Blue Ocean Strategy presents a systematic approach to making the competition irrelevant and outlines a framework which can be used to create uncontested market space. Given this premise, what then are the three characteristics necessary for an effective Blue Ocean Strategy? Continuing with our Blue Ocean Basics series, we turn to page 37 of the book Blue Ocean Strategy, co-authored by Professor W. Chan Kim and Professor Renée Mauborgne, for the answer to this question.
Yellow Tail, like Cirque du Soleil, created a unique and exceptional value curve to unlock a blue ocean. As shown in the strategy canvas, Yellow Tail’s value curve has focus; the company does not diffuse its efforts across all key factors of competition. The shape of its value curve diverges from the other players’, a result of not benchmarking competitors but instead looking across alternatives. The tagline of [yellow tail]’s strategic profile is clear: a fun and simple wine to be enjoyed every day.When expressed through a value curve, then, an effective blue ocean strategy like Yellow Tail’s has three complementary qualities: focus, divergence, and a compelling tagline. Without these qualities, a company’s strategy will likely be muddled, undifferentiated, and hard to communicate with a high cost structure. The four actions of creating a new value curve should be well guided toward building a company’s strategic profile with these characteristics. These three characteristics serve as an initial litmus test of the commercial viability of blue ocean ideas.
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Buy the Blue Ocean Strategy book.
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