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Management Theories

Growth-Share Matrix

Strategic Planning and Performance Management Frameworks

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The growth-share matrix, commonly known as the BCG matrix, is a corporate planning tool developed by Bruce Henderson for the Boston Consulting Group in 1970 that classifies a company's business units or products into a two-by-two grid based on market growth rate and relative market share. The four resulting categories, conventionally labeled stars, cash cows, question marks, and dogs, are used to guide decisions about where a company should invest, hold, or divest across its portfolio of businesses. The matrix became one of the most widely recognized tools in corporate strategic planning during the 1970s and remains taught as an introduction to portfolio analysis.

Facts
Core Claim
The growth-share matrix plots a company's business units by relative market share and market growth rate, sorting them into cash cows, stars, question marks and dogs to guide resource allocation. 1
Origin Year
1970 1
Cross-Tradition Connections

Associated With

The GE-McKinsey Matrix was developed as a more refined alternative to the Boston Consulting Group's Growth-Share Matrix for portfolio planning.

Developed By

Developed at BCG (by founder Bruce Henderson, not yet a live entity, see MintCandidate).

Sources
1. Wikipedia, Growth-Share Matrix
WikipediaWikipedia, Growth-share matrix lead section
Quote, Wikipedia, Growth-share matrix lead section
BCG's founder Bruce D. Henderson popularized the concept in an essay titled "The Product Portfolio" in BCG's publication Perspectives in 1970.
View the Source
1. Wikipedia, Growth-Share Matrix
WikipediaAssociated With: GE-McKinsey MatrixView the Source
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