What COPE is

Strategy defined
In order for a company to meet its objectives, it needs to have a strategy that outlines the manner in which those objectives will be met. A strategy implies making choices with respect to the following strategic questions:

• What product-market combinations to target?
• What positions to take with products in markets? (see POSE Analysis)
• What instruments to apply to claim these positions?
• What competences to develop to support all this?

COPE = COnditions X PErformance
The first strategic question stated above is the topic of COPE analysis. With COPE analysis, the commercial and competitive conditions of markets and the commercial and competitive performance of products are measured in order to determine the strategic focus:

• Champions
  High performance products targeted at attractive markets
• Defiants
  High performance products targeted at unattractive markets
• Laggers
  Low performance products targeted at attractive markets
• Outcasts
  Low performance products targeted at unattractive markets