Quantitative tools of strategic analysis

The tools of strategic analysis have always played a significant role in strategic theory and, notably, in strategic analysis. Nevertheless, what is apparently missing in the literature is a classification or formalization that provides a ranking or mapping of the tools available to the strategic analyst. Consequently after having distinguished between quantitative and qualitative tools, the purpose of this chapter is to propose a snapshot of the quantitative instruments available to the analyst and to describe their use within the complex process of analysis. Notably, after having briefly described the methodology and the technique for the classification of tools, the chapter pays attention to: - the tools based on the identification of indices; - the tools based on the identification of means; - the tools based on the study of variability and mutability; - the tools based on the analysis of relations between two or more variables; - the tools based on deductive logic.