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Introduction
The strategic response model Strategic Response Model connects the organisation’s awareness of environmental or internal triggers to structured decision-making. It enables traceable, multi-perspective justification for strategic initiatives, ensuring that performance can be evaluated and further decisions made with confidence. This model is foundational in operationalising strategy across federated or complex organisations.
Strategic responses are not ad hoc reactions. They are anchored in clearly articulated rationales and driven by triggers that can may arise from regulatory, stakeholder, operational, or environmental sources. This structure ensures initiatives are not only justifiable, but measurable, and, if necessary, repeatable and—if necessary—repeatable or adaptable through cyclical learning.
Model flow
The model follows a standardised pattern:
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Trigger – An initiating event or insight, such as a regulatory change or stakeholder feedback.
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Rationale(s) – The reasons behind action, which may reflect policy compliance, reputation management, equity, public trust, or operational necessity.
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Strategic response – The initiative or program launched in response to the trigger, guided by one or more selected rationales.
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Performance indicator(s) – Metrics used to evaluate the effectiveness of the strategic response.
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Strategic Intent
Strategic intents define proactive, forward-looking initiatives that drive organisational change. Unlike reactive triggers, they represent deliberate choices to pursue innovation, growth, efficiency, or strategic advantage. They provide essential direction and context to the response model, influencing what kinds of actions are prioritised. Intents ensure that each response is aligned to broader organisational ambition. Intents may span multiple domains and units, and the Strategic Response Model explicitly references them to maintain strategic alignment.
Components of the Strategic Response Model
The Strategic Response Model is built around four core components that form a structured sequence—starting from identifiable triggers and rationales and ending with measurable, aligned responses. These components ensure that strategic action is justifiable, traceable, and adaptable over time.
Trigger – A specific event, condition, or insight—internal or external—that initiates a response. This may include regulatory changes, stakeholder demands, environmental shifts, or performance deviations.
Rationale – The reasoned justification for taking action in response to a trigger. Rationales ensure responses are deliberate—grounded in compliance needs, risk mitigation, equity goals, reputational concerns, or strategic alignment.
Response – The initiative, program, policy, or capability change implemented to address the trigger, guided by the chosen rationale(s). These responses are formalised across business architecture layers to ensure integration and traceability.
Performance Indicators – Quantifiable metrics used to evaluate the effectiveness, efficiency, or broader impact of the response. These indicators inform decision-makers about what’s working and where adjustments are needed.
In addition to these core components, the model is designed to work in alignment with broader strategic drivers and to support iterative learning through feedback.
Strategic Intent is not a component of the response model itself but provides essential direction and context. Strategic intents describe proactive, long-term goals that influence what types of responses are prioritised. The Strategic Response Model explicitly references strategic intents to ensure alignment between organisational ambitions and responsive action.
Like strategic intent,Evaluation, while also not a core component, plays a key supporting role. Performance indicators feed into evaluation processes, and where actual results fall short of expectations, the evaluation itself may act as a new trigger—creating a feedback loop that supports ongoing learning and adaptation.
Example 1: regulatory-driven strategic response
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In this example, a drop in commuter confidence led to the identification of multiple potential rationales. However, only one was selected—public trust—and this guided the strategic response. This illustrates the model’s flexibility: not all rationales need to be acted upon, but all are considered.
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Benefits
Strategic clarity – Clearly documents why a response was initiated.
Transparency – Enables others to trace decisions back to their rationale.
Evaluation-ready – Built-in performance measures support iterative improvement.
Federated usability – Designed for complex organisational structures with diverse stakeholder needs.
Components of the strategic response model
The Strategic Response Model (SRM) links both proactive intentions and observed conditions—external and internal—to formal responses across Strategy, Capabilities, Policy, Initiatives, and other domains. It is comprised of four core elements:
Strategic Intent: Proactive, forward-looking strategic initiatives that drive organizational change.
Triggers: Events, insights, or conditions that prompt a response. See: Trigger
Rationales: The reasoned justification for responding to a trigger or pursuing a strategic intent. See Rationale
Responses: The aligned changes or activities, captured in other business architecture domains.
Performance Indicators: The quantifiable metrics used to evaluate the success, efficiency, or impact. See: Performance indicators
This structured model enables traceable, auditable, and adaptive decision-making throughout the organisation.
Purpose
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Business responses are traceable to defined triggers or strategic intents
Rationales are explicitly captured and consistently structured
Impact across domains and organisational units is recorded
Organisational learning and auditability are enhanced
Proactive strategic planning is integrated with reactive responses
Structure
Each Strategic Response includes:
A trigger or strategic intent: drawn from the shared trigger catalogue or strategic intent register
A rationale object: structured and detailed, replacing simple references
One or more affected domains: such as policy, initiatives, or capabilities
Impacted organisational units: using defined role types
Response actions: steps taken or planned
Expected outcomes: anticipated benefits or changes in performance
A performance indicator measuring a response
Affected domains
Strategic responses typically impact one or more of the following domains:
Strategy: adjustments to goals or strategic direction
Capabilities: development, enhancement, or decommissioning
Initiatives: programs or projects started or stopped
Policy: introduction or amendment of rules and frameworks
Performance: redefinition or reweighting of KPIs
Information: changes to how data is used or governed
Value Stream: refinements in end-to-end value delivery
Customer: changes to customer experience, segmentation, or journeys
Market: responses to competitive threats or market opportunities
Finance: adjustments to financial structures or investments
Risk Management: implementation of new controls or mitigation approaches
Supply Chain: changes to supplier networks, logistics, or inventory approaches
Innovation: adjustments to innovation processes, portfolios, or capabilities
Sustainability: changes to environmental, social, or governance approaches
People: modifications to workforce, culture, or competency frameworks
Technology: updates to applications, infrastructure, or technical standards
Channel: changes to distribution networks, partners, or integration approaches
Impacted organisational units
The impactedUnits array uses standardised relationship roles (as defined in the Inter-unit Domain Relationships model). See: Inter-unit domain relationships
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Strategic Intent
The Strategic Intent Model provides a structured approach for capturing proactive, forward-looking strategic initiatives that drive organizational change. Unlike triggers which are reactive in nature, strategic intents represent deliberate organizational choices to pursue opportunities for innovation, growth, efficiency, or other strategic advantages.
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Rationales play an important role in classifying and organising strategic responses and intents. Ensure that the trigger catalogue catalog and strategic intent register—which lists common environmental or operational triggers and proactive intentions prompting strategic responses—are up to date. Reference to the trigger catalogue catalog and strategic intent register within this page ensures that rationales are accurately categorised based on their initiating context, improving traceability from external or internal stimuli through to strategic objectives, initiatives, and performance metrics.
Trigger
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catalog reference
Responses reference a trigger selected from a standardised catalogue standardized catalog of events, trends, or insights. This ensures consistency in classifying causes of change and enables systemic analysis across responses.
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