🌊 Blue Ocean Strategy

Creating uncontested market space and making competition irrelevant

Session length: 4-6 hours (or multiple sessions)

Blue Ocean Strategy is about creating new market spaces (blue oceans) rather than competing in existing, overcrowded markets (red oceans). It's about value innovation — pursuing differentiation AND low cost simultaneously.

Red Ocean vs Blue Ocean

🔴 Red Ocean Strategy

Compete in existing market space
Beat the competition
Exploit existing demand
Make the value-cost trade-off
Align activities with strategic choice of differentiation OR low cost

🔵 Blue Ocean Strategy

Create uncontested market space
Make the competition irrelevant
Create and capture new demand
Break the value-cost trade-off
Align activities in pursuit of differentiation AND low cost

🎪 Example: Cirque du Soleil

The circus industry was in decline — caught between rising costs and declining audiences. Traditional circuses competed on star performers and animal acts.

Cirque du Soleil didn't try to beat traditional circuses. They created a new category: artistic theater meets circus. They:

Eliminated: Animal shows, star performers, multiple rings
Reduced: Humor and thrill/danger
Raised: Unique venue (tents), artistic music and dance
Created: Theatrical themes, refined environment, multiple productions

Result: Higher prices, lower costs, new audience (adults willing to pay premium prices).

Core Tools & Frameworks

📊 1. Strategy Canvas

A diagnostic and action framework that captures the current state of play in the known market space.

How it works:

X-axis: Key competing factors (price, quality, service, etc.)
Y-axis: The offering level buyers receive
Plot your company and competitors on the same canvas

What to look for: When everyone's curves look the same, you're in a red ocean.

🎯 2. Four Actions Framework

The heart of Blue Ocean Strategy — challenges industry assumptions by asking four questions:

❌ Eliminate

Which factors that the industry takes for granted should be eliminated?

📉 Reduce

Which factors should be reduced well below the industry standard?

📈 Raise

Which factors should be raised well above the industry standard?

✨ Create

Which factors should be created that the industry has never offered?

📈 3. Value Curve

The result of the Four Actions Framework — a new strategic profile that:

Has a clear focus (not trying to be good at everything)
Diverges from competitors (looks different on the canvas)
Has a compelling tagline (the value proposition is clear)

🔍 4. Six Paths Framework

Systematic ways to look beyond existing boundaries:

Path 1: Look across alternative industries
Path 2: Look across strategic groups within industries
Path 3: Look across the chain of buyers
Path 4: Look across complementary products and services
Path 5: Look across functional or emotional appeal
Path 6: Look across time

Session Structure

Phase 1: As-Is Strategy Canvas

Map the current competitive landscape:

Identify key competing factors in your industry
Plot where you and competitors stand on each factor
Analyze: Are you trapped in a red ocean?

Phase 2: Explore Six Paths

Systematically search for blue ocean opportunities by looking across boundaries most companies take for granted.

Phase 3: Apply Four Actions

For each promising path, ask:

What can we eliminate that adds cost but not value?
What can we reduce to focus on what matters most?
What should we raise to create exceptional value?
What entirely new factors should we create?

Phase 4: Draw To-Be Strategy Canvas

Create your new value curve. Test it against three criteria:

Focus: Does it concentrate resources on key factors?
Divergence: Does it look different from competitors?
Compelling tagline: Can you articulate it in one sentence?

🎯 Session Outcomes

Teams will leave with:

Clear visual map of the current competitive landscape
Identification of blue ocean opportunities
New strategic profile that breaks value-cost trade-offs
Action plan for testing and implementing the new strategy
Shared language and tools for ongoing strategic innovation