Three Horizons Framework
Updated 2026-08-10
INTRODUCTION
English translation pending.
CORE DEFINITION
A growth planning framework associated with McKinsey that separates activity into three horizons: the current core business to be maintained and optimized, emerging businesses being scaled toward growth, and future options still being explored and tested. Its core proposition is that organizations must invest across all three at once, since exclusive focus on the present forfeits the future and exclusive focus on the future starves the present. The qualifier is that each horizon requires different metrics.
SCAFFOLDING EFFECT
Reduce cognitive load
- Horizon sort: assign every initiative to core, emerging, or future before allocating anything. - Metric match: use different measures for each horizon rather than one uniform target. - Portfolio balance: check that resources reach all three instead of collapsing into the present.
Anchor fast decisions
Core businesses decay as markets mature, so returns must be reinvested into options before the decline becomes visible. Options mature slowly and cannot be accelerated at will, which means the future portfolio must be seeded years ahead of need. Running all three concurrently keeps near-term cash and long-term viability from competing for the same slot.
MINIMUM ACTION
In progress 0/1Practice this model in one real situation:
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Source support: Explicit
- en.wikipedia.orghttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_Horizonsverified
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