BCG Growth-Share Matrix

The ‘mediocrity’ path. This path includes the activities that fall into the ‘question marks’ quadrant which fail to evolve into ‘stars’. These activities are brought to a standstill between the ‘dog’ and ‘question marks’ categories, generating significant money pits for more than disappointing results.

The ‘disaster’ path. All scenarios do not reveal themselves to be as optimistic as those seen previously. In fact, if an activity in the ‘stars’ quadrant does not receive the expected investments, it could quickly find itself in the ‘dog’ quadrant.

The ‘follower’ path. Similarly, profits generated by ‘cash cows’ can also be invested in the ‘question marks’ that have strong growth potential.

of a SBU in the upper left ‘stars’ quadrant. The company that reinvests the profits is has generated (mainly from ‘cash cows’) in research and development can expect to follow the innovation path

The ‘innovation’ path. This corresponds to the direct arrival

‘Heartland’ activities, where the manager understands and is capable of acting;
• ‘Ballast’ activities where the manager understands, but does not have the necessary skills to make improvements;
• ‘Value trap’ businesses, where general management can improve performance, but does not necessarily understand the logistics;
• ‘Alien’ activities, which are clearly inappropriate as managers do not understand the logistics and do not have the skills to develop them.

McKinsey’s G.E. matrix;
• The Ashridge matrix.

The experience effect. The relevance of this matrix is only genuine if there is an experience effect favoring the market leader.

Self-financing. The BCG growth-share matrix neglects the possibility of external financing for the company.

The ‘question marks’, sometimes called ‘problem children’, include activities which have a relatively low market share in growing markets.