Setting Strategic Directions, Growth Strategies

Knowing where the organization is at the present time enables managers to set a direction for the firm and allocate resources to move in that direction. Two techniques to aid managers with these decisions are $(1)$ business portfolio analysis, and $(2)$ diversification analysis strategies. In this exercise, we will focus on business portfolio analysis.

The Boston Consulting Group $($BCG$),$ a nationally known management consulting firm, developed business portfolio analysis. It is a technique that managers use to quantify performance measures and growth targets to analyze their firms' strategic business units $($SBUs$)$ as though they were a collection of separate investments. The purpose of the tool is to determine the appeal of each SBU or offering and then determine the amount of cash each should receive. This activity is important because roughly $75$ percent of the largest U$.$S$.$ firms have used this analytical tool. The goal of this activity is to perform a simple business portfolio analysis.

Roll over each hypothetical product to read about the hypothetical company and its product's sales. Then, place each product under the correct name in the quadrant of the growth$-$share matrix.