Compare methods

	GE-McKinsey Nine-Box Matrix	Strategic Value Chain Analysis
Field	Strategic Management	Strategic Management
Family	Process / pipeline	Process / pipeline
Year of origin	1983	1985
Originator	General Electric & McKinsey & Company; Arnoldo Hax & Nicolas Majluf	Michael E. Porter
Type	Multifactor portfolio-classification pipeline for resource allocation	Activity-decomposition pipeline for competitive advantage
Seminal source	Hax, A. C., & Majluf, N. S. (1983). The Use of the Industry Attractiveness-Business Strength Matrix in Strategic Planning. Interfaces, 13(2), 54-71.	Porter, M. E. (1985). Competitive Advantage: Creating and Sustaining Superior Performance. Free Press, New York. ISBN: 9780029250907
Aliases	GE Matrix, Nine-Box Matrix, Industry Attractiveness-Business Strength Matrix, Directional Policy Matrix	Porter Value Chain Analysis, Value Chain Framework, Activity-Based Competitive Advantage Analysis, Value System Analysis
Related	4	4
Summary	The GE-McKinsey nine-box matrix is a multifactor portfolio-analysis tool that positions a company's business units in a three-by-three grid defined by two composite dimensions: the attractiveness of the industry the unit competes in, and the unit's competitive strength within it. Developed by General Electric with McKinsey & Company in the early 1970s as a richer alternative to the BCG growth-share matrix, it replaces single proxies (market growth and relative share) with weighted indices built from many underlying factors. Hax and Majluf's 1983 Interfaces article gave the matrix a systematic methodological treatment, and Wind, Mahajan, and Swire's 1983 Journal of Marketing study empirically compared it with other standardized portfolio models, showing how much business positions depend on model choice. The nine cells map onto invest-grow, selectivity, and harvest-divest zones that guide resource allocation.	Strategic value chain analysis disaggregates a firm into the discrete activities through which it designs, produces, markets, delivers, and supports its product, in order to locate the sources of cost advantage and differentiation that underlie competitive advantage. The framework is Michael Porter's, introduced in his 1985 Competitive Advantage, where he divides the firm's activities into five primary categories — inbound logistics, operations, outbound logistics, marketing and sales, and service — and four support categories — firm infrastructure, human resource management, technology development, and procurement — with margin as the difference between total value created and total cost. Porter argued that competitive advantage cannot be understood by looking at the firm as a whole but must be traced to the way particular activities are performed and linked. The analysis extends outward to the value system linking suppliers, the firm, channels, and buyers.