Brief History
While General Electric and
McKinsey were developing the
business screen, Shell – one
of the world’s largest
petrochemical companies,
developed a matrix, which
would come to be known as
the Shell directional policy
matrix. The Shell DPM was a
technique originated for
systematically analyzing the
qualitative factors present
in the organization, which
had an impact on corporate
planning. It was also
developed to compare
business sectors and company
positions in a way that was
independent of financial
forecasts.
