Cognitive Scaffold

Preparing your thinking workspace

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MENTAL MODEL · M3559

Strategy Palette

Strategy Palette
BusinessHigh supportStrategic Management
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Updated 2026-08-05

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INTRODUCTION

English translation pending.

CORE DEFINITION

A strategy framework proposed by scholars at INSEAD. It classifies environments along predictability and malleability and derives five archetypes: classical for predictable settings, adaptive for unpredictable ones, visionary for unpredictable but malleable ones, shaping for newly created ecosystems, and renewal for existential crisis. Each archetype implies different planning cycles, resource allocation, and leadership behavior. The environment, not executive preference, determines the correct archetype, and large firms usually run several at once across different business lines.

SCAFFOLDING EFFECT

psychology

Reduce cognitive load

- Environment First: assess predictability and malleability with evidence before choosing a strategy style. - Archetype Matching: pick classical, adaptive, visionary, shaping, or renewal to fit the setting. - Alignment Check: make planning cadence, budgeting, and culture match the chosen archetype.

anchor

Anchor fast decisions

Proposed by scholars at INSEAD, the framework sorts environments along two dimensions, predictability and malleability, into five strategy types: classical (predictable and non-malleable, pursue scale), adaptive (unpredictable, iterate through trial and error), visionary (unpredictable but malleable, create the future), shaping (newly malleable, build an ecosystem), and renewal (existential crisis, transform). Strategy must match the environment: in a predictable market, planning and scale economies pay off, while in an unpredictable one the same planning becomes a liability because commitments cannot be revised fast enough. Classifying the environment first prevents the common error of importing a method that worked elsewhere, and it explains why one playbook produces opposite results in different industries.

MINIMUM ACTION

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Source support: Explicit

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    hbr.orghttps://hbr.org/2012/09/your-strategy-needs-a-strategyZH · Explicit
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