Lean manufacturing, also known as lean production, or lean, is a practice that organizations from numerous fields can enable. Some well-known companies that use lean include Toyota, Intel, John Deere and Nike. The approach is based on the Toyota Production System and is still used by that company, as well as myriad others. Companies that use enterprise resource planning (ERP) can also benefit from using a lean production system.

A balanced scorecard (BSC) is defined as a management system that provides feedback on both internal business processes and external outcomes to continuously improve strategic performance and results. By bringing together measures around internal processes and external outcomes, a balanced scorecard supports continuous improvement at the level of strategic performance and results.

Michael Porter's five-force strategic analysis model, introduced in a 1979 article published in the Harvard Business Review, remains a fundamental tool for strategic analysts plotting the competitive landscape of an industry.

In a bid to mirror the complexity real strategists would face while keeping their strategic analysis manageable, Porter set out five forces at play in a given industry: internal competition, the potential for new entrants, the negotiating power of suppliers, the negotiating power of customers, and the ability of customers to find substitutes. Below, we take you through each of Porter's five forces, detail the significant critiques of his approach, and show how to apply the model to specific markets.