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✦STRATEGIC RESEARCH & ANALYSIS

Choose the right analysis framework

Select a practical framework for the market, company or decision you need to understand.

44 DECISION-SUPPORT FRAMEWORKS

Start with the decision, then choose the framework.

Tell us what you are deciding, which market or company matters, and what evidence you already have. You can request one framework or combine a few when they answer different parts of the question.

Which analysis fits your decision?

  • Entering a market: examine competition and supplier or buyer pressure with Five Forces; use PESTLE for wider political, economic and regulatory conditions.
  • Comparing companies: define a consistent set of products, markets and measures before benchmarking. Different reporting periods can make a comparison misleading.
  • Prioritising actions: a SWOT summary can organise findings, but each point needs evidence and a link to the decision.

For example, “Should we sell kitchen products through independent U.S. retailers?” is more useful than “Analyse retail.” Include the product, customer, geography and time horizon.

Frameworks organise evidence; they do not fill gaps in private-company data or guarantee a forecast. We will confirm scope and the information available before the analysis begins.

20 tools

Industry Analysis Tools

Evaluate market structure, opportunity, risk, technology and geographic potential.

01

Porter’s Five Forces Analysis

Examines competitors, new entrants, substitutes, suppliers and buyers in an industry.

What it helps with: Clarifies competitive intensity, profit pressure and the forces shaping long-term market attractiveness.

02

PESTLE Analysis

Reviews political, economic, social, technological, legal and environmental factors.

What it helps with: Highlights external changes, risks and opportunities that can affect strategic decisions.

03

Competitive Landscape Analysis

Maps major companies, their positioning, offerings, geographic reach and strengths.

What it helps with: Builds a clear view of the key players and how they compete.

04

Strategic Group Mapping

Groups companies with similar strategies, pricing, customer focus or business models.

What it helps with: Reveals premium, low-cost, specialist and global clusters within an industry.

05

Market Attractiveness Analysis

Assesses market growth, demand, competition, profitability and barriers.

What it helps with: Supports comparison and prioritisation of markets or segments.

06

Country Attractiveness Analysis

Evaluates country potential using demand, economics, competition, regulation and the business environment.

What it helps with: Supports market-entry and geographic expansion decisions.

07

Country Comparison Matrix

Compares countries using a consistent set of strategic criteria.

What it helps with: Makes geographic opportunities and trade-offs easier to evaluate side by side.

08

Market Trend Analysis

Identifies current and emerging changes in technology, customer behaviour, regulation, products and business models.

What it helps with: Helps teams anticipate how a market may evolve.

09

Growth Drivers & Market Restraints Analysis

Examines the factors supporting or slowing market growth.

What it helps with: Explains the forces behind changing demand and market momentum.

10

Entry Barrier Analysis

Assesses regulation, capital, technology, brand, patents, distribution and scale requirements.

What it helps with: Shows how difficult it may be for a new entrant to compete.

11

Industry White-Space Analysis

Finds underserved opportunities by customer, geography, service, product, price or technology.

What it helps with: Identifies areas where unmet demand may support new growth.

12

Industry Competitive Positioning Map

Plots competitors across two relevant factors, such as price and quality.

What it helps with: Reveals clusters, gaps and possible differentiation opportunities.

13

Technology Landscape Analysis

Maps technologies, solutions, vendors and industry use cases.

What it helps with: Shows important technologies, providers and investment areas.

14

Technology Adoption Analysis

Reviews adoption of technologies such as AI, automation, cloud and analytics.

What it helps with: Identifies adoption trends, leaders, use cases and potential future demand.

15

Industry Risk Assessment Matrix

Ranks regulatory, competitive, economic, technology and geopolitical risks by likelihood and impact.

What it helps with: Creates a practical view of the risks requiring monitoring or mitigation.

16

Industry Opportunity vs Risk Matrix

Compares strategic opportunities with the risks attached to each one.

What it helps with: Helps prioritise opportunities with an attractive, manageable risk profile.

17

Blue Ocean / Strategy Canvas Analysis

Compares competitors across the factors on which an industry competes.

What it helps with: Supports differentiation and the search for new market space.

18

Industry Gap Analysis

Identifies gaps between current market offerings and customer or market needs.

What it helps with: Highlights missing products, services, capabilities or customer coverage.

19

Industry Ecosystem Mapping

Maps companies, suppliers, vendors, distributors and partners across an industry.

What it helps with: Explains how the market works and how organisations relate to one another.

20

Industry Scenario Analysis

Develops growth, base and downside views of possible industry futures.

What it helps with: Tests how technology, regulation, demand and economic changes could affect the market.

24 tools

Company Analysis Tools

Assess competitive position, business model, customers, growth options, technology and risk.

01

SWOT Analysis

Examines a company’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats.

What it helps with: Provides a concise view of internal capabilities and external strategic factors.

02

Competitive Benchmarking

Compares a company with competitors across products, pricing, geography, customer experience, technology, services or performance measures.

What it helps with: Shows relative strengths, weaknesses and performance gaps.

03

Competitor Comparison Matrix

Creates a side-by-side comparison of companies using consistent criteria.

What it helps with: Makes differences in revenue, products, pricing, locations, customers, technology and capabilities easy to review.

04

Competitive Positioning Map

Plots a company and its competitors across two strategically relevant factors.

What it helps with: Shows market position, close competitors and open positioning space.

05

Business Model Canvas

Maps customers, value proposition, channels, partners, activities, resources, revenue and costs.

What it helps with: Explains how a company creates value, serves customers and makes money.

06

Business Model Analysis

Reviews what a company offers, who pays, how customers are reached, revenue sources and differentiation.

What it helps with: Clarifies how the business operates and generates revenue.

07

Ansoff Growth Matrix

Evaluates market penetration, market development, product development and diversification.

What it helps with: Structures the company’s possible routes to growth.

08

BCG Growth-Share Matrix

Classifies products or business units as Stars, Cash Cows, Question Marks or Dogs.

What it helps with: Supports portfolio investment and resource-allocation decisions.

09

Product / Service Portfolio Analysis

Reviews the company’s major products and services by category, customer, strength and gap.

What it helps with: Creates a structured view of portfolio coverage and priorities.

10

Product Comparison Analysis

Compares company and competitor products on features, specifications, pricing, integrations, positioning and benefits.

What it helps with: Shows product-level differentiation and competitive gaps.

11

Pricing Benchmarking

Compares publicly available pricing with relevant competitors.

What it helps with: Shows whether an offer is positioned at a premium, mid-market or lower-price level and where pricing gaps exist.

12

Strategy Canvas / Blue Ocean Analysis

Compares a company’s offering with competitors across important buying factors.

What it helps with: Identifies differentiation opportunities and potential new market space.

13

Company White-Space Analysis

Finds unserved opportunities across products, geographies, customers, technologies, channels and services.

What it helps with: Highlights practical areas for expansion or innovation.

14

Growth Opportunity Analysis

Combines competitor, trend, product, customer and geographic evidence to identify growth options.

What it helps with: Prioritises the company’s most promising paths to growth.

15

Go-to-Market Analysis

Reviews how a company sells and reaches customers through direct, online, retail, distributor, marketplace or partner channels.

What it helps with: Identifies channel strengths, gaps and routes to market.

16

Channel / Distribution Analysis

Maps the routes through which products or services reach customers.

What it helps with: Clarifies channel coverage, distributor roles, marketplace use and distribution gaps.

17

Partner / Ecosystem Mapping

Maps technology, distribution, supplier and strategic partners.

What it helps with: Reveals partnership opportunities, dependencies and ecosystem influence.

18

Outsourcing Partner Analysis

Identifies external providers supporting customer service, IT, back office, logistics, data or finance operations.

What it helps with: Shows operating dependencies and potential outsourcing opportunities.

19

Customer Segmentation Analysis

Organises customer groups by enterprise size, consumer profile, geography, use case or other relevant criteria.

What it helps with: Clarifies the company’s main customer types and priority segments.

20

Buyer Persona Analysis

Profiles decision-makers, responsibilities, priorities, pain points and purchase motivations.

What it helps with: Supports more focused product, sales and marketing decisions.

21

Company Technology Adoption Analysis

Assesses technology adoption using public evidence such as job posts, partnerships, announcements, case studies and vendor references.

What it helps with: Shows likely technology priorities, investments and maturity.

22

Company Risk Assessment Matrix

Ranks competitive, regulatory, financial, technology, geographic and market risks.

What it helps with: Prioritises the risks that may require monitoring or mitigation.

23

Company Opportunity vs Risk Matrix

Compares company-specific strategic opportunities with their associated risks.

What it helps with: Supports balanced opportunity selection and resource allocation.

24

Company Strategic Opportunity Map

Combines product gaps, new customers, geography, technology and partnerships into one management view.

What it helps with: Creates a practical roadmap of strategic growth opportunities.

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