Strategy has a vocabulary that is easy to use loosely, and a loose word in a board paper can hide a weak argument. These are the terms that come up most in our work and on this site, each defined the way we use it, with a link to the framework, guide or analysis where it is put to work.
Balanced scorecard. A short set of objectives and measures across four perspectives (financial, customer, internal process, and learning and growth), so that a strategy is tracked by more than its financial results. Balanced scorecard →
Battle card. A one-page sheet for a sales team on a single competitor: where you win, where they win, what their people will say and the fact that answers it. It is only as strong as its weakest line, so it should carry filed facts rather than reported ones. Competitive intelligence from the public record →
Business analytics. The use of a company’s own data to explain what has happened and to test what might happen next, from routine reporting to statistical models. Its value lies in the decision it changes rather than the dashboard it produces. Digital maturity model →
Business intelligence. The reports and dashboards that show an organisation its own performance, usually drawn from its internal systems. It answers what happened inside the business; competitive and market intelligence look outside it. Digital maturity model →
Competitive benchmarking. Comparing a business with named competitors on the measures customers and investors use, in one comparable unit, so that the gaps are real gaps rather than differences of definition. Competitive benchmarking →
Competitive intelligence. Systematic knowledge of what competitors hold, can afford and are likely to do, built from evidence and kept current. In telecom much of it can be read from licence files, auction results and securities filings. Competitive intelligence from the public record →
Competitive moat. A lasting advantage that stops competitors taking a business’s returns, such as a licence, a network, scale, switching costs or a brand. The test of a moat is whether returns stay above the cost of capital over time. VRIO framework →
Counter-case. The strongest argument against a recommendation, written down beside it. If it cannot be stated, the recommendation is not yet understood. How we work →
Decision intelligence. The practice of designing decisions explicitly: naming the options, the evidence each one needs, the criteria and who decides, so that the reasoning can be inspected and improved. Weighted decision matrix →
Decision support system. Software that brings data and models to a decision-maker in a form they can act on. The system supports the decision; a person still makes it. Weighted decision matrix →
Direct-to-device. Satellite service delivered straight to an ordinary mobile phone, with no dish or special handset, usually on spectrum a mobile carrier holds or leases. Seven questions about direct-to-device →
Early-warning indicator. An observable signal, with a date or a threshold attached, that would show a plan’s assumptions failing before the results do. Scenario planning →
Evidence class. The kind of evidence behind a claim. We use four, filed, calculated, reported and judgement, and mark every figure we publish with one. Evidence classification →
External analysis. A structured look at the forces outside a business that shape its options: customers, competitors, suppliers, regulation, technology and the economy. External analysis →
Fixed wireless access. Home or business broadband delivered over a mobile network to a fixed receiver, competing with cable and fibre for the same customers. A competitor just launched FWA in our footprint →
Idea validation. Testing whether customers want an offer, and will pay for it, before building it, using the cheapest test that could prove the idea wrong. Lean startup →
Key performance indicator (KPI). A measure watched continuously because it shows whether the business is healthy and a decision depends on it. A measure that changes no decision is a metric rather than a KPI. Balanced scorecard →
Key result. A measurable outcome that shows whether an objective has been met within a set period. It describes a change in the world, not a task completed. Objectives and key results →
Lagging indicator. A measure that reports an outcome after the event, such as revenue or churn. It confirms what happened but arrives too late to change it. Balanced scorecard →
Leading indicator. A measure that moves before the outcome it predicts, such as trial sign-ups before revenue. It is useful only once the link to the outcome has been tested. Balanced scorecard →
Market intelligence. Evidence about a market as a whole: its size, growth, customers, prices and the forces changing it. Competitive intelligence is the part that concerns named rivals. External analysis →
Market opportunity analysis. The work of sizing an opportunity and judging whether a business can win it: how many customers have the need, what they would pay, what it would cost to serve them and who else wants them. TAM, SAM and SOM →
MHz-POP. One megahertz of spectrum covering one person. Dividing a price by the MHz-POPs it buys puts spectrum deals of very different sizes on one scale. What spectrum costs →
Neutral host. An operator that builds one network, often indoors or at a venue, and lets several mobile carriers use it, instead of each carrier building its own. The private networks series →
North Star metric. The single measure that best captures the value a product gives its customers and predicts its long-term revenue. Other measures are chosen because they move it. North Star metric →
Objectives and key results (OKRs). A goal-setting method that pairs an ambitious, time-bound objective with a few measurable key results. OKRs set the change wanted, while KPIs keep watch on the health of what already works. Objectives and key results →
PESTLE. A scan of the political, economic, social, technological, legal and environmental forces acting on a business, used to find the opportunities and threats it cannot control. PESTLE analysis →
Scenario planning. Building a small number of plausible and distinct futures and testing a strategy against each, so that the plan does not rest on a single forecast. Scenario planning →
Spectrum lease. A right to use part of another party’s spectrum licence for a set term, in a set area. It ends when the lease does, whatever the licence underneath says. What spectrum costs →
Strategic brief. A short document that sets out one decision: the question, the options, the evidence, the recommendation and what would change it. It is written to be decided on, not only read. Issue tree →
Strategic decision-making. Choosing between options that commit significant resources and are hard to reverse, such as entering a market or buying a business. Such a choice deserves more evidence, and a written counter-case, than a routine one. Weighted decision matrix →
Strategic planning. Deciding where a business will compete and how it will win, then turning that into priorities, resources and measures for a fixed period. A plan that cannot say what it will stop doing is a budget rather than a strategy. Hoshin kanri →
SWOT analysis. Strengths and weaknesses inside a business set against opportunities and threats outside it. It earns its place when it is built around one decision and read across the quadrants. SWOT analysis →
TAM, SAM and SOM. Three nested sizes of a market: the total demand, the part a business can serve with its offer and channels, and the share it can realistically win. TAM, SAM and SOM →
Total cost of ownership. Every cost of an asset or system over its life, not only the purchase price, so that options with different cost shapes can be compared fairly. Total cost of ownership →
Trend monitoring. Watching the developments that could change a market, each with a source and a date to check, so that a trend is noticed while there is still time to act on it. PESTLE analysis →
Unit economics. The revenue and cost of one unit of an offer, such as one customer or one subscriber, which shows whether growth makes money or loses more of it. Unit economics →
Value proposition. The specific reason a customer would choose an offer over the alternatives, including the alternative of doing nothing. Value proposition canvas →
Value wedge. The part of a customer’s need that only your offer meets and that the customer values. It is where a sale is won, so it is where the conversation should start. Value proposition canvas →
Win-loss analysis. Asking buyers, soon after they decide, why they chose you or a competitor, and looking for patterns across many decisions rather than an explanation for one. Competitive benchmarking →
The framework library puts most of these terms to work, each with a workbench that asks its questions and exports the result.