run-bcg-matrix

name

run-bcg-matrix

description

Use when a strategist needs to assess portfolio position and derive investment priorities across multiple products or business units. Triggers on "run a BCG matrix", "I need to assess portfolio position", "portfolio growth-share analysis", "which products should we invest in or cut", "star cash cow dog question mark". Produces a committed portfolio-position artifact. Do NOT use for single-product strategy — BCG requires at least two offerings to compare relative market share.

Skill: run-bcg-matrix

Produces a portfolio position analysis using the BCG Growth-Share Matrix — four quadrants: Stars (high growth, high share), Cash Cows (low growth, high share), Question Marks (high growth, low share), and Dogs (low growth, low share). Investment implications flow from quadrant position. See references/agentbundle-layout.md for artifact path.

When to invoke

1. A multi-product or multi-business-unit portfolio exists — at least two offerings must be mappable; single-product analysis belongs in SWOT.
2. You are making resource allocation decisions — BCG is an investment-prioritization tool.
3. No current BCG analysis exists for this portfolio — amend rather than duplicate.

Procedure

1. Elicit the portfolio. List each product, product line, or business unit. Name the primary revenue or usage metric for each. Confirm these are the correct units of comparison.
2. Estimate relative market share. For each offering, estimate share relative to the largest competitor in its segment (ratio: own share ÷ largest competitor's share). Elicit data if available; if not, surface the caveat ("market share estimated — treat as directional") and proceed with the best available proxy (revenue rank, user count rank, or analyst estimate).
3. Estimate market growth rate. For each offering's segment, estimate the annual growth rate. Use the same caveat protocol as step 2 when data is unavailable.
4. Map to quadrants. Use a rough threshold (typically 1.0 for relative share; 10% for growth rate, though the strategist sets their own cutoffs) to classify each offering into Star / Cash Cow / Question Mark / Dog.
5. Derive investment implications. For each quadrant: Stars → invest to maintain leadership; Cash Cows → harvest for cash to fund Stars and selective Question Marks; Question Marks → decide invest-or-divest based on strategic fit and capital availability; Dogs → divest or manage for exit unless there is a strategic reason to hold.
6. Name the top strategic decision. From the portfolio map, identify the one or two reallocation moves that would most improve the portfolio's overall health. These feed directly into the OKR cascade.
7. Resolve the artifact path following references/agentbundle-layout.md. Surface the path, then commit portfolio-position.md with frontmatter type: portfolio-position.

Anti-patterns

• Mandating precise market share data. BCG is a directional framework; proceed with proxy data and surfaced caveats rather than blocking on unavailable metrics.
• Treating quadrant labels as verdicts. A Dog is not automatically divest-worthy — strategic fit, competitive moat, and customer relationships matter. The quadrant is an input to the decision, not the decision.
• Applying BCG to a single product. Without at least two offerings, there is no relative share comparison and no portfolio decision to make.