Ansoff Matrix – A Must-Have Tool for Business Leaders for Developing Expansion Strategies
The Ansoff matrix is a tool that companies and their marketing leaders use to develop growth strategies by understanding the underlying risks. Also known as the Product/Market Expansion Grid or Ansoff Growth Matrix helps the leaders to analyze and plan their growth strategies by knowing the kinds of risks associated with each strategy.
H.Igor Ansoff, a business manager, and mathematician, developed the matrix and was first published in 1957 in the Harvard Business Since the time the world came to know what is the Ansoff matrix and how it can help to create business growth strategies; it has become one of the most popular tools for marketing experts and business leaders. To identify the best strategy for growth, organizations can use the tool for assessing the level of risks involved in the strategy to decide whether introducing new products in existing or new markets or seeking growth through the existing products would be a better option as it happened with Coca Cola.
Ansoff matrix models
According to the Ansoff matrix definition, the product marketing growth strategy rests on the four pillars of market penetration, product development, market development, and diversification. The four growth areas appear in the four quadrants of the grid. You can visualize the growth areas, but the most challenging part is to choose one of the four growth strategies.
1. Market penetration
Market penetration occupies the first quadrant of the grid and suits companies with an existing product in the market and is seeking a growth strategy within that sphere only. The competition is intense, and organizations must think out of the box to develop growth strategies for increasing their market share. The telecom industry’s growth strategy that relies heavily on the product and the existing market is a typical Ansoff matrix example that focuses on market penetration.
2. Market development
In the Ansoff growth matrix, market development occupies the second quadrant of the grid in an anti-clockwise movement. This strategy is helpful for organizations trying to enter a new market with existing products. For example, the global footwear giants like Adidas, Reebok, and Nike have created footprints in new international markets to achieve their expansion goals. They continue to explore new markets worldwide to maintain the growth momentum by introducing the brands to new customers. Smaller companies can adopt a similar growth strategy by expanding their market reach by taking their products to markets where it does not have any presence.
3. Product development
Organizations that enjoy a sizeable market share in an existing market would find this strategy most suitable. The Ansoff product-market matrix would entail the introduction of new products to achieve growth and expansion. Having a solid customer base in a market already saturated with existing products provides the perfect stage for product development because market penetration strategy would not work in this case.
4. Diversification
Introducing a new product in a new market is an example of diversification. The most glaring example is Samsung, which started as a trading company and later forayed into retail, insurance, securities, and electronics.
The Ansoff matrix can guide decision-makers to make the best decision for growth and expansion.