Strategic Group Map Template for Excel (Free Download)

A strategic group map template is a visual way to compare one’s company against the competition. It’s a tool used in competitive analysis to visually display how companies within the same industry cluster into different strategic groups based on key competitive factors. Download this free strategic group map template for Excel to identify direct competitors, mobility barriers and opportunities for competitive advantage.

Strategic group map template screenshot — *ProjectManager’s free strategic group map template for Excel*

Why You Need a Strategic Group Map Template

A strategic group map template is a valuable tool for understanding the competitive landscape within an industry. It visually categorizes companies based on key strategic dimensions, such as price, product diversity, quality, geographic reach or service level.

It can help identify direct competitors and differentiate companies that operate in the same industry but follow distinct strategies. It also helps reveal market opportunities and gaps by identifying underserved segments where a company can expand and strategic spaces where competition is less intense.

Using a strategic group map template for Excel analyzes mobility barriers by highlighting the challenges companies face in shifting strategic positions (e.g., a low-price brand moving to premium pricing). It also aids in competitive strategy development by helping firms understand whether they should stay within their group or reposition to gain a competitive advantage.

There’s also the fact that a strategic group map template enhances industry understanding for investors and analysts. It can provide a clear picture of how firms differentiate themselves and assist in evaluating business risks and growth potentials. All this helps companies assess their strategic positioning and adjust accordingly.

That adjustment requires a strategic plan where business goals are set and a strategic plan is created on project management software. ProjectManager is award-winning project and portfolio management software that has robust roadmaps to schedule, manage and track strategic initiatives in real time. Our roadmaps are Gantt charts that show multiple projects on one page, showing tasks, resources and costs.

More than that, they can link all four types of task dependencies to avoid delays and cost overruns, filter for the critical path to identify essential tasks and manage slack and set a baseline to track the planned effort against the actual effort in real time. This allows managers to adjust schedules and resources as needed to stay on track. Get started with ProjectManager today for free.

ProjectManager's roadmap view — ProjectManager’s roadmaps help plan, manage and track strategic plans in real time. Learn more

Who Should Use This Strategic Group Map Template?

A strategic group map is useful for various stakeholders in business and industry analysis. Here’s who should use it and why.

Business Owners & Executives

Helps them understand their competitive position within the industry.
Identifies potential growth opportunities and market gaps.
Assists in planning strategic initiatives about pricing, product offerings and market expansion.

Marketing & Strategy Teams

Guides competitive positioning by identifying key differentiators.
Helps target the right customer segments based on strategic group placement.
Assists in branding and messaging by analyzing where competitors are positioned.

Investors & Financial Analysts

Provides insight into which companies have a strong competitive advantage.
Helps assess industry risks and growth potential.
Identifies companies with untapped market opportunities.

Business Consultants & Advisors

Supports benchmarking a company’s strategy against competitors.
Helps create a balanced scorecard and recommend changes to improve competitive positioning.

Startups & Entrepreneurs

Aids in selecting the best entry strategy into an industry.
Helps differentiate from established players and avoid highly competitive clusters.

Academics & Researchers

Useful for studying industry dynamics and competitive behavior.
Helps analyze how market trends and disruptions impact different strategic groups.

When to Use a Strategic Group Map Template

A strategic group map template should be used in various business and strategic planning scenarios, including the following.

Industry & Competitive Analysis

When analyzing competition within an industry to understand different strategic positions.
To identify direct competitors and substitute products.

Business Strategy Development

When determining where to position a company in the market.
Used as an input for business process planning and tactical planning.
To assess if there are opportunities to reposition in a less competitive space.

Market Entry Strategy

When a new company or startup is entering an industry and needs to find a competitive niche.
Helps decide whether to compete on price, quality, variety or other key factors.

Investment & Financial Decision-Making

For investors evaluating different companies within an industry to see which ones have a competitive advantage.
Helps identify high-risk versus stable market positions.

Business Expansion & Diversification

When considering expanding a product line, increasing pricing or entering new markets.
Helps identify mobility barriers that could make moving to a different group difficult.

Academic Research & Case Studies

When studying industry trends, competition and business strategy.
Useful for business schools and consulting firms conducting market research.

How to Use This Strategic Group Map Template

Download this free strategic group map template for Excel and open a fully customizable document. Add or subtract to it to meet your strategic group map goals. This is a topic on top of the template, and we have chosen fast-food restaurants.

The strategic group map template is made up of a grid with a vertical axis for a variety of menu items. It goes from few, at the bottom, to many, at the top. On the bottom of the map is a horizontal axis that charts prices, from left to right, with left being the lowest and right being the highest.

On this grid are added the competing fast food restaurants. Their strategic grouping is defined by where they are placed on the grid, but also by the color of the circle that symbolizes the restaurant. For example, Subway has a varied menu and low price point so it rests in the upper left corner and is colored orange.

There is also a small chart under the strategic group map that explains the strategic grouping. Not only are the circles colored to define where they sit on the map, but the size of the circle represents their market share. It’s not exact but provides a sense of who the big players in the sector are. For example, Subway is the largest circle because it has the largest market share.

Other Free Templates to Help With Strategic Planning

Many other free templates beyond the strategic group map can help with strategic planning. Our site has over 100 free project management templates for Excel and Word that cover every aspect of managing a project across multiple industries. Here are some to help plan strategy.

Strategy Map Template

A strategy map is a visual representation that shows the cause-and-effect of one’s strategic objectives. Use this free strategy map template for Excel to break up objectives into four perspectives to illustrate the relationships between those objectives.

Strategic Roadmap Template

Use this free strategic roadmap template for Excel to visually communicate an organization’s strategy and the steps that will be taken to achieve its long-term goals. This is a powerful way to deliver the vision to an organization so everyone understands what needs to be done.

Strategic Plan Template

Creating a strategic plan requires a thorough document that captures the company’s future vision, goals and objectives. Use this free strategic plan template for Word to ensure no vital information is left out from the executive summary to financial projections and more.

How ProjectManager Helps With Strategic Planning

All these templates are great for figuring out a strategic plan. They’re not going to be the best tool to implement it. That’s because templates are static by design. They have to be manually updated, which takes people away from the more valuable goal of achieving the strategic objective. Also, strategy is almost always a push across the entire company and templates are poor platforms for collaboration.

That’s why organizations use project management software to plan, manage and track their strategic plans. ProjectManager is award-winning project and portfolio management software with the features companies need to manage resources across multiple projects and monitor their progress and performance in real time to ensure they’re delivered successfully.

Manage Resources Across Multiple Projects

Resource management features start when onboarding teams. Project managers can set their availability, including PTO, vacation, global holidays and skill sets, which makes it easier to assign the right task to the right team member. Both human and nonhuman resources can be scheduled on Gantt charts or the roadmap, including costs. Then view the color-coded workload chart to view resource allocation across all projects. This allows you to see who is overallocated or underutilized and balance their workload to keep everyone working at capacity and productive without threatening burnout. There’s even a team page that gives a daily or weekly overview of their activities, which can be filtered by priority, progress and more.

Track Progress, Cost and Performance in Real Time

To ensure the strategic plan is moving forward as scheduled, project managers can view the real-time project or portfolio dashboards. This provides an overview of one or multiple projects, with easy-to-read graphs and charts that show time, cost, workload and more. For more detail, use the customizable reports. They can be generated with a keystroke and show status, portfolio status, variance, workload, timesheet and more. All can be filtered to focus on key data points or provide a more general summary and share with stakeholders to keep them informed. Secure timesheets streamline payroll but also track labor costs to stay on budget.

Strategic Group Map Template