Boston Consulting Group's Advantage Matrix


After its well-known growth-share matrix, the Boston Consulting Group developed another, much less widely reported, matrix which approached the economies of scale decision rather more directly. This is known as their Advantage Matrix. The matrix was published in a 1981 Perspective titled "Strategy in the 1980s" by Richard Lochridge.

Overview

Similar to the growth-share matrix, the Advantage Matrix groups businesses into four categories. These are volume, stalemated, specialized and fragmented businesses. However, this matrix takes as its axes the two contrasting alternatives, economies of scale against differentiation. In essence, the former category covers the approach described in the more popular growth-share matrix, while the latter represents the approach of differentiating products so that they do not compete head-on with their competitors.
"These two factors – the size of the advantage and the number of ways it can be achieved – can be combined into a simple matrix to help guide more creative strategy development. The specific requirements for success are different in each quadrant."--Richard Lochridge

Size of Advantage

The Boston Consulting Group described the size of advantage as a company's ability to gain economies of scale.

Number of Approaches to Achieving Advantage

The number of approaches to achieving advantage is the company's ability to differentiate from their competitors.

Critical Reception

Apart from the fact that it has not suffered as badly at the hands of later popularizers, the particular advantage of this matrix is that it highlights the assumptions that are hidden in the Growth-Share Matrix. It may also give a better feel for the optimum strategy and the likely profits, but it does not give any feel for the cash flow, which was the main feature of the original matrix.