Strategy Choice Cascade
Five connected choices that make a strategy.
Lafley & Martin (P&G): strategy isn't a document, it's a cascade of five integrated choices. (1) Winning aspiration — what winning means. (2) Where to play — market, segment, channel, geography. (3) How to win — unique value and how to deliver it. (4) Capabilities — what must be true to win. (5) Management systems — metrics, processes, culture that keep choices alive.
When defining or revising corporate strategy, rebranding, entering a new market, in a leadership strategy workshop, or when the team is 'doing everything for everyone' and a sharp choice is missing.
Question by question, top down — each choice constrains the next. If you can't answer one, step back up. Coherence test: does each choice make sense in light of the other four? The strategy holds only when all 5 choices reinforce each other.
Related frameworks
Agencies execute. Consultants advise. And then everyone wonders why the two never add up.
Clues does both. We look for the clues that point to the right path, and then we walk it with you all the way. Because strategy without execution is just a well-paid hypothesis.
We put this library together because we see structured thinking as the foundation of success. Whether you're working on your next campaign or building a brand-new brand.
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