Frameworks
The four Ps
Product, price, place, promotion: the marketing mix.
Facts checked against sources onWhat does The four Ps mean?
The four Ps, set out in 1960, describe the main marketing levers: product (what it is), price (what you charge), place (where and how it is sold) and promotion (how you tell people about it). For services, three more are often added: people, process and physical evidence (the seven Ps). They say what you could change, not whether a launch pays, so in a case write the launch profit maths first and set the lever that fixes the weakest input.
Where does it come up in case interview prep?
Related terms
- The three CsCustomer, company, competitors: reminders of where to look, not a structure.
- 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.
- BCG growth-share matrixSorting businesses by market growth and relative market share.
- Ansoff matrixFour growth routes: existing or new products in existing or new markets.
- McKinsey 7S frameworkSeven parts of an organization that must fit together.
- SWOT analysisStrengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats.
Learn it in context
See The four Ps at work in a lesson from How to structure any problem, with checks as you go.
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