Gap analysis

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The gap analysis or gap analysis is a management instrument from business administration to identify strategic and operational gaps by analyzing the gap between the target and the - while maintaining the previous company policy - the expected development of the basic business. The gap analysis is a derived analysis that graphically relates the environment and the company analysis .

The principle of the gap analysis is based on future projections that are compared with one another:

On the one hand, quantifiable elements of the company's goals (e.g. sales , profit or return on investment (ROI)) are projected into the future as target values ​​with the desired development. On the other hand, the expected development of the target values ​​is determined by extrapolating past values. Both are broken down into milestones. In-depth knowledge of mathematical and statistical forecasting methods is therefore essential for the analysis. As a necessary assumption, it is assumed that no company activities take place during this time.

Steps of the gap analysis

  1. Creation of a coordinate system
  2. Enter the strategic goal at a certain point in time and how to get there
  3. Extrapolation of the current status
  4. Presentation of the development after the use of operational measures
  5. Determination of the operational gap
  6. Determination of the strategic gap
  7. Development of strategic measures to close the strategic gap
  8. Define milestones for regular review of operational and strategic measures

Strategic and operational gap

Sample data
GAP chart for sample data

A distinction is made in the gap analysis:

Strategic gap

The strategic gap (from the potential basic business to the target value (= development limit)) can only be closed by additional strategic measures. This gap can be closed by developing new product / market combinations (see product-market matrix ) taking into account all future potential of the company.

Operational gap

The operational gap can be closed by using all resources (optimization of the current basic business), here a further distinction is made between performance and competition gaps. Both together form the operational gap , the level reached would be the potential base transaction (the actual value is the base transaction).

  • Performance gap

Part of the operational gap that could be closed by a realistic perception of all rationalization potential. This performance gap is subject to an analysis of the revenue generated by sales.

  • Competitive gap

Part of the operational gap that could be closed by exhausting all further potential of the company (beyond the rationalization potential).

Critical appreciation of the gap analysis

It forces you to define goals and make them more concrete. However, it leads to strategic considerations only within existing business areas or production lines and to neglecting an overall view. The fact that non-quantifiable variables are excluded is a weakness. The strategic relevance of qualitative parameters (such as stakeholder values ) is not taken into account. Measurement problems are largely abstracted. External company developments, which are often subject to very dynamic changes and cannot be perfectly extrapolated, are also given too little consideration. The pure extrapolation of past values ​​should also be viewed critically from this point of view. If carried out consistently, the gap analysis can act as an early warning system.

Variants of the method

Strategic planning instruments such as life cycle concept , experience curve , portfolio technology, benchmarking , target cost management , lean management .

See also

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  • Welge, MK / Al-Laham, A. (2007): Strategisches Management, 5th edition, Gabler, Wiesbaden
  • Kreikebaum, H./Gilbert, DU, Behnam, M. (2011): Strategisches Management, Kohlhammer, Stuttgart