BCG matrix template
Map products by market growth and relative market share to guide decisions and resource allocation
A BCG matrix template provides product teams and business leaders with a visual method for assessing their entire product portfolio simultaneously. This strategic tool helps organizations understand which products drive the most value and where to focus their limited resources for maximum impact.
Whether you're managing a software company's feature set or a retail brand's product lines, a BCG matrix is a straightforward way to analyze the offering. Follow these simple steps to transform complex market data into clear, actionable insights that support informed decision-making throughout your organization.
What is a BCG matrix template?
A BCG growth-share matrix template is a ready-made framework designed to map products across the four strategic quadrants without requiring a start-from-scratch approach. The template provides the structure and visualization tools needed to conduct thorough portfolio analysis, saving time while ensuring accuracy.
Templates typically include pre-formatted quadrants, axis labels, and space for plotting products, making the analysis process more efficient and accessible to teams that may not be familiar with creating strategic frameworks from scratch. This standardized approach helps organizations maintain consistent evaluation criteria over time.
What are the four parts of a BCG matrix?
The BCG matrix divides products into four categories:
- Stars: These products hold a high market share in rapidly growing markets. They're your most promising opportunities but require significant investment to maintain their competitive position and capitalize on market expansion.
- Cash cows: Products in the quadrant enjoy high market share in mature, slow-growing markets. They generate steady revenue without requiring much investment, providing the cash flow for other business initiatives.
- Question marks: These products operate in high-growth markets but hold a small market share. They come with both opportunity and risk, so it's worth considering whether increased investment can improve their position.
- Dogs: These products struggle with low market share in slow-growing markets. They typically generate minimum profits and may drain resources that could be better deployed elsewhere in the portfolio.
How to make a BCG matrix
Step 1. List all products or business units to include in the matrix
Gather the complete set of products or services you want to evaluate, ensuring your portfolio is comprehensive enough for meaningful analysis. Include both major revenue drivers and smaller products that consume resources, as the goal is to understand your entire competitive landscape.
Step 2. Determine market growth rates for each product
Research industry data to calculate accurate growth rates for each market segment in which your products compete. Use consistent, reliable metrics across all products to ensure fair comparisons and valid strategic conclusions.
Step 3. Assess relative market share compared to competitors
Compare each product's market share to that of your most significant competitor in the same space, expressing the results as ratios that capture competitive strength. This relative measurement provides more strategic insight than absolute market share numbers alone.
Step 4. Plot products on the BCG matrix
Place each product in the appropriate quadrant based on its growth rate and market share metrics. Use clear labels and consistent sizing to make product placement easy to interpret during team discussions and brainstorming sessions.
Step 5. Analyze product positions within the matrix
Review quadrant placements to assess the overall health of your product portfolio and identify patterns across your offerings. Look for products that generate cash, require additional investment, or consistently lag behind competitive benchmarks.
Step 6. Define strategic actions for each product
Outline specific next steps, such as investing, maintaining current levels, or phasing out products based on their position in the matrix. Align these actions with broader goals and available resources to create a realistic action plan.
Create a BCG matrix with Confluence whiteboards
Confluence provides teams with powerful tools to build, share, and collaborate on BCG matrix analyses with our integrated diagram maker and whiteboard features. Teams can easily create professional-looking, free BCG matrix templates that promote productive discussions and strategic alignment across the organization.
Online whiteboards provide an ideal environment for creating BCG matrices and facilitating project collaboration, enabling team members to contribute ideas in real-time while tracking product metrics and strategic insights. Teams can quickly move from initial brainstorming to structured analysis, converting ideas into actionable strategic plans.
