Introduction

The 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 arise from regulatory, stakeholder, operational, or environmental sources. This structure ensures initiatives are not only justifiable, but measurable, and, if necessary, repeatable or adaptable through cyclical learning.

Model flow

The model follows a standardised pattern:

1. Trigger – An initiating event or insight, such as a regulatory change or stakeholder feedback.

2. Rationale(s) – The reasons behind action, which may reflect policy compliance, reputation management, equity, public trust, or operational necessity.

3. Strategic response – The initiative or program launched in response to the trigger, guided by one or more selected rationales.

4. Performance indicator(s) – Metrics used to evaluate the effectiveness of the strategic response.

5. Evaluation – An assessment process that compares actual performance to target thresholds. This can itself become a new trigger if performance is insufficient.

Example 1: regulatory-driven strategic response

This example demonstrates how a regulatory update triggered a strategic initiative. The rationale was multi-dimensional—compliance, reputation, and efficiency all played a role. Evaluation of the performance indicator revealed a gap, leading to a new trigger.

Example 2: selective rationale application

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.

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

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

• 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

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.

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, Supply Chain, Innovation, Sustainability, People, Technology, and Channel 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

Innovation-Related Strategic Responses

Innovation-related strategic responses focus on idea generation, experimentation, and innovation capabilities. They include properties such as:

• Innovation elements addressed by the response

• Innovation outcomes resulting from the response

• Experimentation approaches implemented

• Portfolio impact assessment

• Innovation capability changes

Sustainability-Related Strategic Responses

Sustainability-related strategic responses focus on environmental, social, and governance dimensions. They include properties such as:

• Sustainability elements addressed by the response

• Environmental and social outcomes targeted

• Stakeholder expectations being addressed

• Compliance requirements being met

• Climate scenario considerations

People-Related Strategic Responses

People-related strategic responses focus on workforce, culture, and organizational capabilities. They include properties such as:

• Workforce elements addressed by the response

• Cultural changes implemented

• Talent development approaches

• Knowledge management strategies

• Competency framework adjustments

Technology-Related Strategic Responses

Technology-related strategic responses focus on systems, infrastructure, and technical standards. They include properties such as:

• Technology elements addressed by the response

• Architecture changes implemented

• Technical debt impacts

• Security enhancements

• Integration approaches

Channel-Related Strategic Responses

Channel-related strategic responses focus on distribution networks, partners, and customer touchpoints. They include properties such as:

• Channel elements addressed by the response

• Channel configuration changes

• Partner strategy adjustments

• Omnichannel integration approaches

• Distribution network optimizations

Strategic Response Model JSON Schema

See: Strategic Response Model JSON Schema