Old-school frameworks that still earn their place

Five illustrated cards pair frameworks with questions: Business Model Canvas asks how the business fits together; SWOT and TOWS ask which strategic options to act on; Ansoff asks where growth could come from; BCG asks where to invest; AIDA asks how people move towards action. — Five lenses for different decisions. Use evidence to test the options they reveal.

New tools can make research and planning faster, but I still find value in familiar business frameworks. Their usefulness comes from the questions they help us ask. A simple canvas or matrix can expose a missing assumption, a dependency, or an option that the team has overlooked.

Choose the question before the framework

Does the business model fit together? Use the Business Model Canvas.
How should we respond to our situation? Use SWOT to diagnose it and TOWS to explore strategic responses.
Where could growth come from? Use Ansoff to compare product and market choices.
Where should portfolio resources go? Use BCG as a starting lens, then examine economics and dependencies.
How does our communication lead to action? Use AIDA.

Business Model Canvas: check model coherence

A Business Model Canvas has nine named blocks: Key partnerships, Key activities, Key resources, Value propositions, Customer relationships, Channels, Customer segments, Cost structure, and Revenue streams. Activities and resources support the value proposition, which reaches customer segments through relationships and channels; costs and revenue underpin the model. — Map how the business creates, delivers, and captures value. Use a separate process map for operational steps.

Its nine blocks connect customers and value with channels, relationships, revenue, resources, activities, partners, and costs. Check whether the promise to customers has an operating model behind it. Use a separate process map for detailed operational steps.

SWOT and TOWS: move from factors to responses

SWOT separates internal Strengths and Weaknesses from external Opportunities and Threats. A TOWS matrix matches Strengths or Weaknesses against Opportunities or Threats: SO uses strengths to pursue opportunities; ST uses strengths to reduce threats; WO addresses weaknesses to pursue opportunities; WT reduces weaknesses and exposure to threats. — SWOT identifies the factors; TOWS connects them to strategic options that need evaluation.

SWOT separates internal strengths and weaknesses from external opportunities and threats. TOWS connects them to possible actions. Name the capability, constraint, or market evidence behind each factor so the exercise produces choices rather than generic labels.

Ansoff: compare growth directions

The Ansoff matrix crosses existing and new products in columns with existing and new markets in rows. Existing market and existing product is Market penetration; existing market and new product is Product development; new market and existing product is Market development; new market and new product is Diversification. — Growth can come from changing the product, the market, or both. Each route needs its own business case.

Existing or new products crossed with existing or new markets give four routes: market penetration, market development, product development, and diversification. Each route needs evidence of demand, capability, and economics; the matrix itself is not a business case.

BCG: question portfolio investment

The BCG matrix compares high or low relative market share in columns with high or low market growth in rows. Stars combine high share and high growth; Question marks combine low share and high growth; Cash cows combine high share and low growth; Dogs or pets combine low share and low growth. Each category prompts questions rather than automatic investment decisions. — Use market growth and relative market share as a portfolio lens, then assess economics and strategic fit.

Market growth and relative market share organise the discussion into stars, cash cows, question marks, and dogs or pets. Treat these as prompts to investigate. Profitability, customer commitments, strategic fit, and dependencies matter before choosing investment or exit.

AIDA: examine communication and action

Four stages form AIDA: Attention or awareness asks if people notice the product; Interest asks if it is relevant; Desire asks if people want its value; Action asks if the next step is clear. A separately marked after-action area shows Onboarding, Repeat value, and Retention as work beyond basic AIDA. — AIDA helps review the path to action. Onboarding, repeat value, and retention extend the conversation after it.

Attention, Interest, Desire, and Action help examine whether a message is visible, relevant, convincing, and easy to act on. Onboarding, repeat value, and retention need attention after action; customers do not always follow a tidy sequence.

A hypothetical decision: keep, reshape, or close a product?

Imagine a low-share reporting add-on in a slow-growth market. BCG raises an investment question, but account reviews suggest the add-on helps customers use the wider service. Closing it could weaken that offering. The matrix alone cannot establish that closure creates value.

Use the Canvas to trace who relies on the add-on, its revenue contribution, and its support cost. Check usage and customer commitments before deciding. In this scenario, the next step is to test whether a simpler supported version preserves that wider value at acceptable cost, then compare it with closure. A framework has improved the question; evidence still has to determine the answer.