weak strategic position and rapid market growth what strategy is most suitable?

Which matrix is based on the two evaluative dimensions of competitive position and market industry growth?