The adaptive strategy approach is most suitable for environments that are unpredictable and difficult to change. In these environments, it is difficult for companies to achieve sustainable competitive advantage pursuing the classical approach. Instead, companies aim to achieve a series of transient or short-term advantages by continually monitoring their environments and adjusting their objectives, updating their strategies, modifying their resources, and reconfiguring their capabilities.

The shaping strategy approach emphasizes collaboration through the orchestration of activities with other players in the ecosystem. Shapers engage, orchestrate, and evolve. Shapers first engage other players in the ecosystem in the creation of a shared vision for the industry. Subsequently, they orchestrate the collaborative activities through a platform. Lastly, they evolve the platform by scaling it up. BCG research has identified five strategy tools which can be used with the shaping approach. These strategy tools include S-curve, ecosystem strategy, co-opetition, open innovation, and shared value framework.

The shaping strategy approach is most suitable for environments which are unpredictable but malleable. These environments usually exist in new industries where there are no established leaders or rules of competition. Many companies can enter these low barrier industries and introduce innovative business models, products, and services. Mature markets may also be ready to be disrupted if they are overserving major customer segments or not serving customers. The disruption is usually through business model innovation.

The renewal strategy approach seeks to ensure the company survives the harsh environment it has found itself in because of a misfit between its strategy and environment, or because it is being subjected to a major external or internal disturbance. Regardless of the factors which have caused the hardship, companies need to, in the short term, first ensure their viability by pursuing a defensive strategy which reduces costs, gets rid of unattractive businesses or products, conserves capital, and saves and frees up resources. Afterwards, they should pursue one of the four strategies mentioned above for the long-term. Therefore, this strategy approach is only temporary in nature.

The Strategy Palette is one of the more recent and probably the most recognized framework for selecting the appropriate strategy approach. The framework’s use of dichotomous variables with low and high values makes it simple and easy to understand. It does not stop at identifying the strategy approaches, instead further linking them with the relevant strategy tools. BCG also has an interactive website for the strategy tools providing a short description of the tool, its author(s), and the original reference. The linking of the various strategy tools to strategy approaches allows for the creation of a strategy toolbox for each approach that can be used by strategists []. Moreover, the book provides several case studies and vignettes to explicate the strategy approaches.