Patterns of Strategy

I've been fascinated by the Patterns of Strategy book, as it has offered me a new way to look at business strategy, personal strategy and any kind of strategy for that matter.

I've curated here the 80 strategy patterns shared in the book. I recommend reading the book for details about each one.

Headsup - each strategy pattern is described in this list by:

# Name of strategy - Category - Dimensions of strategy at play (Fit/Time/Power) - Difficulty level to implement (High/Med/Low)

#strategy

Create coupling between organizations, so that all can gain more market share than alone.

Collaborative strategy. Fit & Time. Medium difficulty

Refresh coupling to market by adding new features to hold market share.

Market strategy. Time. Low difficulty

Influence trajectory of sector through coupling based on deep expertise.

Herd strategy. Fit & Power. Medium difficulty

Exploit coupling of larger player to their market by filling gaps in their value proposition.

Small player strategy. Time. Medium difficulty

Create couplings with actors with different problems in different sectors to demonstrate your value.

Growth strategy. Fit, Time & Power. High difficulty

6/80: Brand Reputation. Strengthen coupling through brand reputation aligned to customers' values to maintain share.

Defensive strategy. Fit & Power. Low difficulty

7/80: Broadcast. Test many products in the marketplace to find the big hitters where you can build a strong coupling.

Growth strategy. Power. Low difficulty

8/80: BubbleCreate intense energy in coupling from product to market, drive rapid price escalation, then exit.

Market strategy. Fit & Time. Low difficulty

9/80: Camouflage. Reduce your apparent strength in your coupling to the market in order to avoid competitor attention.

Cunning plans strategy. Fit & Power. Medium difficulty

Build couplings with others in order to create a powerful combined market coupling.

Collaborative strategy. Fit & Power. High difficulty

11/80: Change the Game. Change the market by at least a disruptive change in the coupling.

Defensive strategy. Fit & Power. High difficulty

Build couplings to nearby and complementary organizations to drive innovation.

Collaborative strategy. Fit. Medium difficulty

Focus on the essential value proposition in coupling to market to maintain position.

Defensive strategy. Power. Low difficulty

14/80: Crusader. Supplant the coupling between herd and market with a new value type for higher purpose.

Market strategy. Fit & Power. Low difficulty

Create coupling direct to market by removing intermediary and reducing costs.

Market strategy. Fit & Power. Medium difficulty

Eliminate part of the coupling to the market to reduce costs.

Defensive strategy. Fit & Power. Low difficulty

Create new couplings in new markets or with new products to smooth revenues and reduce risk.

Growth strategy. Power. Medium difficulty

Reduce strength in coupling to reduce costs.

Defensive strategy. Fit & Power. Low difficulty

19/80: Dragonfly. Maintain coupling to market through heritage or traditional offering.

Defensive strategy. Fit & Time. Low difficulty

Attract customers to a service by a short-term commitment to a coupling.

Defensive strategy. Fit & Time. Low difficulty

Build dominance and evolve coupling to market through sustained innovation.

Suppliers strategy. Fit, Time & Power. High difficulty

22/80: Falcon. Use stored energy to attack and exploit the other's coupling to the market to capture market share.

Competitive strategy. Time & Power. High difficulty

Rapidly build coupling in market to exploit efforts of the first to market.

Competitive strategy. Time & Power. Low difficulty

Only pretend to change coupling in order to avoid difficult challenges.

Cunning plans strategy. Fit. Low difficulty

Be first to create coupling in market to capture market share.

Small player strategy. Fit & Time. Low difficulty

26/80: Frigate Bird. Increase your apparent strength to create new coupling opportunities.

Small player strategy. Fit & Power. Low difficulty

Directly attack competitor through coupling to shared market for advantage.

Competitive strategy. Fit & Power. Low difficulty

Enable coupling between others to create market.

Collaborative strategy. Fit & Time. Medium difficulty

Overwhelm others by the massive dominance of your coupling.

Defensive strategy. Fit & Power. Low difficulty

Destabilize competitor by constantly reconfiguring coupling.

Cunning plans strategy. Fit, Time & Power. Low difficulty

Break or transform couplings to reinvent yourself and reach different markets.

Cunning plans strategy. Fit. High difficulty

Integrate units coupled at a single point of the value chain to reduce costs.

Defensive strategy. Power. Medium difficulty

Create highly differentiated coupling to the market.

Small player strategy. Fit. Low difficulty

Create intermediary coupling between supplier and market in order to add value to customers.

Market strategy. Fit & Power. Medium difficulty

In chaotic times, be first to define and create stability and key couplings.

Herd strategy. Fit, Time & Power. Medium difficulty

36/80: Jeeves. As supplier, covertly and benignly influence the coupling in your area of expertise.

Supplier strategy. Fit & Time. High difficulty

Create highly leveraged value to a coupling through specialist expertise.

Collaborative strategy. Fit, Time & Power. Medium difficulty

Match your product range to that of the herd or competitor you are coupled to.

Defensive strategy. Fit. Low difficulty

Create formally inter-coupled set of companies for power and defense.

Collaborative strategy. Power. Medium difficulty

Concentrate power on coupling with segment, then adjoining segments to take market.

Competitive strategy. Fit, Time & Power. Medium difficulty

Set herd trajectory through changes in your coupling to the market.

Herd strategy. Fit & Time. Medium difficulty

Strengthen couplings within the herd to maintain its cohesion.

Herd strategy. Fit. Low difficulty

Hold customers in coupling by making it hard or unappealing to switch.

Defensive strategy. Time & Power. Low difficulty

Destabilize others' couplings and exploit the chaos that follows.

Cunning plans strategy. Fit & Time. Low difficulty

Maintain and milk coupling in a declining market.

Defensive strategy. Time & Power. Low difficulty

Restructure market through your products and couplings to your advantage.

Market strategy. Fit, Time & Power. High difficulty

Create a new market and couple to it.

Market strategy. Fit, Time & Power. High difficulty

Create two couplings to present two brands for the same offering to the market.

Cunning plans strategy. Fit & Power. Medium difficulty

Merge organizations to reduce the cost of servicing the coupling.

Defensive strategy. Power. High difficulty

Merge organizations to create new couplings or value propositions.

Growth strategy. Fit & Power. High difficulty

Stay small to keep market coupling below competitor's radar.

Small player strategy. Fit & Power. Low difficulty

Herd coalesce to mitigate attack on coupling to market.

Defensive strategy. Fit, Time & Power. Low difficulty

Concentrate on coupling to targeted slice of the market for localized advantage.

Market strategy. Fit & Power. Low difficulty

Gradually build couplings to adjacent markets through reinvestment of profit for growth.

Growth strategy. Power. Low difficulty

Build a coupling to a third party delivering capabilities that allow them to focus on their strengths.

Supplier strategy. Fit, Time & Power. Medium difficulty

Fracture others' couplings and seize their ground with innovative value proposition.

Competitive strategy. Fit. Medium difficulty

Abuse coupling with customer for your goals.

Supplier strategy. Fit. Low difficulty

Deceive competitors about nature of your coupling so the herd follows a false lead to your advantage.

Cunning plans strategy. Fit & Time. High difficulty

Couple to someone else's value proposition to exploit its market and growth.

Small player strategy. Fit. Low difficulty

Degrade others' couplings to the market by influencing the actions of a third party.

Herd strategy. Fit. Medium difficulty

Maintain the vitality of your coupling.

Market strategy. Fit & Time. Medium difficulty

Tighten coupling to larger customer in order to grow.

Supplier strategy. Fit & Time. Low difficulty

Create a new market and coupling by repurposing something worthless.

Market strategy. Fit, Time & Power. Low difficulty

Create a separate coupling to distance a 'toxic' part of an organization from the rest.

Cunning plans strategy. Fit & Power. Medium difficulty

Deny access for competitors to build couplings to key resources.

Defensive strategy. Fit, Time & Power. Medium difficulty

Exploit other's coupling to the market with similar but cheaper offering.

Growth strategy. Fit, Time & Power. Low difficulty

Ensure adequate consistency of herd couplings to market.

Herd strategy. Fit, Time & Power. Low difficulty

Regulate the trajectory and speed of change in the coupling between herd and market.

Herd strategy. Fit, Time & Power. Low difficulty

Create coupling based on a preventative offering, supplanting the existing coupling.

Competitive strategy. Fit, Time & Power. Medium difficulty

As supplier, use your expertise to develop coupling for shared risk and reward.

Supplier strategy. Fit, Time & Power. Medium difficulty

Further develop a leading coupling to be even further ahead of the herd in order to protect your advantage.

Competitive strategy. Fit, Time & Power. Medium difficulty

Strengthen coupling by adding services before or after existing offering.

Growth strategy. Fit & Time. Low difficulty

Drive the rapid capture of a growing market through your coupling.

Growth strategy. Fit, Time & Power. High difficulty

Destabilize others' couplings for your own goals.

Competitive strategy. Fit & Time. Low difficulty

Restore stability to another's coupling to their market.

Supplier strategy. Fit, Time & Power. High difficulty

Conceal negative value given to the market through the coupling.

Cunning plans strategy. Fit. Medium difficulty

Create couplings between organizational units along a value chain to ensure delivery, quality and cost.

Growth strategy. Fit, Time & Power. High difficulty

Resist change in the coupling until conditions are more favorable to you.

Defensive strategy. Time & Power. Low difficulty

Acquire laggards who are weakly coupled to the herd to strip out their value.

Herd strategy. Fit, Time & Power. Medium difficulty

Maintain coupling as a herd member whilst pretending to be different.

Cunning plans strategy. Fit. Low difficulty

Hope you enjoyed these ideas. Follow me for updates about #strategy, #learning, #personalstrategy, #platforms and other interesting topics that I learn as I go.