Generic strategy choice
OfficialOfficial · updated Nov 4, 2026 · v1.0.0
Chooses one of Porter's generic strategies on evidence, checks the stuck-in-the-middle risk, and writes the trade-offs the choice forces.
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When to use it
- Deciding how to compete against bigger or cheaper rivals
- The team is split between cutting prices and adding features or service
- The company is trying to serve everyone
What you give it
- Rivals and how each competes
- Your cost position with evidence
- What customers value and pay more for
- Segments, their size, and where you win
What you get
A two-by-two of options with evidence, one chosen strategy, a stuck-in-the-middle check, the trade-offs it forces, the activities that must fit, risks, and first moves.
Changelog
- v1.0.0 · Nov 4, 2026 · First release.
Sources
- Porter's Generic Competitive Strategies - Institute for Manufacturing, University of Cambridge (2026-11-04)
- Strategic Positioning - Institute for Strategy and Competitiveness, Harvard Business School (2026-11-04)
- What Is Strategy? - Michael E. Porter, Harvard Business Review, November-December 1996 (2026-11-04)
- Operational Effectiveness vs. Strategy - Institute for Strategy and Competitiveness, Harvard Business School (2026-11-04)
- Competitive Strategy: Techniques for Analyzing Industries and Competitors (Free Press, 1980) - Harvard Business School (2026-11-04)
- Competitive Advantage: Creating and Sustaining Superior Performance (Free Press, 1985) - Harvard Business School (2026-11-04)
Related skills
- Five forces industry analysis Runs Porter's five forces on a defined industry: rates each force with evidence, names the forces that set its profit level, and ends with where to compete and what to change.
- Value chain analysis Maps a business's primary and support activities with cost share, cost drivers, and value to buyers, checks how they fit the strategy, and picks the 2 to 3 changes that matter.
- ERRC grid and strategy canvas Builds a strategy canvas of the factors an industry competes on and an ERRC grid, draws a new value curve, and tests it for focus, divergence, and a true tagline.
- Positioning statement (5 components) Drafts positioning from April Dunford's 5 components: alternatives, unique attributes, value, target customer and category, then a one-line statement.
- Win-loss analysis Analyses won and lost deal notes or interviews into the buyer's real reasons, patterns by segment and competitor, and up to 5 changes with owners.