The Cynefin Framework provides context for decision-making and problem-solving by categorizing situations into five domains: obvious, complicated, complex, chaotic, and disorder.
When making decisions or solving problems in various contexts, depending on the complexity of the situation.
Offers guidance on selecting appropriate approaches.
May require careful assessment to categorize situations accurately.
Personal SWOT Analysis
A personal adaptation of the SWOT Analysis, it helps individuals identify their personal strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats.
When individuals want to assess their personal strengths and weaknesses and identify opportunities and threats in their personal or professional life.
Enhances self-awareness and personal development.
Subjective assessment and biases can influence results.
Pareto Analysis
A statistical analysis used to identify the key input factors that have the greatest impact on a specific outcome.
When prioritizing and optimizing resources based on the most significant factors affecting a specific outcome.
Efficiently identifies critical factors for improvement.
May not address complex relationships among variables.
Failure Mode And Effects Analysis
A structured approach to identify potential design failures in products or processes and anticipate issues during the design stage.
When designing products or processes to proactively identify and mitigate potential failure modes and their effects.
Helps prevent design-related issues before implementation.
Requires thorough analysis and expertise in the domain.
Blindspot Analysis
A method for uncovering incorrect or outdated assumptions that can hinder decision-making within an organization.
When organizations want to identify and address hidden assumptions and outdated ideas that may hinder progress.
Promotes a culture of critical thinking and innovation.
Can be challenging to uncover deeply ingrained blind spots.
Comparable Company Analysis
A process to identify similar organizations for comparison to understand the financial performance of a target company.
When evaluating the financial and competitive position of a target company by comparing it to similar organizations.
Provides insights into a company’s relative performance.
Requires access to relevant financial and industry data.
Agile Business Analysis
Agile Business Analysis (AgileBA) provides guidance and training for business analysts working in agile environments.
When organizations are transitioning to or operating in agile environments and need to align business analysis practices with agile principles.
Enhances the adaptability and responsiveness of business analysis.
May require a cultural shift within organizations.
SOAR Analysis
SOAR Analysis focuses on Strengths, Opportunities, Aspirations, and Results, aiming to drive positive change within organizations.
When organizations want to emphasize strengths, aspirations, and desired results to foster a more positive and growth-oriented approach.
Encourages a forward-looking and optimistic perspective.
May not fully address weaknesses and potential threats.
STEEPLE Analysis
A variation of the STEEP analysis, the STEEPLE Analysis adds Legal and Ethical factors to the traditional socio-cultural, technological, economic, environmental, and political categories.
When conducting a comprehensive analysis of external factors affecting an organization, considering legal and ethical aspects.
Offers a broader view of external factors influencing decisions.
May require significant data collection and analysis.
DESTEP Analysis
DESTEP Analysis expands upon the traditional PEST analysis by including six categories: demographic, economic, socio-cultural, technological, ecological, and political.
When organizations need a comprehensive analysis of external factors to understand the external environment’s impact on their operations.
Provides a more detailed assessment of external influences.
Can be time-consuming due to the inclusion of multiple factors.
Paired Comparison Analysis
Paired Comparison Analysis is used to rate or rank options by comparing them against each other, particularly when evaluation criteria are subjective.
When decision-makers need to prioritize options or alternatives based on subjective criteria and relative comparisons.
Offers a structured method for making subjective comparisons.
Relies on individual judgments and may lack objectivity.
Scenario Planning
Scenario Planning helps businesses anticipate future events and changes in their business environment, allowing them to make informed strategic decisions.
When organizations want to prepare for a range of potential future scenarios and make strategic decisions based on those scenarios.
Enhances strategic decision-making by considering multiple futures.
Requires significant effort and resources to develop scenarios.
Business Analysis Framework
Business analysis is a research discipline used to identify key elements and processes that drive value within an organization.
When organizations want to understand and optimize their processes, identify opportunities for improvement, and enhance their value proposition.
Provides a structured approach to analyzing and improving business processes.
Requires data collection and analysis efforts.
Gap Analysis
Gap Analysis helps organizations assess their alignment with strategic objectives and identify areas where improvements are needed to achieve those objectives.
When organizations aim to bridge the gap between their current state and desired future state in terms of performance and goals.
Provides a clear roadmap for improving alignment and execution.
Requires clear strategic objectives and accurate data.
Lean Startup Canvas
An adaptation of the business model canvas, the Lean Startup Canvas focuses on problems, solutions, key metrics, unfair advantage, and unique value propositions.
When startups or entrepreneurs want to validate their business ideas and develop a lean approach to building and testing their products.
Emphasizes a customer-centric and iterative approach to business development.
May require pivots and adjustments based on customer feedback.
Digital Marketing Circle
Digital Marketing Circle encompasses various digital marketing channels and strategies, including organic and paid channels, to reach potential customers effectively.
When organizations want to plan and execute digital marketing campaigns and strategies to target and engage with their audience online.
Provides a holistic view of digital marketing channels and strategies.
Requires ongoing monitoring and adaptation to digital trends.
The Cynefin Framework gives context to decision making and problem-solving by providing context and guiding an appropriate response. The five domains of the Cynefin Framework comprise obvious, complicated, complex, chaotic domains and disorder if a domain has not been determined at all.
A SWOT Analysis is a framework used for evaluating the business’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats. It can aid in identifying the problematic areas of your business so that you can maximize your opportunities. It will also alert you to the challenges your organization might face in the future.
The SWOT analysis is commonly used as a strategic planning tool in business. However, it is also well suited for personal use in addressing a specific goal or problem. A personal SWOT analysis helps individuals identify their strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats.
The Pareto Analysis is a statistical analysis used in business decision making that identifies a certain number of input factors that have the greatest impact on income. It is based on the similarly named Pareto Principle, which states that 80% of the effect of something can be attributed to just 20% of the drivers.
A failure mode and effects analysis (FMEA) is a structured approach to identifying design failures in a product or process. Developed in the 1950s, the failure mode and effects analysis is one the earliest methodologies of its kind. It enables organizations to anticipate a range of potential failures during the design stage.
A Blindspot Analysis is a means of unearthing incorrect or outdated assumptions that can harm decision making in an organization. The term “blindspot analysis” was first coined by American economist Michael Porter. Porter argued that in business, outdated ideas or strategies had the potential to stifle modern ideas and prevent them from succeeding. Furthermore, decisions a business thought were made with care caused projects to fail because major factors had not been duly considered.
A comparable company analysis is a process that enables the identification of similar organizations to be used as a comparison to understand the business and financial performance of the target company. To find comparables you can look at two key profiles: the business and financial profile. From the comparable company analysis it is possible to understand the competitive landscape of the target organization.
A cost-benefit analysis is a process a business can use to analyze decisions according to the costs associated with making that decision. For a cost analysis to be effective it’s important to articulate the project in the simplest terms possible, identify the costs, determine the benefits of project implementation, assess the alternatives.
Agile Business Analysis (AgileBA) is certification in the form of guidance and training for business analysts seeking to work in agile environments. To support this shift, AgileBA also helps the business analyst relate Agile projects to a wider organizational mission or strategy. To ensure that analysts have the necessary skills and expertise, AgileBA certification was developed.
A SOAR analysis is a technique that helps businesses at a strategic planning level to:
Focus on what they are doing right.
Determine which skills could be enhanced.
Understand the desires and motivations of their stakeholders.
The STEEPLE analysis is a variation of the STEEP analysis. Where the step analysis comprises socio-cultural, technological, economic, environmental/ecological, and political factors as the base of the analysis. The STEEPLE analysis adds other two factors such as Legal and Ethical.
The PESTEL analysis is a framework that can help marketers assess whether macro-economic factors are affecting an organization. This is a critical step that helps organizations identify potential threats and weaknesses that can be used in other frameworks such as SWOT or to gain a broader and better understanding of the overall marketing environment.
A DESTEP analysis is a framework used by businesses to understand their external environment and the issues which may impact them. The DESTEP analysis is an extension of the popular PEST analysis created by Harvard Business School professor Francis J. Aguilar. The DESTEP analysis groups external factors into six categories: demographic, economic, socio-cultural, technological, ecological, and political.
A paired comparison analysis is used to rate or rank options where evaluation criteria are subjective by nature. The analysis is particularly useful when there is a lack of clear priorities or objective data to base decisions on. A paired comparison analysis evaluates a range of options by comparing them against each other.
You can use the Ansoff Matrix as a strategic framework to understand what growthstrategy is more suited based on the market context. Developed by mathematician and business manager Igor Ansoff, it assumes a growthstrategy can be derived by whether the market is new or existing, and the product is new or existing.
Porter’s Five Forces is a model that helps organizations to gain a better understanding of their industries and competition. Published for the first time by Professor Michael Porter in his book “Competitive Strategy” in the 1980s. The model breaks down industries and markets by analyzing them through five forces.
In the 1970s, Bruce D. Henderson, founder of the Boston Consulting Group, came up with The Product Portfolio (aka BCG Matrix, or Growth-share Matrix), which would look at a successful business product portfolio based on potential growth and market shares. It divided products into four main categories: cash cows, pets (dogs), question marks, and stars.
First proposed by accounting academic Robert Kaplan, the balanced scorecard is a management system that allows an organization to focus on big-picture strategic goals. The four perspectives of the balanced scorecard include financial, customer, business process, and organizational capacity. From there, according to the balanced scorecard, it’s possible to have a holistic view of the business.
A blue ocean is a strategy where the boundaries of existing markets are redefined, and new uncontested markets are created. At its core, there is valueinnovation, for which uncontested markets are created, where competition is made irrelevant. And the cost-value trade-off is broken. Thus, companies following a blue ocean strategy offer much more value at a lower cost for the end customers.
Businesses use scenario planning to make assumptions on future events and how their respective business environments may change in response to those future events. Therefore, scenario planning identifies specific uncertainties – or different realities and how they might affect future business operations. Scenario planning attempts to better strategic decision-making by avoiding two pitfalls: underprediction, and overprediction.
Business analysis is a research discipline that helps driving change within an organization by identifying the key elements and processes that drive value. Business analysis can also be used in Identifying new business opportunities or how to take advantage of existing business opportunities to grow your business in the marketplace.
A gap analysis helps an organization assess its alignment with strategic objectives to determine whether the current execution is in line with the company’s mission and long-term vision. Gap analyses then help reach a target performance by assisting organizations to use their resources better. A good gap analysis is a powerful tool to improve execution.
The business model canvas is a framework proposed by Alexander Osterwalder and Yves Pigneur in Busines Model Generation enabling the design of business models through nine building blocks comprising: key partners, key activities, value propositions, customer relationships, customer segments, critical resources, channels, cost structure, and revenue streams.
The lean startup canvas is an adaptation by Ash Maurya of the business model canvas by Alexander Osterwalder, which adds a layer that focuses on problems, solutions, key metrics, unfair advantage based, and a unique value proposition. Thus, starting from mastering the problem rather than the solution.
A digital channel is a marketing channel, part of a distributionstrategy, helping an organization to reach its potential customers via electronic means. There are several digital marketing channels, usually divided into organic and paid channels. Some organic channels are SEO, SMO, email marketing. And some paid channels comprise SEM, SMM, and display advertising.
Key Highlights
Cynefin Framework:
Contextualizes decision making and problem-solving.
Comprises five domains: obvious, complicated, complex, chaotic, and disorder.
SWOT Analysis:
Evaluates Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats.
Identifies areas for improvement and potential challenges.
Personal SWOT Analysis:
Applies SWOT analysis to individuals’ personal goals or challenges.
Identifies personal strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats.
Pareto Analysis:
Focuses on input factors with the greatest impact using the 80/20 rule.
Identifies key drivers for desired outcomes.
Failure Mode And Effects Analysis (FMEA):
Anticipates potential design failures in products or processes.
Identifies failure modes and their potential effects.
Blindspot Analysis:
Uncovers outdated assumptions that hinder decision making.
Addresses factors not properly considered in decision-making processes.
Comparable Company Analysis:
Identifies similar companies for benchmarking financial performance.
Offers insights into competitive landscape.
Cost-Benefit Analysis:
Evaluates decisions based on costs and benefits.
Weighs alternatives and potential project benefits.
Agile Business Analysis (AgileBA):
Provides guidance for business analysts working in agile environments.
Aligns agile projects with organizational goals.
SOAR Analysis:
Focuses on strengths, opportunities, aspirations, and results.
Gennaro is the creator of FourWeekMBA, which reached about four million business people, comprising C-level executives, investors, analysts, product managers, and aspiring digital entrepreneurs in 2022 alone | He is also Director of Sales for a high-tech scaleup in the AI Industry | In 2012, Gennaro earned an International MBA with emphasis on Corporate Finance and Business Strategy.
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