01 · Orientation
DECISION QUESTION
How to choose the markets, segments and positions in which an organisation must invest to create a defensible advantage?The pathway links framing, evidence, options and review conditions. It distinguishes strategy from the plan, the objective and the marketing mix.
UNDERSTAND
A marketing strategy is the coherent set of choices through which an organisation decides where it competes and how it wins there: which markets and customers to serve, what value to bring them better than the alternatives, which capabilities to rely on, and what it gives up to hold those choices.
It differs from the marketing plan, which organises execution with objectives, budgets and a schedule, and from the marketing mix, which sets the levers: offer, price, distribution and communication. A strategy is recognised by what it excludes: a list of intentions that gives up nothing is not yet a strategy.
In one sentence: choose where to play, how to win, and what you refuse to do.
Each step settles one question. The step title leads to its section, the links below it to the methods that inform it.
Which decision is to be made, by whom, by when and on what assumptions?
MethodsStrategic assumption
What is the market worth, and what does it cost to access it?
MethodsDefine the marketTAM, SAM, SOMPESTEL analysisPorter’s five forces
Who competes for the same customers, and who can block or speed up the choice?
Which strengths and weaknesses matter in the face of opportunities and threats?
Which groups of customers to serve first, and which to set aside?
MethodsNeeds-based segmentationCriteriaPrioritise segmentsSegmentation, targeting and positioning
What value to bring the target, better than the alternatives?
MethodsValue propositionDifferentiationCustomer value mapPorter’s generic strategies
By which path to grow, and which businesses to strengthen, keep or sell?
MethodsAnsoff matrixEnter a new marketBCG matrixGE–McKinsey matrix
Which option to retain, what to give up, and when to reopen the choice?
MethodsStrategic optionsDecision matrixPre-mortem and red teamStrategic scenarios
Simulated examples, built to show the form of a strategy; they describe no real company.
Each page describes the decision it informs, the data it needs, a grid to download and its limits.
Decisions supported
ORIGINAL ASSET
Rates six dimensions of the choice out of 10 and keeps the weakest, so that an average does not hide a critical flaw.
Decision reference
DECISION SUPPORTED
How to choose the markets, segments and positions in which an organisation must invest to create a defensible advantage?
ASSET TO USE
Integrity index of the choice system: Rates six dimensions of the choice out of 10 and keeps the weakest, so that an average does not hide a critical flaw.
NEXT ELEMENT TO EXAMINE
Strategic choiceExplore →A marketing strategy sets a playing field, a priority target, a distinctive value and a system of capabilities. It becomes verifiable when the options discarded, the resources committed and the reopening conditions are explicit.
Strategy chooses where to play and how to win. The plan then assigns objectives, owners, resources and timing. The marketing mix finally configures the offer, the price, the channels and the communication. A detailed schedule or a list of levers therefore does not replace the strategic choice.
Teaching example: a company can give up the mass market, target a segment for which service continuity is critical, defend a position based on reliability and invest in the activities that prove it. The choice must be reopened if the segment’s preference, the economics of the service or the operational capability falls below the defined threshold.
30 · ORIGINAL ASSET
A strategy is only as solid as its weakest dimension. The score therefore keeps the minimum, not an average that would hide a critical flaw.
Download the grid ↓Limiting factor: explicit renunciations.
Teaching case · simulated data · no real-world market conclusion.
Sources and foundations
MOVE FROM ANALYSIS TO YOUR DECISION
Go deeper
Move from the notion to its application, then to the decision that depends on it.
Unit, horizon and boundaries visible.
Source, date, method and confidence.
Weights and assumptions that tip the result.
Signal, threshold and owner.
MOVE FROM ANALYSIS TO YOUR DECISION
