Strategy Terms & Frameworks
Clear definitions of the concepts behind the Strategy Diamond framework and how they relate to other strategy tools, drawn from the same framework the Strategy Coherence Index is built on.
Strategy Diamond
A five-part framework — arenas, vehicles, differentiators, staging, and economic logic — for defining a complete business strategy, developed by Donald Hambrick and James Fredrickson.
Strategic Arenas
The specific product categories, market segments, geographic areas, and value-chain stages where a business chooses to compete.
Vehicles (Strategy)
The means by which a company enters or expands within its chosen arenas — organic growth, joint ventures, licensing, or mergers and acquisitions.
Differentiators
The specific features and attributes of a company's products, pricing, or positioning that allow it to win customers over competitors.
Staging (Strategy)
The speed and sequence of strategic moves — what happens first, what happens later, and why that order matters.
Economic Logic
The specific mechanism by which a business will generate superior returns — the underlying reason its strategy should be profitable.
Strategic Coherence
The degree to which the different elements of a business strategy — arenas, vehicles, differentiators, staging, and economic logic — reinforce rather than contradict one another.
Strategic Alignment
The extent to which an organization's structure, resources, and day-to-day decisions actually support its stated strategy.
Business Strategy vs. Business Model
A business model describes how a company creates and captures value; a business strategy describes how it will win against specific competitors in specific arenas.
Competitive Advantage
A structural reason a company can sustain superior performance relative to competitors over time, rather than a temporary edge.
Value Proposition
A clear statement of the specific benefit a company delivers to a defined customer segment, and why that benefit matters more than alternatives.
Strategic Planning Process
The structured sequence organizations use to define, validate, and commit to a strategy — typically moving from situation analysis to strategic choice to execution planning.
Strategy Diamond vs. Porter's Five Forces
Porter's Five Forces analyzes the attractiveness of an industry; the Strategy Diamond defines what a specific company should do within it.
Strategy Diamond vs. SWOT Analysis
SWOT catalogs a company's strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats; the Strategy Diamond specifies the actual strategy that should result from that analysis.
Strategy Diamond vs. Blue Ocean Strategy
Blue Ocean Strategy is a philosophy for finding uncontested market space; the Strategy Diamond is a structural framework for defining any complete strategy, contested or not.
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