Book Brief: The Strategist’s Toolkit

A handy reference for 13 essential strategic analysis tools

Brief Summary

Title: The Strategist’s Toolkit
Authors: Jared D. Harris and Michael J. Lenox
Published: 2021 by Darden Business Publishing
What It Teaches: The introduction to The Strategist’s Toolkit clearly outlines what lies ahead: “The purpose of this book is to provide an organized framework and a set of tools to aid those who wish to analyze the strategy of an organization, whether it’s their own or another organization they are interested in.” The book lives up to its promise, with the framework being represented in the four parts of the book: Analyzing the Competitive Environment, Analyzing Competitive Position, Analyzing Strategic Decisions, and Putting It All Together. The first three parts introduce a total of 13 tools used in strategic analysis, and in the fourth part the authors introduce a four-step process using those 13 tools to “synthesize findings into a detailed picture of values, opportunities, and capabilities of the firm.”
When To Use It: The Strategist’s Toolkit is true to its name, providing readers with easy access to 13 tools commonly used in the strategist’s work. Each brief chapter on a given tool has four important sub-sections: What is it?, When do we use it?, Why do we use it?, How do we use it?, and Foundational Readings. I think it’s a worthwhile addition to the bookshelf of anyone involved in strategic analysis and strategy development. At least skim it when it first arrives and then pull it down anytime you’re in the midst of strategy development to learn or be reminded of tools that might help.

Brief Review

Regular readers of ClearPurpose will know that I have a strong affinity for strategy tools and I like to explain those tools and how to use them. I’ve long intended to pull these together into a guidebook for strategists, so when The Strategist’s Toolkit was recommended to me by Amazon, I thought perhaps that need had already been met.

There are aspects of this book that I really like. I appreciate the authors organizing the 13 tools provided into three categories: environmental analysis, competitive analysis, and decision analysis. I also like the structure of each chapter, answering the important questions of what the tool is, when to use it, why use it, and how to use it. As a collector of strategy books, I also greatly appreciate the “foundational readings” section of each chapter — pointing to books and articles that go deeper on each tool.

The thirteen tools covered can all be great helps in the right situation:

• Competitor Analysis
• Environmental Analysis
• Five Forces Analysis
• Competitive Life Cycle Analysis
• Stakeholder Analysis
• Capabilities Analysis
• Strategy Maps (really Perceptual Maps)
• Portfolio Planning Matrices (BCG Growth Share Matrix and McKinsey Matrix)
• Hypothesis Testing
• Payoff Matrices
• Real Options Analysis
• Acquisition Analysis
• Scenario Planning

My quibbles with The Strategist’s Toolkit are relatively minor. It’s a short book (125 pages) with short chapters. There are many more tools that I think strategists need to consider in their work. Each chapter is also fairly short, meaning that the tools and their use are only explained at the simplest and highest level. It would’ve been nice if the authors could’ve drawn more on their personal experiences with various organizations to give real world examples of the tools in action.

Using the authors’ own “toolkit” analogy, this book is like the handy and inexpensive, all-in-one tool sets you can find at stores like WalMart. It works in a pinch when you need something quick. But if you’re starting a major project, you probably want to take the time and spend the money to get a “professional grade” version — whether that might be going to the “foundational readings” to learn more, getting professional coaching on how to apply the tool effectively in your specific situation, or hiring a professional to facilitate the process for you.

Bottom line: In my opinion, The Strategist’s Toolkit is a helpful and handy reference for anyone involved in strategy development. It’s not a compelling read that keeps you engaged from cover to cover, but it’s a great collection of essential tools that can easily be pulled off the shelf when needed. Just don’t expect it to teach you everything you need to know to successfully use those tools.

If you want to buy this book, would you consider buying it through my affiliate link at Amazon? Click here: The Strategist’s Toolkit (SDG Strategy will earn a small affiliate commission.)