1. Blue Ocean Strategy By: W. Chan Kim & Renee Mauborgne
Summary by: Jesse Starmer
COM 459

2. Value Innovation Costs Buyer Value
Value innovation is created in the region where a company’s actions favorably affect both its cost structure and its value proposition to buyers. Cost savings are made by eliminating and reducing the factors an industry competes on. Buyer value is lifted by raising and creating elements the industry has never offered. Over time, costs are reduced further as scale economies kick in due to the high sales volumes that superior value generates.
Costs
Value Innovation
Buyer Value

3. Value Innovation

4. Red Ocean Versus Blue Ocean Startegy
In the red ocean, differentiation costs because firms compete with the same best-practice principle. Here, the strategic choices for firms are to pursue either differentiation or low cost. In the reconstructionist world, however, the strategic aim is to create new best-practice rules by breaking the existing value-cost trade-off and thereby creating blue ocean.
Red Ocean Strategy
Blue Ocean Strategy
Compete in existing market space.
Create uncontested market space.
Beat the competition.
Make the competition irrelevant.
Exploit existing demand.
Create and capture new demand.
Make the value-cost trade-off.
Break the value-cost trade-off.
Align the whole system of a firm’s activities with its strategic choice of differentiation or low cost.
Align the whole system of a firm’s activities in pursuit of differentiation and low cost.

5. Red Ocean Versus Blue Ocean Strategy
Red Ocean Strategy
Blue Ocean Strategy

6. The Six Principles of Blue Ocean Strategy
This figure highlights the six principles driving the successful formulation and execution of blue ocean strategy and the risks that these principles attenuate.
Formulation Principles
Risk factor each principle attenuates
Reconstruct market boundaries
Focus on the big picture, not the numbers
Reach beyond existing demand
Get the strategic sequence right
Search risk
Planning risk
Scale risk
Business model risk
Evaluation principles
Overcome key organizational hurdles
Build execution into strategy
Organizational risk
Management risk

7. The Six Principles of Blue Ocean Strategy
Formulation Principles
Risk factor each principle attenuates
Evaluation principles

8. Strategy Canvas High Low
The strategy canvas is both a diagnostic and an action framework for building a compelling blue ocean strategy. It captures the current state of play in the known market space. This allows you to understand where the competition is currently investing, the factors the industry currently competes on in products, service, and delivery, and what customers receive from the existing competitive offerings on the market. The horizontal axis captures the range of factors the industry competes on an invests in. The vertical axis captures the offering level that buyers receive across all these key competing factors. The value curve then provides a graphic depiction of a company’s relative performance across its industry’s factors of competition.
High
Low
Above-the-line marketing
Vineyard prestige and legacy
Wine range
Price
Use of enological terminology
Aging quality
Wine complexity

9. Strategy Canvas
High
Low

10. Four Actions Framework + Eliminate/Reduce/Raise/Create Grid
The four actions framework offers an technique that breaks the trade-off between differentiation and low cost and to create a new value curve. It answers the four key questions of what industry takes for granted and needs to be eliminated; what factors need to be reduced below industry standards; what factors need to be raised above industry standards; and what should be created that the industry has never offered.
Which factors should be reduced well below industry standards?
Eliminate
A New Value Curve
Create
Which of the factors that the industry takes for granted should be eliminated?
Which factors should be created that the industry has never offered?
Raise
Which factors should be raised well above the industry’s standard?
The eliminate-reduce-raise-create grid pushes companies not only to ask all four questions in the four actions framework but also to act on all four to create a new value curve. By driving companies to fill in the grid with the actions of eliminating, reducing, raising, and creating, the grid provides four immediate benefits: it pushes them to simultaneously pursue differentiation and low costs; identifies companies who are only raising and creating thereby raising costs; makes it easier for managers to understand and comply; and it drives companies to scrutinize every factor the industry competes on.
Eliminate
Enological terminology and distinctions
Aging qualities
Above-the-line marketing
Raise
Price versus budget wines
Retail Store involvement
Reduce
Wine complexity
Wine range
Vineyard prestige
Create
Easy drinking
Ease of selection
Fun and adventure

11. Four Actions Framework + Eliminate/Reduce/Raise/Create Grid
A New Value Curve
Raise
Eliminate
Raise
Reduce
Create
The Eliminate-Reduce-Raise-Create Grid

12. Four Steps of Visualizing Strategy
The four steps of visualizing strategy builds on the six paths of creating blue oceans and involves a lot of visual stimulation in order to unlock people’s creativity. The four steps include visual awakening, visual exploration, visual strategy fair, and visual communication.
Visual Awakening
Visual Exploration
Visual Strategy Fair
Visual Communication
Compare your business with your competitors’ by drawing your “as is” strategy canvas.
See where your strategy needs to change
Go into the field to explore the six paths to creating blue oceans.
Observe the distinctive advantages of alternative products and services.
See which factors you should eliminate, create, or change.
Draw your “to be” strategy canvas based on insights from field observations.
Get feedback on alternative strategy canvases from customers, competitors’ customers, and noncustomers.
Use feedback to build the best “to be” future strategy.
Distribute your before-and-after strategic profiles on one page for easy comparison.
Support only those projects and operational moves that allow your company to close the gaps to actualize the new strategy.

13. Four Steps of Visualizing Strategy
Visual Awakening
Visual Exploration
Visual Strategy Fair
Visual Communication

14. Pioneer, Settler, Migrator Map
A corporate management team pursuing profitable growth can plot the company’s current and planned portfolios on a pioneer-migrator-settler (PMS) map. This strategy can help a company determine which businesses experience the highest and lowest growth and cash flow. These are classified accordingly with the highest growth potential being pioneers, then to migrators, then to the lowest rung, settlers.
Pioneers
Migrators
Settlers
Today
Tomorrow

15. Pioneer, Settler, Migrator Map
Migrators
Settlers
Today
Tomorrow

16. Three Tiers of Noncustomers
There are three tiers of noncustomers that can be transformed into customers. They differ in their relative distance from your market. The first tier of customers minimally buy an industry’s offering out of necessity. The second tier of noncustomers refuse to use your industries offerings. The third tier are noncustomers who have never thought of your market’s offerings as an option.
Third Tier
Second Tier
First Tier
Your Market

17. Three Tiers of Noncustomers

18. Sequence of Blue Ocean Strategy
Buyer utility
Is there exceptional buyer utility in your business idea?
No-- Rethink
An important part of blue ocean strategy is to “get the strategic sequence right.” This sequence fleshes out and validates blue ocean ideas to ensure their commercial viability. This can then reduce business model risk. In this model, potential blue ocean ideas must pass through a sequence of buyer utility, price, cost, and adoption. At each step there are only two options: a “yes” answer, in which case the idea may pass to the next step, or “no”. If an idea receives a no at any point, the company can either park the idea or rethink it until you get a yes.
Yes
Price
Is your price easily accessible to the mass of buyers?
No-- Rethink
Yes
Cost
Can you attain your cost target to profit at your strategic price?
No-- Rethink
Yes
Adoption
What are the adoption hurdles in actualizing your business idea? Are you addressing them up front?
No-- Rethink
Yes
A Commercially Viable Blue Ocean Idea

19. Sequence of Blue Ocean Strategy
Buyer utility
No-- Rethink
Yes
Price
No-- Rethink
Yes
Cost
No-- Rethink
Yes
Adoption
No-- Rethink
Yes
A Commercially Viable Blue Ocean Idea

20. Buyer Utility Map
The buyer utility map helps managers look at this issue from the right perspective. It outlines all the levers companies can pull to deliver exceptional utility to buyers as well as the various experiences buyers can have with a product or service.
The Six Stages of the Buyer Experience Cycle 1.
Purchase 2.
Delivery 3.
Use 4.
Supplements 5.
Maintenance 6.
Disposal
Customer Productivity
Simplicity
Convenience
The Six Utility Levers
Risk
Fun and Image
Environmental friendliness

21. Buyer Utility Map The Six Stages of the Buyer Experience Cycle1.
Purchase 2.
Delivery 3.
Use 4.
Supplements 5.
Maintenance 6.
Disposal
Customer Productivity
Simplicity
The Six Utility Levers
Convenience
Risk
Fun and Image
Environmental friendliness

22. Buyer Experience Cycle
A buyer’s experience can usually be broken into a cycle of six stages, running more or less sequentially from purchase to disposal. Each stage encompasses a wide variety of specific experiences. At each stage, managers can ask a set of questions to gauge the quality of buyer’s experience.
Purchase
Delivery
Use
Supplements
Maintenance
Disposal
How long does it take to find the product you need?
Is the place of purchase attractive and accessible?
How secure is the transaction environment?
How rapidly can you make a purchase?
How long does it take to get the product delivered?
How difficult is it to unpack and install the new product?
Do buyers have to arrange delivery themselves? If yes, how costly and difficult is this?
Does the product require training or expert assistance?
Is the product easy to store when not in use?
How effective are the product’s features and functions?
Does the product or service deliver far more power or options than required by the average user? Is in overcharged with bells and whistles?
Do you need other products and services to make this product work?
If so, how costly are they?
How much time do they take?
How easy are they to obtain?
Does the product require external maintenance?
How easy is it to maintain and upgrade the product?
How costly is maintenance?
Does use of the product create waste items?
How easy is it to dispose of the product?
Are there legal or environmental issues in disposing of the product safely?
How costly is disposal?

23. Buyer Experience Cycle
Purchase
Delivery
Use
Supplements
Maintenance
Disposal

24. Uncovering Blocks to Buyer Utility
Uncovering blocks to buyer utility can identify the most compelling hot spots to unlock exceptional utility. By locating your proposed offering on the thirty-six space of the buyer utility map, you can clearly see how, and whether the new idea not only creates a different utility proposition from existing offerings but also removes the biggest blocks to utility that stand in the way of converting noncustomers into customers.
Purchase
Delivery
Use
Supplements
Maintenance
Disposal
Customer Productivity:
In which stage are the biggest blocks to customer productivity?
Simplicity:
In which stages are the biggest blocks to simplicity?
Convenience:
In which stage are the biggest blocks to convenience?
Risk:
In which stage are the biggest blocks to reducing risks?
Fun and Image:
In which stage are the biggest blocks to fun and image?
Environmental
Friendliness:
In which stage are the biggest blocks to environmental friendliness?

25. Uncovering Blocks to Buyer Utility
Purchase
Delivery
Use
Supplements
Maintenance
Disposal
Customer Productivity:
Simplicity:
Convenience:
Risk:
Fun and Image:
Environmental
Friendliness:

26. Price Corridor of the Mass
This tool helps managers find the right price for an irresistible offer, which, by the way, isn’t necessarily the lower price. The tool involves two distinct buy interrelated steps. The first step involves identifying the price corridor of the mass which deals with customer price sensitivity and pricing strategies of products offered outside the group of traditional competitors. The second step deals with specifying a level within the price corridor which factors in legal protection and exclusive assets.
Step 1: Identify the price corridor of the mass.
Step 2: Specify a price level within the price corridor.
Three alternative product/service types:
Different form and function, same objective
Same form
Different form, same function
High degree of legal and resource protection
Difficult to imitate
Upper-level pricing
Some degree of legal and resource protection
Price Corridor of the Mass
Mid-level pricing
Low degree of legal and resource protection
Easy to imitate
Lower-level pricing

27. Price Corridor of the Mass
Step 1: Identify the price corridor of the mass.
Step 2: Specify a price level within the price corridor.
Three alternative product/service types:
Different form and function, same objective
Same form
Different form, same function
High degree of legal and resource protection
Difficult to imitate
Upper-level pricing
Some degree of legal and resource protection
Price Corridor of the Mass
Mid-level pricing
Low degree of legal and resource protection
Easy to imitate
Lower-level pricing

28. Profit Model of Blue Ocean Strategy
The profit model of blue ocean strategy shows how value innovation typically maximizes profit by using the three levers of strategic price, target cost, and pricing innovation.
The Strategic Price
The Target Profit
The Target Cost
Streamlining and Cost Innovations
Partnering
Pricing Innovation

29. Profit Model of Blue Ocean Strategy

30. Blue Ocean Idea Index
The blue ocean idea index is a simple but robust test demonstrating how the sequence of utility, price, cost, and adoption form an integral whole to ensure commercial success through blue ocean strategy.
Utility
Is there exceptional utility? Are there compelling reasons to buy your offering?
Price
Is your price easily accessible to the mass of buyers?
Cost
Does your cost structure meet the target cost?
Adoption
Have you addressed adoption hurdles up front?
DoCoMo
I-mode
Japan
Philips
CD-i
Motorola
Iridium - - + - - + - - + -
+/- +

31. Blue Ocean Idea Index Utility
Is there exceptional utility? Are there compelling reasons to buy your offering?
Price
Is your price easily accessible to the mass of buyers?
Cost
Does your cost structure meet the target cost?
Adoption
Have you addressed adoption hurdles up front?