The Boston Consulting Group

Matrix
of Growth & Fruit
Craig McClurg
2 The BCG Matrix by Craig M
c
Clurg 2013 Mission Adventures Studio
Question Marks, Rising Stars and Cash Cows
Some really smart folks at a business strategy company in Boston came up with this amazing way
to analyze products so that leaders can know how to allocate resources. What they did was make a
graph that looks like this:
Growth Potential
Rising Stars Cash Cows
Question Marks Dogs
F
r
u
i
t

P
r
o
d
u
c
e
d
High
L
o
w
Low
H
i
g
h


L
i
f
e
C
y
c
l
e
The vertical axis is the Growth Potential of the product. As you go up the line, the greater the
growth potential. The horizontal axis is the fruit produced. On the left, there's lots of fruitfulness.
On the right, not so much.
3 The BCG Matrix by Craig M
c
Clurg 2013 Mission Adventures Studio
Question Marks
In the lower left there are what
I call "Question Marks". (Some
documents from BCG label
them as Problem Children.)
In this quadrant, there's no
real evidence of growth yet,
but there is some fruitfulness.
There's a question about
whether or not it will actually
grow. This is where most
products start. Some never get
past this stage.
Rising Stars
In the upper left there are the
"Rising Stars". These are the
products that are growing and
can keep on growing. These are
the products that are producing
lots of fruit/cash etc.
Cash Cows
In the upper right there are
the cash cows. These have
already grown a lot and are
still growing, but the limits of
their potential growth are in
sight. They have produced a lot
of fruit, but it is possible that
their fruitfulness is starting to
diminish.
Dogs
Then there are the dogs. These
are the products that aren't
growing or producing fruit.
Woof.
Its a Life Cycle
In the center, you can see a
circle. This shows the typical
life cycle of a product. It can
start out as a problem child,
then if it's successful, it will
rise to become a star, then
turn into a cash cow, before it's
inuence diminishes and it can
slide down into being a dog.
4 The BCG Matrix by Craig M
c
Clurg 2013 Mission Adventures Studio
Question Mark
Apple TV makes a bit
of money, but its not
reaching its potential.
If Apple can solve a few
ecosystem problems,
they could really own
the TV space. There
are tons of rumors of
an Apple TV product
that might just maybe
dominate like the iPod/
iPhone/iPad
Rising Star
The iPhone and iPad
are rising stars. They
cant make enough of
them. These products
are so successful that
their growth potential
is really unknown.
Cash Cows
The MacBooks are the
portables of choice
right now. The all-in-
one iMac is in that
cash cow place. They
make a lot of them, but
computing is quickly
shifting to portable
and mobile.
The Apple Example: Here is an illustration that should make this really clear.
Dogs
The big multi-part
desktop is fading away
to dog-dom. Hard drive
based iPods peaked a
while ago.
5 The BCG Matrix by Craig M
c
Clurg 2013 Mission Adventures Studio
So What?
Well, I want you to analyze the MA ministries in your region. Are you seeing any Problem Children?
Which bases have rising starsthat is a lot of growth and a lot of fruit? Which ministries are
mature, and could be in danger of sliding into irrelevance? When you place your MA ministries
in this matrix you may gain insight into what you can do to help them grow and be fruitful. For
example, businesses typically take resources from Cash Cows and reinvest them in Problem
Children. You could do the same, by encouraging mature ministries to invest in the immature ones
in your region. Invite them to help you train up the new leaders. Invite them to take up an ofering to
help fund a new MA ministry. Challenge them to multiply. That will help the Question Marks rise
to Starsand it can also help the Cows to remain relevant and not become dogs.
How will you allocate resources to grow more stars?