Strategic Response Model

Introduction

The Strategic Response Model provides a formalised structure for capturing how an organisation responds to external triggers, internal performance insights, and proactive strategic initiatives. It links these drivers to organisational reasoning (rationales) and defines the actions taken across strategic, policy, capability, and initiative domains. By making these relationships explicit, the model supports traceability, alignment, and accountability across the business architecture.

Each strategic response includes references to the triggers that prompted the change or the strategic intents that initiated it, along with the rationales that explain the basis for the response. Responses are associated with affected domains and are monitored through linked performance indicators, which define what success looks like and how progress is measured. These indicators support ongoing evaluation by including target values, baseline comparisons, timeframes, and data sources, enabling continuous assessment of strategic effectiveness.

This model supports continuous strategic alignment by documenting why a change occurred, how it was rationalised, and what was impacted and by how much—across strategies, capabilities, initiatives, policy, and organisational units.

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

The SRM strengthens strategic governance by ensuring that:

• 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

Impacted organisational units

The impactedUnits array uses standardised relationship roles (as defined in the Inter-unit Domain Relationships model). See: Inter-unit domain relationships

Strategic intent model

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.

Relationship with strategic responses

Strategic Intents have a one-to-many relationship with Strategic Responses. A single intent can spawn multiple coordinated responses across different domains and organizational units. This relationship is bidirectional, as Strategic Responses reference the Strategic Intent that initiated them through the intentReferences field.

Intent register

The organization maintains a Strategic Intent Register that catalogs all proactive strategic initiatives. This register enables:

• Tracking of intent-to-response relationships

• Assessment of strategic alignment

• Evaluation of intent completion and effectiveness

• Analysis of organizational proactivity vs. reactivity

Strategic context and relationships

Each Strategic Response now includes these properties to capture the strategic context and relationships:

• Strategic Themes: Identification of which organizational strategic priorities the response supports, enabling portfolio-level analysis of strategic coverage.

• Alignment Strength: A quantitative assessment (1-5) of how closely the response aligns with organizational strategy, supporting prioritization decisions.

• Adjacent Initiatives: Related initiatives that complement this response, facilitating coordination and preventing duplication.

• Strategic Levers: The primary business mechanisms being utilized (e.g., scale, scope, differentiation), providing insight into how the response creates value.

• Strategic Horizon: Categorization using the Three Horizons Framework:

  • Horizon 1: Core business optimization (0-18 months)

  • Horizon 2: Emerging opportunities (18-36 months)

  • Horizon 3: Creating viable options for future business (36+ months)

Purpose - Enhanced Benefits

The enhanced Strategic Response Model further strengthens strategic governance by ensuring that:

• Strategic responses are explicitly connected to organizational strategic themes

• The degree of strategic alignment is quantifiably assessed

• The portfolio of initiatives is coordinated through explicit adjacency relationships

• Value creation mechanisms are clearly identified

• Time horizons are explicitly considered in strategic planning

Relationship with rationales

Rationales play an important role in classifying and organising strategic responses and intents. Ensure that the trigger catalogue 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 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.

Domain-Specific Rationale Types

The rationale types vary across domains to reflect different justification patterns:

Customer Domain Rationale Types

• Customer_Needs_Based - Addressing explicit customer requirements

• Market_Trends_Based - Responding to changing customer behaviors

• Customer_Experience_Enhancement - Improving customer interactions

• Customer_Feedback_Response - Addressing customer input

• Customer_Retention_Focus - Keeping existing customers

• Customer_Acquisition_Focus - Gaining new customers

Market Domain Rationale Types

• Competitive_Response - Reacting to competitor actions

• Market_Opportunity - Pursuing new market openings

• Defensive_Position - Protecting market share

• Industry_Adaptation - Adjusting to industry changes

• Growth_Initiative - Expanding market presence

• Innovation_Imperative - Responding to market innovation needs

• Consolidation_Strategy - Optimizing market positions

Finance Domain Rationale Types

• Financial_Performance_Improvement - Enhancing financial metrics

• Cost_Optimization - Reducing or reallocating costs

• Investment_Justification - Supporting investment decisions

• Capital_Allocation - Guiding resource allocation

• Financial_Risk_Management - Mitigating financial risks

• Resource_Prioritization - Determining resource priorities

• Financial_Sustainability - Ensuring long-term viability

Risk Management Domain Rationale Types

• Risk_Prevention - Preventing risk events

• Risk_Mitigation - Reducing risk impact

• Risk_Transfer - Shifting risk to other parties

• Risk_Acceptance - Acknowledging and allowing risk

• Control_Enhancement - Improving risk controls

• Response_Planning - Preparing for risk events

• Compliance_Management - Meeting risk requirements

Supply Chain Domain Rationale Types

• Disruption_Response - Addressing supply chain disruptions

• Network_Optimization - Improving supply chain structure

• Cost_Reduction - Decreasing supply chain costs

• Service_Improvement - Enhancing service levels

• Risk_Mitigation - Reducing supply chain risks

• Capability_Development - Building supply chain capabilities

• Technology_Adoption - Implementing new technologies

Trigger catalogue reference

Responses reference a trigger selected from a standardised catalogue of events, trends, or insights. This ensures consistency in classifying causes of change and enables systemic analysis across responses.

Domain-Specific Response Models

The Strategic Response Model has been extended to address domain-specific needs in Customer, Market, Finance, Risk Management, and Supply Chain domains. These extensions provide specialized properties and enumerations to capture the unique aspects of strategic responses in each domain.

Customer-Related Strategic Responses

Customer-related strategic responses focus on addressing customer needs, behaviors, and journeys. They include specialized properties such as:

• Customer segments targeted by the response

• Customer outcomes resulting from the response

• Customer experience changes implemented

• Customer feedback mechanisms

Market-Related Strategic Responses

Market-related strategic responses address competitive positioning, market opportunities, or industry shifts. They include properties such as:

• Markets targeted by the response

• Competitors addressed by the response

• Competitive advantage created or enhanced

• Market position changes implemented

• Competitive monitoring approaches

Finance-Related Strategic Responses

Finance-related strategic responses focus on financial structures, investments, or resource allocation. They include properties such as:

• Financial outcomes resulting from the response

• Required financial resources

• Financial risk assessment

• Financial review mechanisms

Risk Management-Related Strategic Responses

Risk-related strategic responses address risk prevention, mitigation, or transfer. They include properties such as:

• Risk elements addressed by the response

• Implemented controls

• Risk monitoring approaches

• Residual risk assessment

Supply Chain-Related Strategic Responses

Supply chain-related strategic responses focus on network design, supplier relationships, or logistics optimization. They include properties such as:

• Supply chain elements addressed by the response

• Supply chain changes implemented

• Supply chain risks associated with the response

• Stakeholder engagement approaches

Strategic Response Model JSON Schema

The Strategic Response Model schema includes both core properties and domain-specific extensions. Here are the core properties:

Strategic Intent Schema

Domain-Specific Response Schema Extensions

Customer-Related Strategic Response Schema Extensions

Market-Related Strategic Response Schema Extensions

Finance-Related Strategic Response Schema Extensions

Risk Management-Related Strategic Response Schema Extensions

Supply Chain-Related Strategic Response Schema Extensions

Enumeration Values

Opportunity Type (Strategic Intent)

• Innovation - Creating new products, services, or business models

• Growth - Expanding market share, customer base, or revenue streams

• Efficiency - Optimizing processes, reducing costs, or improving productivity

• Resilience - Strengthening organizational adaptability or risk management

• Compliance - Addressing regulatory requirements or industry standards

• Differentiation - Creating competitive advantage through unique capabilities

• Sustainability - Enhancing environmental or social responsibility initiatives

• Transformation - Fundamentally changing organizational structure or operations

Maturity Level (Strategic Intent)

• Conceptual - Early-stage idea requiring significant development

• Emerging - Partially developed concept with initial validation

• Established - Well-defined approach with proven implementation methods

• Scaling - Successfully implemented and ready for broader adoption

• Optimizing - Mature implementation focused on continuous improvement

Potential Value (Strategic Intent)

• Low - Incremental impact with limited organizational benefits

• Medium - Moderate impact with significant benefits to specific domains

• High - Substantial impact with organization-wide benefits

• Transformative - Fundamental reshaping of organizational capabilities or market position

Uncertainty Level (Strategic Intent)

• Low - Well-understood implementation with predictable outcomes

• Medium - Some unknowns but manageable with existing approaches

• High - Significant unknowns requiring new methods or capabilities

• Experimental - Highly speculative with unpredictable outcomes and potential pivots

Strategic Response Status

• Planned - Response defined but not yet initiated

• In_Progress - Currently being implemented

• Completed - Successfully implemented and operational

• Deferred - Temporarily postponed but still intended

• Cancelled - Permanently stopped before completion

Strategic Intent Status

• Proposed - Initial concept under evaluation

• Active - Approved and currently being pursued

• Completed - Successfully realized with objectives met

• Abandoned - Discontinued due to changed priorities or conditions

• Transformed - Evolved into a different strategic intent

• Superseded - Replaced by a newer strategic intent

Strategic Levers

• Scale - Utilizing size, volume, or reach to create value

• Scope - Leveraging breadth of offerings or markets

• Differentiation - Creating unique value propositions

• Innovation - Developing novel solutions or approaches

• Efficiency - Optimizing resource utilization

• Resilience - Strengthening adaptive capacity

• Other - Strategic levers not covered by standard categories

Strategic Horizon

• Horizon_1 - Maintaining and defending core business (0-18 months)

• Horizon_2 - Building emerging business opportunities (18-36 months)

• Horizon_3 - Creating viable options for future business (36+ months)

Domain-Specific Response Types

Customer-Related Response Types

• Customer_Experience_Initiative - Enhancing customer interactions and touchpoints

• Customer_Retention_Program - Focused on keeping existing customers

• Customer_Acquisition_Campaign - Targeting new customer segments

• Customer_Journey_Redesign - Reimagining customer pathways and experiences

• Customer_Segment_Strategy - Approaches for specific customer groups

• Customer_Insight_Application - Leveraging customer data and feedback

• Customer_Technology_Implementation - New systems for customer engagement

Market-Related Response Types

• Market_Entry - Moving into new market segments or geographies

• Market_Exit - Withdrawing from market segments

• Competitive_Response - Reacting to competitor actions

• Product_Innovation - Creating new or enhanced offerings

• Repositioning - Changing market position or perception

• Market_Expansion - Growing presence in existing markets

• Defensive_Action - Protecting market share

• Partnership_Strategy - Collaborative market approaches

• Pricing_Strategy - Changes to pricing models

• Channel_Strategy - Adjustments to distribution or sales channels

Finance-Related Response Types

• Cost_Optimization - Reducing or realigning expenses

• Investment_Strategy - Approach to capital allocation

• Capital_Structure_Change - Adjusting financing approach

• Financial_Risk_Management - Addressing financial vulnerabilities

• Budget_Reallocation - Shifting resources between priorities

• Funding_Strategy - Approach to source and allocate funding

• Revenue_Enhancement - Increasing or optimizing revenue streams

• Working_Capital_Management - Improving cash flow and liquidity

• Financial_Restructuring - Reorganizing financial obligations

Risk Management-Related Response Types

• Risk_Prevention - Preventing occurrence of risk events

• Risk_Mitigation - Reducing impact of potential risks

• Risk_Transfer - Shifting risk to other parties

• Risk_Acceptance - Acknowledging and planning for accepted risks

• Control_Enhancement - Improving risk control mechanisms

• Incident_Response - Preparing for risk event management

• Business_Continuity - Ensuring operations during disruptions

• Compliance_Program - Meeting regulatory requirements

• Risk_Governance - Improving risk management oversight

Supply Chain-Related Response Types

• Network_Redesign - Restructuring supply chain configuration

• Supplier_Change - Modifying supplier relationships

• Inventory_Strategy - Changing inventory management approach

• Logistics_Optimization - Improving transportation and distribution

• Technology_Implementation - Adopting new supply chain technologies

• Process_Improvement - Enhancing supply chain workflows

• Risk_Mitigation - Addressing supply chain vulnerabilities

• Cost_Reduction - Decreasing supply chain expenses

• Service_Enhancement - Improving fulfillment capabilities

• Sustainability_Initiative - Improving environmental performance

Innovation updates

Strategic Response Model Schema Updates

1. Add new Innovation-Related Strategic Response Types:

   • Innovation_Program - Structured initiative to drive innovation

   • Innovation_Culture_Change - Adjusting organizational culture for innovation

   • Innovation_Capability_Building - Developing innovation capabilities

   • Portfolio_Adjustment - Changing innovation portfolio composition

   • Experimentation_Framework - Creating or adjusting testing approaches

   • Idea_Management_Enhancement - Improving idea capture and development

2. Add Innovation-specific properties to the Strategic Response schema:

   • innovationIDs: Array of string - Innovations this response addresses

   • innovationOutcomes: Array of objects - Specific innovation outcomes

   • innovationCapabilityChanges: Array of objects - Changes to innovation capabilities

   • experimentationApproach: Object - How concepts will be tested

   • portfolioImpact: Object - How innovation portfolio is affected

3. Add Innovation domain to affectedDomains enum values in the Strategic Response Model.

Sustainability updates

Strategic Response Model Schema Updates:

1. Add "Sustainability" to affectedDomains enum values

2. Add a sustainabilityElementReferences array to track affected sustainability elements

3. Add sustainability-specific response types:

   • "Environmental_Initiative"

   • "Social_Program"

   • "Governance_Enhancement"

   • "Climate_Adaptation"

   • "Sustainability_Reporting_Improvement"

4. Add climateScenarioReference for responses to climate-related triggers

5. Add sustainabilityPerformanceIndicators to track ESG-specific metrics

6. Update strategicThemes to include sustainability-focused themes like "Climate_Action", "Circular_Economy", "Inclusive_Workplace"

People updates

Strategic Response Model Schema Updates

1. Add "People" to affectedDomains enum values

2. Add a peopleElementReferences array to track affected people elements

3. Add people-specific response types:

   • "Talent_Initiative"

   • "Culture_Change_Program"

   • "Leadership_Development"

   • "Knowledge_Retention_Program"

   • "Workforce_Restructuring"

4. Update strategicThemes to include people-focused themes like "Talent_Development", "Culture_Transformation", "Knowledge_Management"