Strategic Planning with the GE McKinsey Matrix Training Course

Course overview

Portfolio decisions become difficult when business units, product lines and investment proposals compete for limited capital, management attention and operating capability. Revenue growth alone does not show where an organisation should invest, protect, selectively manage or exit. The GE McKinsey Matrix provides a disciplined way to compare businesses using industry attractiveness and competitive strength, but its value depends on sound criteria, credible evidence, transparent weighting and decisions that can withstand executive challenge.

This course teaches participants to build and use a GE McKinsey nine-box portfolio analysis for strategic planning. Participants define market-attractiveness and business-strength factors; select indicators; apply weights and scoring rules; gather and test evidence; plot portfolios; conduct sensitivity analysis; and translate matrix positions into investment, growth, hold, harvesting and divestment choices. They also learn how to reconcile the matrix with financial returns, strategic fit, risk exposure, resource capacity and stakeholder priorities rather than treating it as an automatic decision tool.

Delivery combines instructor-led analysis, worked examples, team-based scoring workshops and a running portfolio case. Participants use Excel and Power BI to structure evidence, calculate weighted scores and communicate results, then present recommendations through an executive-ready portfolio review. Each participant leaves with a completed GE McKinsey Matrix workbook, scoring criteria, evidence log, strategic option set, resource-allocation recommendations and a 90-day plan for applying the method to their own portfolio.

The course is suited to managers and strategy professionals who contribute to business-unit, product, market, service or investment portfolio decisions and need a repeatable basis for prioritisation.

Course objectives

By the end of this course, participants will be able to:

• Construct a GE McKinsey nine-box matrix using defined market-attractiveness and competitive-strength dimensions
• Specify weighted scoring criteria and evidence sources for portfolio assessment
• Calculate business-unit scores and plot portfolio positions in an Excel-based matrix
• Test portfolio recommendations through sensitivity analysis of weights, ratings and assumptions
• Interpret nine-box positions into invest, grow, selectivity, harvest and divest strategic options
• Integrate financial return, strategic fit, risk and capability constraints into matrix-based decisions
• Facilitate a cross-functional scoring workshop that resolves rating differences transparently
• Produce an executive portfolio recommendation pack with resource-allocation priorities and decision rationale

Benefits of attending

Target competencies

Who should attend

• Strategy Managers — who must compare business units and turn portfolio evidence into investment recommendations
• Business Unit Directors — who need to defend growth, restructuring or exit priorities within a corporate portfolio
• Corporate Development Managers — who assess acquisition targets, adjacent markets and divestment candidates
• Product Portfolio Managers — who prioritise product lines, market segments and lifecycle investments
• Commercial Directors — who allocate sales, channel and market-development resources across competing opportunities
• Finance Business Partners — who challenge strategic investment cases and link portfolio choices to returns and risk

Requirements and prerequisites

Participants should have practical experience contributing to annual planning, business cases, product planning or business-unit performance reviews. They should be comfortable reading basic commercial information such as revenue, margin, market share, growth rates and investment forecasts, and should have working knowledge of spreadsheet calculations in Microsoft Excel. Familiarity with SWOT, PESTLE or portfolio concepts is helpful but not essential. Participants do not need prior experience with the GE McKinsey Matrix, Power BI, statistical modelling, coding or advanced corporate-finance techniques. A laptop with Excel is strongly recommended for the workshop exercises.

Training methodology

The instructor introduces each matrix component through short teaching segments, annotated examples and facilitated discussion of actual portfolio choices. Participants then work in teams on a multi-business case, defining criteria, weighting factors, scoring evidence and plotting results in Excel. Group calibration sessions expose how different functions interpret the same evidence, while Power BI exercises convert results into management-ready visuals. The final day uses a portfolio review simulation, followed by individual application planning for a current business, product or market decision.

Course outline

Day 1: Portfolio strategy and matrix foundations

• Strategic portfolio decisions and resource-allocation challenges
• The GE McKinsey Matrix structure and nine-box logic
• Comparison with BCG Growth-Share Matrix and product lifecycle tools
• Defining the portfolio unit of analysis
• Industry attractiveness versus competitive strength
• Strategic role of corporate centre and business units
• Limits, assumptions and misuse risks of matrix analysis

Workshop: Participants map a case-company portfolio and define the business units or product lines to be assessed.

Day 2: Designing robust assessment criteria

• Market-attractiveness factor selection
• Competitive-strength factor selection
• Market size, growth, profitability and structural conditions
• Relative market share, brand, channel and capability indicators
• Strategic fit, regulatory exposure and disruption risk
• Weighting criteria using pairwise comparison principles
• Evidence logs, rating scales and data-quality tests

Workshop: Teams create a weighted criteria dictionary and evidence log for the case portfolio.

Day 3: Scoring, plotting and validating the matrix

• Weighted-score calculations in Microsoft Excel
• Normalising ratings and setting scoring thresholds
• Aggregating factor scores into matrix coordinates
• Portfolio plotting and bubble-size conventions
• Using revenue, profit and investment as bubble measures
• Sensitivity analysis for weights and ratings
• Data visualisation of portfolio results in Power BI

Workshop: Participants calculate scores, plot a nine-box portfolio and test how changed assumptions alter positions.

Day 4: From matrix position to strategic choice

• Investment and growth strategies for priority businesses
• Selective investment and capability-building choices
• Harvest, reposition and divestment options
• Linking matrix positions to capital allocation
• Integrating NPV, margin, cash flow and payback evidence
• Assessing execution capacity and dependency risks
• Resolving cross-functional disagreement in portfolio reviews

Workshop: Teams develop strategic options and a resource-allocation proposal for each case portfolio position.

Day 5: Executive communication and workplace application

• Executive portfolio review meeting design
• Decision narratives for investment, hold and exit recommendations
• Portfolio dashboards and management presentation structure
• Challenge questions from finance, operations and commercial leaders
• Governance cadence for portfolio reassessment
• Applying the matrix to product, market and business-unit portfolios
• Ninety-day implementation planning and stakeholder engagement

Workshop: Participants present an executive portfolio recommendation pack and produce a 90-day GE McKinsey Matrix application plan.

Tools & standards covered

Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Power BI, Miro, Microsoft PowerPoint

A typical training day

Live online deliveries follow the same structure in the East Africa Time zone, with shorter screen blocks and longer breaks.

What the fee includes

How you can take this course

Certification

Participants who complete the full five days receive the Skillset Development Certificate of Completion, stating the course title, course code, dates and delivery format — suitable for professional-development records and employer reimbursement.

Frequently asked questions