Strategic Marketing: Planning and Control, Third Edition

❍ The focus on market share and growth ignores fundamental issues

such as developing sustainable competitive advantage.

❍ Not all products face the same life cycle. Therefore for some stars

facing a short life cycle it may be better for the organisation to harvest

them, rather than committing further investment.

❍ Cashflow is only one factor on which to base investment decisions.

There are others to consider, such as return on investment, market size

and competitors.

There are a number of models that use a range of weighted criteria in

place of relative market share and growth in order to overcome some of

the limitations of the growth share matrix.

● The General Electric multifactor portfolio matrix

This model has two axes; market attractiveness on one axis and com-

petitive strength on the other. Industry/market attractiveness is

assessed on a range of weighted criteria including:

❍ Market size

❍ Market growth rate

❍ Strength of competition

❍ Profit potential

❍ Social, political and legal factors

Competitive strength is also assessed on a range of weighted criteria such as:

❍ Market share

❍ Potential to develop differential advantage

❍ Opportunities to develop cost advantages

❍ Channel relationships

❍ Brand image and reputation

104 Strategic Marketing: Planning and Control

Public-

sector star

Political

hot box

Golden

fleece

Back

drawer

issue

Level of the political requirement to

offer the service

High Low

Ability to effectively deliver the service

High

Low
Figure 5.9
Public sector
portfolio matrix
(Source: Adapted
from Montanari and
Bracker, 1986)