Strategy Classics: BCG Growth-Share Matrix

Description
The BCG Growth-Share Matrix is a classic Strategy framework, developed by BCG's founder, Bruce Henderson, in the 1970s. This framework is designed to help with long-term Strategic Planning, to help a business consider growth opportunities by reviewing its portfolio of products to decide where to invest, to discontinue or develop products.

The BCG Matrix is extremely popular for Portfolio Management. In fact, in the 70s and 80s, approximately half of the Fortune 500 used this framework when making business investment decisions.

The framework is depicted as a 2x2 matrix, where the 2 axes represent Market Growth and Market Share. On this 2x2, we map the position of each business of a company's portfolio or compare the position of players in one industry.

There are 4 quadrants in the BCG Matrix, each with distinct cash flow characteristics and implications:

1. Cash Cow
2. Dog
3. Question Mark
4. Star

The BCG Matrix helps us assess the competitive position of each business, determine possible cash requirements, and focus our attention on key issues. Note that in today's rapidly changing Digital Age, market share is no longer as direct a predictor to business performance.

This deck also includes slide templates for you to use in your own business presentations.