The index below includes terms that are frequently used in BRI's resource materials, the Growth Forge software, in the course of performing our services. They may often be used by, and in many cases, coined by other experts and academics working in the new business growth and innovation strategy domain. We started maintaining a collection of them here for the convenience of our clients.
Assertions-type assumptions about the environmental catalysts included in a strategy hypothesis — the team's view of how macro, industry, or organizational trends will shape the opportunity.
Choices or decisions in your Strategy Hypothesis Model that are in your control to make or change
The Strategy Diamond is a framework, introduced by Donald Hambrick and James Fredrickson, that defines a complete strategy through five interlocking elements: Arenas (where the organization will be active), Vehicles (how it will get there — organic growth, acquisition, or partnership), Differentiators (how it will win in those arenas), Staging (the speed and sequence of moves), and Economic Logic (how it will earn its returns). Its central argument is that a real strategy is more than a goal or a vision statement — it requires explicit, mutually reinforcing choices across all five elements.
A strategy hypothesis is a coherent set of consequential strategy choices intended to achieve a strategic aspiration or objective, together with the beliefs and assumptions about the environment and the behavior of other actors on which those choices rest. BRI Associates frames every new business or product strategy as a hypothesis: not a plan to be executed on conviction, but a set of propositions whose riskiest assumptions are identified and validated with evidence before significant resources are committed.
The Strategy Hypothesis Model is the data model that is created and evaluated with the Growth Forge software. It contains all of the key assumption and uncertainty data and logic for your strategy hypothesis covering all six dimensions within BRI's Strategy Framework.
One or more quantitative metrics and performance targets that describe what it means to successfully accomplish a strategy objective.
