Ansoff grid: mapping growth options without the hand-waving
Existing versus new, market versus product. Four boxes, four playbooks — if you're honest about which one you're actually in.
Igor Ansoff's growth matrix is deceptively simple: existing versus new customers, existing versus new products. The abuse comes from teams reclassifying a risky bet as a 'market development' play to make it feel safer than it is.
The four boxes
- Market penetration — sell more of what you sell, to who already buys it.
- Market development — same product, new customer segments or geographies.
- Product development — new product, existing customers.
- Diversification — new product, new customers. Highest risk, highest upside.
Ordering by risk
The four boxes are roughly ranked by execution risk: penetration < development < diversification. That's the honest ordering; use it when someone proposes a "diversification play" that would really put the company in an entirely new industry.
Using it in a board pack
Plot every growth initiative from the plan onto the grid. If everything clusters in the bottom-left, the plan is a comfort blanket. If it clusters top-right, the board should ask what earned the right to that many diversification bets.
- Pick the framework that fits the decision, not the deck template.
- Design your chart for the eye first, the spreadsheet second.
- Show change over time — a snapshot rarely earns its slide.
David teaches strategy frameworks at IMD and writes for STRATObubbles on how classic models still earn their keep in the age of live data.
