The method does not change when the decision changes. What changes is the question it is pointed at, and the short set of instructions available. Each volume carries its own colour, which is how the set is navigated in print and on screen.
The four-lens architecture, the volume verb sets and the audit discipline that govern every other volume.
How the whole system works.
Volume IBuy-side and sell-side target evaluation, resolving to Proceed, Hold, Walk or Kill.
Should we buy this, and at what price.
Volume IIValuation of brand, customer relationships, data and goodwill, with IFRS 3, IAS 36 and insurance cross-walks.
What the things you cannot touch are worth.
Volume IIIMedia allocation across seven channel classes, including walled-garden attribution.
Where the advertising money should go.
Volume IVSeven-P mix evaluation and marketing management effectiveness.
Which levers actually move the business.
Volume VPortfolio architecture across master, sub-brand, endorsed and standalone classes.
How many brands, and how they relate.
Volume VIChannel architecture and rationalisation across direct, indirect and marketplace routes.
Which routes to market to back, and which to leave.
Volume VIIList price, realised price, mix and packaging, with FCA and APRA pricing conduct cross-walks.
What to charge, and what happens when you change it.
Volume VIIIService and retention-stage investment, including contact-centre to AI deflection.
Which service investments pay, and which do not.
Volume IXMateriality and impact assessment aligned to TCFD, TNFD, ISSB, CSRD and CBAM.
Which commitments are material, and which are decoration.
Volume XAI deployment and agent governance, with SR 11-7, SS1/23 and CPG 235 cross-walks.
Where AI belongs in the business, and who governs it.
Volume PEPortfolio-level reading across held assets, for operating partners and LPAC chairs.
Reading a whole portfolio rather than one company.