In Response to "It Depends"

I received a great email response from a colleague to my earlier post entitled "It Depends." Here is the response from Pat McCann:

"It is true; just like there are no cook book answers in life, there are no cook book MBM answers in   business. "It depends" because, different situations warrant different solutions AND there is usually more than one way to address a situation.

But here is the good news, we are not "a ship without a rudder."

MBM does provide us with the insight and guidance that can lead to successful answers if/when we     do the necessary critical thinking.

Remember, MBM is based on fundamental, PRINCIPLES (economics, human sciences, etc.) that     help us understand why the market works the way it does and why people do what they do. These principles, this understanding, can "ground" us in reality regarding various situation at hand, (how did we get here and how should we proceed to create and capture max., long term value).

So how do we apply MBM to lead us to these successful answers? Well, at risk of over simplification... analyze the situation considering applicable MBM philosophy, concepts, models and frameworks AND base you decisions on the same things."

Thanks to Pat for his response. Do you have a response to "It Depends" or Pat's follow up?