The Strategy Diamond was developed by two business professors, Donald Hambrick and James Fredrickson, in 2001, in their paper Are You Sure You Have a Strategy?
These are 5 interlinked elements in the framework:
🗺️ Arenas: Where will we be active ?
🛠️ Vehicles: How we will get there ?
🎯 Differentiators: How we will win or be different from competition?
⏱️ Staging: When will we don things, in what sequence?
💰 Economic Logic: How will we make money?
The diamond was invented as a tool to make sure the strategic elements fit together.
💰 Economic Logic: How the company makes a profit
👉 Examples:
📉 low cost through volume/scale
⚙️ low costs due to efficiencies
🏷️ premium pricing for brands/high quality products
🗺️ Arenas: Where the company is active
👉 Examples:
📦 product categories
📢 marketing channels
👥 market and customer segments
🌍 geographic areas
🔧 core technologies
🛫 Vehicles: How the company enters arenas
👉 Examples:
🌱 organic growth
🤝 joint ventures
📜 licensing or distribution agreements
🏢 acquisitions
💳 capital and debt raising
🎯 Differentiators: What sets the company apart
👉 Examples:
🛠️ product or service benefits – the problem that is solved
⚡ speed
🏷️ price and pricing levels
🚚 distribution
✨ branding and style
🔧 custom features
⏱️ Staging: When the company will implement strategy
👉 Examples:
🗓️ timing of new product launch
🌍 new product launch in new geographies in stages
🏭 production expansion timed with supply chain expansion
