Most leadership teams can recite their portfolio brand by brand.
Fewer will say out loud which brands pay for the plan and which only consume it.
The BCG growth-share matrix is decades old and still one of the most useful hours a country team can spend. Two questions per brand: how fast is its segment growing, and how strong is our share in it?
- Stars. High share, growing segment. Invest to hold the lead.
- Cash cows. High share, slow segment. Protect them and spend carefully. They fund everything else.
- Question marks. Low share, growing segment. Back them properly or step back. Half-backing is the expensive option.
- Dogs. Low share, slow segment. Keep them lean, or plan the exit.
The model is simple. The difficulty is human. Everyone in the room has a brand they launched, defended or grew up with.
Three habits that help, in my experience:
- Place each brand by where its segment is going, not by its history.
- Judge share on sell-out and market data. Sell-in tells you what the distributor bought, not what pharmacies and hospitals ordered.
- Once the boxes are agreed, tell the team what each box gets in people and budget.
“The matrix is easy. Being honest about your favourite brand is not.”
Lesson 3 of 16 in Step 1: Setting strategy, with the full guide and a checklist for this week.