Blue Ocean Matrix Four Main Actions to Move Into a Less Contested Space
Blue Ocean Matrix: the matrix is a graphic way of expressing Blue Ocean Strategy, which is a marketing theory from a book published in 2005 which was written by W. Chan Kim and Renée Mauborgne of INSEAD Business School in Switzerland. The book has sold nearly 4 million copies and the Blue Ocean and Red Ocean have entered into almost standard marketing language today. Blue oceans are those with pretty much uncontested space, whereas their red counterparts are very crowded and full of blood from all the fighting sharks and other predators.
To move into less of a fight the authors suggest four main actions that you can take, illustrated in the Four Actions Framework below. You can remove or reduce costs on the one hand and emphasize or create value on the other. Easy to say and hard to do.
Four Principles of Blue Ocean Strategy
The four principles of a blue ocean strategy are:
-
how to create uncontested market space by reconstructing market boundaries,
-
focusing on the big picture,
-
reaching beyond existing demand and supply in new market spaces
-
getting the strategic sequence right.
One of the big examples the authors cite is Cirque du Soleil that combined ballet and circus to create an entirely new market space. It is a case well worth studying if you are blue ocean minded.
You might want to invest in Kim and Mauborgne’s newer book (published in 2017) called Blue Ocean Shift Beyond Competing: Proven Steps to Inspire New Confidence and Seize New Growth. It may be more appealing to bigger firms, but there are some very interesting startup cases in the book. One good example concern. citizenM Hotels, who have ‘blue-oceaned’ the middle to upper end of the hotel business.
Here is more help on startup strategy that you can find on the Venture Founders site
