Methods

Ten strategy tools

Ten classic strategy tools on a site about AI readiness—that is not a contradiction but the point. Scenario analysis, SWOT, Five Forces or Wardley Mapping remain the craft tools of strategic work because they structure questions that cannot be automated away: where do we stand, what is changing in the environment, what follows from it? The questions persist—but AI is changing how every single working step is answered, from gathering evidence through analysis to keeping the results continuously up to date.

Every method page therefore follows the same structure: it describes the tool's purpose and origin, a concrete five-step procedure, strengths and limits—and, in a dedicated section, what changes in practice with language models and AI agents. Not as a promise that software will do strategy, but as a precise account of which steps become faster, more continuous or more honest, and where human judgement remains irreplaceable. A closing section relates each tool to scenario work, the core of the foresight approach.

01 Scenario Analysis
Develop alternative futures systematically to test strategies against uncertainty instead of betting on a single forecast.
02 SWOT Analysis
Condense strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats into one grid that joins internal capabilities with the external environment.
03 Porter's Five Forces
Assess the attractiveness of an industry through five competitive forces, from rivalry to bargaining power.
04 PESTEL Analysis
Scan the macro-environment along political, economic, social, technological, environmental and legal factors.
05 Business Model Canvas — Designing and Testing Business Models
Describe a business model on a single page—from value proposition and customer segments to costs and revenues.
06 Blue Ocean Strategy — Creating Markets Instead of Fighting for Them
Open up uncontested market space by deliberately redrawing value curves instead of competing head-to-head.
07 Ansoff Matrix — Weighing Growth Directions Systematically
Order growth options by crossing existing and new products with existing and new markets.
08 BCG Portfolio Matrix — Steering Business Units by Growth and Share
Position business units by market growth and relative market share to balance resources across the portfolio.
09 Three Horizons
Treat present, transition and future as three simultaneous horizons and shape pathways of transformation.
10 Wardley Mapping
Map value chains on an evolution axis to ground sourcing and investment decisions in situational awareness.