Market Share Growth Tool

Five stages, in order

Each stage asks one question and hands its answer to the next. You can stop after any stage: save your progress file, and pick up later on any computer. The market share playbook explains the method behind each one.

1. 1

   Stage 1 of 5 · Market share

   Where are you losing share, and to whom?

   2 to 3 weeks

   You bring

   Your sales for each product line over the last four years, the size of each market, and the answers of 10 to 20 buyers asked why they chose the brand they did.

   You get

   Your share of each line's market by year, the line losing the most and the rival taking it, and the factors buyers weigh, counted.

   Use the Market Share Calculator on its own

2. Share by line over the years, who took it, and what buyers weigh
3. 2

   Stage 2 of 5 · BCG Growth-Share Matrix

   Which product lines are worth fighting for?

   1 to 2 days

   You bring

   How fast each line's market grows, and the share of the largest rival in it.

   You get

   Each line on the matrix, one line to push for share, the line that funds it, and whether more share actually pays in your business.

   How the BCG matrix worksUse the BCG Growth-Share Matrix Tool on its own

4. The line to push, and the line that pays for it
5. 3

   Stage 3 of 5 · VRIO

   What do you have that rivals can't copy?

   1 to 2 days

   You bring

   What you have behind the chosen line: resources, skills and relationships, and an honest view of what rivals have.

   You get

   Each resource tested with four questions: lasting advantages, ones you aren't using yet, and ones rivals could soon match.

   How VRIO worksUse the VRIO tool on its own

6. The advantages that hold up
7. 4

   Stage 4 of 5 · Porter's Generic Strategies

   On what basis can you win?

   1 to 3 days

   You bring

   How each main rival competes, and who has the lowest cost per unit.

   You get

   One position, lower cost or something different, across the market or for one segment, and what it rests on. A price cut without the lowest costs is stopped.

   How Porter's generic strategies worksUse the Porter's Generic Strategies Tool on its own

8. One basis of competition, and its segment
9. 5

   Stage 5 of 5 · Blue Ocean Strategy

   What do you change in your offer?

   2 to 4 weeks

   You bring

   How buyers score you and two or three rivals, 1 to 5, on the factors from stage 1.

   You get

   Your strategy canvas, what to eliminate, reduce, raise and create, which raises rivals could copy fast, and early signs to track every month.

   How the blue ocean strategy canvas worksUse the Blue Ocean Strategy Tool on its own

10. What to change, and the full report

What you finish with

A PDF report of the whole playbook. One headline for each stage, as in the example, then each stage's full results: the charts, the tables and the diagnosis, with what it means and what to do next. It ends with the changes to your offer and the early signs to track.

A progress file you keep. An Excel workbook with a sheet for every stage, updated each time you save. Choose it on this page or on any stage, and the playbook reopens where you left off.

Checks along the way. Falling sales in a shrinking market are sent to the market expansion playbook, not a fight for share; pushing two lines at once, or a line nothing pays for, is flagged; a price cut without the lowest costs is stopped; and an offer that only adds, with nothing cut to pay for it, is sent back.