Frameworks
BCG growth-share matrix
Sorting businesses by market growth and relative market share.
Facts checked against sources onWhat does BCG growth-share matrix mean?
The growth-share matrix, popularised by the Boston Consulting Group around 1970, places each business unit by market growth and relative market share: stars (high growth, high share), cash cows (low growth, high share), question marks (high growth, low share) and dogs (low growth, low share). It ignores profit and the return on each investment, so in a case rank investments by what each would earn instead.
Where does it come up in case interview prep?
Related terms
- Relative market shareOur share divided by the largest competitor's share.
- Ansoff matrixFour growth routes: existing or new products in existing or new markets.
- FrameworkA ready-made list of buckets for a common kind of case; know the words, do not recite them.
- Porter's Five ForcesFive pressures on how profitable an industry is; vocabulary, not a case structure.
- Porter's generic strategiesCompete on lowest cost, on being different, or by focusing on a niche.
- McKinsey 7S frameworkSeven parts of an organization that must fit together.
- SWOT analysisStrengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats.
- PESTEL analysisPolitical, economic, social, technological, environmental and legal factors.
Learn it in context
See BCG growth-share matrix at work in a lesson from Business basics for non-business learners, with checks as you go.
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