What is a blue ocean in marketing? How to use a blue ocean strategy to differentiate yourself from your competitors

Here we have people with approximately the same type of needs.

And here are companies that satisfy this need in approximately the same way.

Commercial relationships are established between people and companies: people pay,
companies provide a service or sell a product.

It turns out to be a market.

There is a market for Internet providers and a market for mobile communications. There is a food market. There is a market
pizzerias and a separate market of Japanese restaurants with delivery. And the general market "Where to eat to
shouldn't cook? Oil market. Market of educational services. There are an incredible number of markets.

If you are the only company in the market and you have many clients, you are good. You dictate prices and determine
rules of the game. Clients come only to you because only you solve their need. It's blue
ocean: a market without competition.

Soon other companies see how good you are and come to your market. They start providing the same services
to the same people, but cheaper, faster or better quality. Competition begins and blood is shed. Now
This is the red ocean: a competitive market.

The essence of the blue ocean strategy is to come up with a product or service that will create a blue ocean for you.
ocean.

Don't compete

The essence of the “Strategy...” is to stop competing with other companies, that is, to play by their rules. Stop
try to do the same thing as them, but cheaper, faster or better. Just don't do that.

Instead of fierce competition, Wichan and Mauborgne propose changing the rules of the game and creating new markets - blue
oceans in which there is no one yet. And be there first.

The computer was considered a tool for the office. Apple came up with the idea that the computer
should be homey and personal.

A small family bakery made bread for the entire area. But here in the area
They opened a chain supermarket, which began to bring bread from the plant. The bakery started baking fresh
buns for restaurants.

The company helped with moving between apartments, but saw that there was too much
other companies do the same. We started helping with moving between offices and became successful.

Blue oceans are being created all the time, although no one thinks about them in that way. But every time
A revolutionary product appears on the market - welcome to the blue ocean.

January 28, 2010: Steve Jobs presents the first iPad, which was sold under the slogan
"Revolutionary device." Despite the fact that tablet computers existed before the iPad, it was
Apple turned the idea of ​​a tablet computer into a commercially successful product. Source - LA Times.

How to create a blue ocean

In the book “Blue Ocean Strategy” there are no perky slogans from the series “Do it once, do it twice!” Book
thorough, detailed and with reservations. I will try to summarize the main approaches to the discovery of blue
oceans. The list is incomplete and not precise enough, but gives a general idea.

To create a blue ocean, new demand is needed. Where to get it from:

1. REVIEW THE PORTRAIT OF THE BUYER

Focus not on those who are already in your market, but on those you don’t. Think who
more doesn't buy your product and why.

Before Bloomberg financial news, stock data and analytics
supplied by different companies. And they focused not on the stockbrokers themselves, but on their CIOs,
who made decisions on the purchase of computers and programs. Therefore, systems for stockbrokers are actually
in fact, they were made for IT specialists and took into account their interests: so that they could be easily deployed and configured
and were supported.

Bloomberg said "Enough!" and made a system for stockbrokers. This is the one
the most legendary computer with two screens and special programs. Flocked to these computers
all analytics, stock data and news, and it was primarily aimed at traders,
and not on their directors.

Bloomberg terminal for stock traders. Source - New York Times

Australian winemakers Casella Wines looked at who doesn't drink in America
wine. It turned out that almost the entire middle and working class does not drink it - and this is a huge market. Why
don't drink? Because they can’t choose, don’t understand the taste of wine and don’t distinguish between all these geographical
designations. The wine market is too complex for the average American. Winemakers compete with each other
The other thing is that for 90% of people it doesn't matter.

The Australians have made a simple, democratic wine: with fresh fruit
taste, without geographical problems, with a small choice. This wine is easy to choose and
easy to drink. You don't need to be a sommelier to enjoy it. New within a year
The Australian brand has become the fastest growing wine brand in the US. With incredible
overcrowding of the wine market.

The secret of Casella Wines is to fight not for those who already drink wine, but for those who do not drink it yet.

2. REVIEW MARKET STEREOTYPES

The Blue Ocean is easy to identify if you catch yourself blinkered at the market.

We produce expensive, high-quality luxury cars. Class
“Lux” - that is, with all the little things: leather interior, heated steering wheel, charger for
telephone and panoramic sunroof. Why not break the rules of the game and make an inexpensive car
with all this stuff?

Flying by plane is a long journey. It is important that
passengers felt comfortable everywhere: both at the airport and on the plane. Fine. But why not
Why not make the flight a simple journey, like a bus? You don't need comfort, you need it quickly
and simply, without transfers and waiting. American airline Southwest made flights
simple, quick registration, removed all luxury elements and lowered prices. And they did a lot
direct flights to small airports in America, so that there is no need to transfer to large ones
terminals.

The sports company Curves looked at the situation in the fitness market:
expensive fitness centers, spas, showers with saunas, expensive exercise equipment, classes at a minimum
by the hour. Going to such a fitness center is a big deal. “We’re breaking everything,” Curves said. Done
small inexpensive halls, simple showers, the easiest to use exercise equipment
and came up with a system of circuit training so that everyone had enough space and time. Half an hour
you've done your work and you go on about your business.

Competition intensifies where people think in the same terms. Fitness club opened
spa and juice bar. The neighbor looked at him and opened two spas and a restaurant
healthy food. The third opened all this plus a nutritional supplement store. Everyone is looking at each other
and no one is looking at the consumer. This is the path to the red ocean.

3. LOOK AT RELATED PRODUCTS

Trace the entire chain of use of your product and service. With what products are they often used?
are they buying? What problems arise? How to solve them? Look beyond what
traditionally considered your product. Look at it from the buyer's point of view.

Kettles did not always have a scale filter. They were invented when
They saw that scale was getting into the cup. It's impossible to see if you only think
about what shape and size your teapot should be.

Ikea is essentially a furniture showroom. But it sells everything for
at home: knives, cups, light bulbs, soft toys, slippers, flowers, and stems
bamboo How interesting would it be at Ikea if there were only rows of
sofas?

American departments of transport are purchasing regular buses. Competition,
Of course, the market is huge: everyone wants to service municipal contracts
and supply buses for budget money. There is fierce price competition.
Manufacturers are trying to reduce the price of one bus in order to win tenders.

But in addition to the bus itself, departments are spending
for anti-corrosion body treatment, maintenance and fuel for powerful engines.
Expensive maintenance is a problem in the bus market.

Here comes a Scandinavian company that offers
buses with fiberglass bodies. It is durable, easy to repair, and not subject to
corrosion resistant and lighter than metal. Lighter body - less powerful engines. Less
fuel. As a result, the bus itself is more expensive, but its maintenance is much cheaper.
Fiberglass buses are taking over America.

Another example with a problem that lay a little outside the product boundary:

American moms and dads want to go to the movies, but children
Many films are not interesting to watch. There is no one to leave the child with, so families go
only for children's films. If there was someone to leave the child with, the parents would go
at the cinema more often. The solution is to open a children's playground at the cinema, where animators
look after children during sessions.

When a manufacturer consciously goes beyond the scope of his product, he falls into
into the blue ocean.

4. CHANGE THE EMOTIONAL COMPONENT OF THE PRODUCT

Some products are sold through emotions and rituals - beauty salons, tea shops
ceremonies, expensive restaurants, expensive watches and exclusive clothes. One of the methods
create a blue ocean: dramatically change, add or subtract emotional
component of the product.

There was a beauty salon - it became a fast eatery where
Precisely and accurately cuts hair in 15 minutes. These are “Quickbeauty” and “Chop-Chop”

There was a coffee shop - it became a local club
according to interests with board games. This is Starbucks.

There were expensive elite watches - now they are simple youth watches.
This is Swatch.

Blue Ocean Discovery Technology

In a criminally abbreviated form, the technology looks like this:

Understand the market: what rules does it play by?
and why, where is our place in it.

Conduct field research. Understand how people
use the product in life, not in our dreams.

Focus not on the “how”, but on the “how”
“how not.” Why not use it? Who doesn't use it? Why don't they use it? Which
Are there any problems with this?

Set a big goal: to do it in a new way. Convey
this goal is shared with everyone who will participate in the project.

Realize the goal.

In one of the next issues we will focus on this fifth point. The book is worthy
second approach.

The previous section examined the problems facing industry leaders when strategic innovations emerge, and analyzed their possible reactions to the use of radically new management models by innovative organizations, which lead to significant changes in the industry, redistribution of forces and the position of organizations operating in the industry market.

Can the theory of strategic management provide recommendations and help find an effective approach to the development of strategic innovations?

Until recently, it was practically impossible to find formalized approaches to the development of strategic or radical management innovations. The search and development of a new “formula for success” was considered an art, i.e. unformalized, largely irrational activity, based largely on tacit knowledge. In other words, strategic management theory has effectively failed to offer practicing managers specific methods and tools that could help them successfully develop strategic innovations.

One of the first theoretical attempts to propose an instrumental approach to the development of strategic innovations is the concept of blue ocean strategy, outlined in the work of Chan Kim and Rene Mauborgne “Blue Ocean Strategy” 1 .

The usefulness of this concept for managers of non-profit organizations is largely due to the fact that the methods proposed by its authors help create greater customer value, develop innovative services, which ultimately leads to an improvement in the strategic position of the organization.

Let us consider in more detail the main provisions, methods and recommendations contained in the blue ocean strategy concept.

The traditional approach to conducting strategic analysis is aimed at identifying industry markets that are attractive to a given organization (see paragraph 4.1). This task remains very relevant for many organizations. However, there are many examples where organizations in seemingly unattractive or even fading industries have achieved impressive success. As examples of this kind, C. Kim and R. Mauborgne cite the Canadian company Cirque du Soleil from the circus industry, an American company Bames&Noble in bookselling, a Japanese company Quick Beauty House in the hairdressing industry, etc.

The success of these organizations is based on strategic innovations, which not only led to the formation and development of a new business model, a new “formula for success,” but also actually made it possible to create new markets, which, in the figurative expression of Ch. Kim and R. Mauborgne, were called "blue oceans".

Red oceans, in their opinion, symbolize all currently existing industry markets. They give this definition to the existing market space, since they emphasize that “ruthless competitors are cutting each other’s throats, flooding the ocean with blood.” Naturally, red oceans, i.e. competitive markets will not lose their importance and will always remain a fact of business life;

Blue oceans represent those industry markets that do not yet exist today; these are still undiscovered and unknown market spaces. Although most blue oceans arise within red oceans, their peculiarity and difference lies in the fact that organizations that have broken through into the blue ocean are actually beyond competition, they are free from it, since the new market spaces they create are still free from competitors.

Thus, the metaphor of two oceans, which has recently become widespread in the theory and practice of strategic management, emphasizes the emergence of new markets or the expansion of the boundaries of old ones as a result of the successful development and implementation of strategic innovations.

The strategy leading to the creation of blue oceans was called the blue ocean strategy by Ch. Kim and R. Mauborgne (BOS). Blue Ocean Strategy). It is important to note that this type of strategy can only be followed by innovative organizations that are able not only to develop innovative services or innovative technologies, but also to create and implement an innovative business model, i.e. an innovative management model leading to a new formula for success, or strategic innovation.

As noted above, this concept deserves special attention because its authors have proposed management tools that help develop new business models or strategic innovations. This means that, unlike many schools of strategic management that offer irrational, non-instrumental approaches to the strategic management of innovative organizations, C. Kim and R. Mauborgne in their concept developed practical schemes and analytical tools “for the systematic search for blue oceans and their conquest” , i.e. offer a set of methods that help develop new business models that lead to the emergence of new segments or even new industry markets. In other words, they develop an instrumental approach to the strategic management of innovative organizations.

The strategic logic of this concept is aimed at creating value innovation, which is the cornerstone of a blue ocean strategy. The authors note: “We call it value innovation because instead of focusing all your efforts on fighting the competition, you make competition unnecessary, creating such a leap in value for customers and for the company that you open up new, untapped space. market" 1. The authors emphasize that value innovation avoids a trade-off between value and costs and allows one to simultaneously achieve both differentiation (i.e., improvement of certain product properties) and cost reduction.

To illustrate how a leap in value is achieved for both the organization and consumers, consider the example of a circus company Cirque du Soleil, comprehensively analyzed in the work of C. Kim and R. Mauborgne. The company's innovative business model, breaking the market boundaries between theater and circus, brought audiences the fun and entertainment of the circus plus the intellectual depth and artistry of the theater. Company Cirque du Soleil took a fresh look not only at circus visitors, but also at the so-called “non-clients”, i.e. those who usually don’t go to the circus - adults, theater lovers. Managers Cirque du Soleil, found that the traditional appeal of the circus comes down to three main factors: the tent, the clowns and classic circus acts such as acrobatic stunts and motorcyclists. Therefore, it was decided to preserve, but improve the tent (while many circus companies, abandoning the tent, began to move to renting premises). Besides, Cirque du Soldi tried to make circus humor from “square” humor more sophisticated. Acrobatic and other acts remained, but non-circus elements were introduced, such as the storyline, intellectual intensity and artistic music and dance were introduced, which were taken from the theater and ballet industries.

At the same time, the company abandoned many expensive circus elements (such as acts involving animals, which require not only training, but also medical care, special transportation, etc.), which allowed them to dramatically reduce costs. This approach allowed the company Cirque du Soleil bring ticket prices closer to theater prices, which is several times higher than the price level in the circus industry. But these prices turned out to be very attractive for adult audiences accustomed to theatrical prices. This is the company's business model Cirque du Soleil made it possible to systematically coordinate consumer value, prices and costs, and as a result, achieve a jump in value for both consumers and the company.

Value innovation occurs when costs are reduced by eliminating or reducing competitive factors in a given industry, and customer value is increased by creating or developing elements that have never previously been offered in that industry.

This allows C. Kim and R. Mauborgne to conclude that the main objective of the blue ocean strategy is of a reconstructionist nature, destroying the existing trade-off in the industry between customer value, the growth of which is achieved on the basis of service differentiation, and organizational costs. Note that the reconstructionist view of strategy is based on the theory of endogenous growth, i.e. initiated by internal factors, in contrast to the structuralist view, which suggests that strategic change is initiated by factors external to the market structure (see paragraph 1.3).

Let's consider the main analytical tools and models described and systematized by the authors of the blue ocean strategy concept.

Central to developing value innovation and pursuing a blue ocean strategy is an analytical model called the “strategy canvas.”

Strategic canvas (Strategy Canvas) - This is a graphical tool that allows you to visualize strategic profiles ( strategic profile), characteristic of this industry market. Understanding and interpreting existing strategic profiles provides the basis for developing an innovation value curve (value sieve) or value innovation.

In other words, the strategic outline is a graph on the x-axis of which the main factors on which competition occurs in a given industry market are reflected; on the ordinate - the levels of these factors for individual strategic groups. In Fig. 6.3 shows an example of a strategic outline of two main strategic groups of the circus industry (small regional circuses and market leaders - companies Ringling Bros. And Bamum&Bailey), which graphically describes the business models in the circus industry before the company develops a strategic innovation Cirque du Soleil.

Rice. 6.3.

industry

The strategy canvas allows you to take a holistic look at the profiles of the strategic groups competing in the industry and develop a different value curve from them, i.e. Reconstruct the elements of customer value.

It is important to note that the value curves of the two main strategic groups in the circus industry (small regional circuses and market leaders) look almost identical. In fact, the difference between them lies only in the level of offer that customers receive for all the main competitive factors. This indicates the similarity of the business models they follow.

Strategic innovation leading to value innovation, i.e. to a fundamentally different strategic profile from existing ones, involves a shift in strategic focus from existing competitors to alternative options and non-customers. This significantly distinguishes the logic of blue ocean strategy from traditional strategic logic, which is aimed at finding better solutions than competitors to problems within a particular industry.

In order to reconstruct the value curve and create a fundamentally new strategic profile and, accordingly, a new business model, C. Kim and R. Mauborgne propose using a second analytical tool - the four-action model.

Rice. 6.4.

• 1) what factors that are taken for granted in the industry should be eliminated ( eliminate)? This question makes you think and identify factors that have already lost value for the consumer, but organizations, sometimes overly involved in competitive benchmarking, do not respond to these changes;
• 2) what factors should be significantly reduced ( reduce) compared to existing industry levels? The answer to this question leads to an understanding of which factors turned out to be too high or which product characteristics are very complicated (which often happens when one wants to outperform competitors in differentiation, i.e., strengthening individual product properties);
• 3) what factors should be significantly increased (raise) but compared to existing industry levels? The answer to this question leads to an understanding of what restrictions should be abandoned, providing consumers with new opportunities;
• 4) what new factors that have not previously been proposed in this industry should be created ( create)? The answer to this question involves identifying completely new sources of value for consumers and creating new demand.

Answers to the first two questions (about the elimination and reduction of factors) allow us to identify ways to reduce costs compared to competitors. The next two questions allow you to understand ways to increase value for consumers and create new demand.

The results obtained from the four forces model provide the basis for the application of the following analytical tool - “abolish-lower-raise-create” grids (ERRC Grid - The Eliminate-Reduce-Raise-Create Grid). This tool aims to develop strategic steps to create a new value curve. In other words, the abolish-reduce-raise-create grid is a four-cell matrix containing four types of specific steps formulated by managers, aimed, respectively, at abolishing, reducing, increasing, and creating the factors that determine the new value curve and value innovation. These steps allow managers, by reconstructing elements of value, to offer consumers new opportunities while maintaining low costs.

Let's give an example of a “reduce-reduce-increase-create” grid corresponding to the new business model of the company described above Cirque du Soleil(Fig. 6.5).

Rice. 65.

Cirque du Soleil 1

The result of such strategic steps is a new value curve, a different strategic profile from competitors, which is reflected in the company’s strategic canvas Cirque du Soleil(Fig. 6.6).

Rice. 6.6. Company strategic outline Cirque du Soleil]

Creating a unique, fundamentally new value curve allows you to successfully implement a blue ocean strategy or, in other words, successfully implement strategic innovation. At the same time, the authors of the blue ocean strategy concept identify three characteristics that determine the success of this strategy:

• focus(focused nature of the value curve) - if there is no focus, i.e. the organization invests resources in all factors in a row, disperses efforts across all key factors of competition, then it becomes very dependent on the moves of competitors, and its business model will be characterized by high costs;
• divergence - the organization's value curve must differ significantly from the value curve of other players; this leads to the uniqueness and proactive nature of the strategy;
• attractive motto allows you to convey a clear and clear message, contains truthful advertising, without which consumers may lose interest in the organization.

C. Kim and R. Mauborgne formulate six core principles that organizations should follow when developing and implementing a blue ocean strategy to create value innovation.

Principle 1: Reconstruct industry market boundaries. The authors of the concept rightly note that “managers cannot afford to be like riverboat gamblers and bet on strategy, using only their own intuition and relying on chance” 1 . In order to formalize the process of reconstruction of the industry market, they identify six typical ways to carry out such reconstruction, i.e. six basic approaches to redesigning market boundaries to “break away from the competitive world and create a blue ocean”:

• 1) consider alternative industries. The importance of this method is justified by the fact that most often it is the space lying between alternative industries that makes it possible to implement value innovation. It is important to note here the difference between the concepts of “substitute” and “alternative”. Goods/services that have different appearances but perform the same functions and satisfy the same nature of needs are called substitutes. Alternative products differ in both appearance and function, but serve the same purpose. For example, if the goal is to have a good vacation, then alternative products might be a vacation package and a summer school program at a leading business school. It is worth noting here that in practice, the distinction between the concepts of “substitute” and “alternative” is not always unambiguous, since it is not always possible to strictly distinguish between the consumer’s goal and the function that is realized with the help of a given product. For example, is improving the image a goal or a function implemented with the help of a given product?
• 2) consider the strategic groups of the industry: creating a new value curve (i.e., penetrating the blue ocean) can be done not only by considering alternative industries, but also by carefully examining the various strategic groups in a given industry. Paragraph 4.1 defined a strategic group and emphasized that organizations tend to closely monitor the players in their strategic group who are their closest competitors, but other strategic groups are not usually closely monitored. C. Kim and R. Mauborgne note: “The key to creating a blue ocean through existing strategic groups is to set aside these narrow views and understand what factors influence the decisions of customers choosing between several groups and turning to less or more expensive proposals." The company is given as an example Curves doing fitness for women. This company built its blue ocean on the core strengths of two strategic groups in the US fitness industry, traditional health clubs and home exercise programs (based on videos, magazines, books), and eliminated or reduced other factors. In the clubs Curves Instead of special complex training systems, simple, easy-to-use and safe exercise machines are placed, there are no saunas, SPA treatments, swimming pools, food and even locker rooms, no mirrors and no men. All this not only significantly reduces the cost, but also creates a convenient and comfortable environment for women who want to work on their figure and socialize in a relaxed atmosphere of a club located close to home or work. Company motto Curves: “With no more spending per day than the cost of a cup of coffee, you can gain health with the right exercise.” The implementation of this strategy allowed the company to achieve such growth that on average every four hours a new company establishment is opened in the world Curves",
• 3) look at the chain of buyers: in order to reconstruct the boundaries of the industry market, all groups of buyers should be carefully studied. Indeed, the main purchasing decision can be made not only by the user himself, but also by a certain category of people who “exert influence.” For example, in the pharmaceutical industry, many companies target doctors who influence the purchase of drugs. Consumer and influencer buyers' definitions of value can often differ significantly. Therefore, it is necessary to carefully consider the entire chain of actors making a purchase decision and influencing this decision. This creates the basis for redefining the traditional view of the target customer, allowing the organization to create and offer new value. The example of a Danish company is interesting in this regard. Novo Nordisk, which has transformed itself from an insulin manufacturer into a manufacturer of items that make life easier for diabetics. By focusing not on doctors, but on diabetic patients, the company set out to alleviate the problems associated with the need to take insulin injections several times a day. As a result, the company began to produce not just insulin, but NovoPen- the first easy-to-use insulin injection device;
• 4) Consider complementary products and services: It is important to understand what the overall solution is that a customer is looking to find when purchasing a particular product. This helps identify additional products and services that add customer value. To do this, it is recommended to ask the question - what happens before, during and after using this product?
• 5) analyze the functional and emotional attractiveness of the product/service for the buyer. C. Kim and R. Mauborgne identify two components of the attractiveness of a product/service for the buyer - functional, based on the functions being implemented, and emotional, based on the buyer’s feelings. This allows them to make the following recommendations for expanding the market space and reconstructing the boundaries of the industry market: “Emotionally oriented industries offer a lot of different options for their products, due to which the price increases, but the functional qualities do not improve. If these options are stripped away, the result can be a much less complex, less expensive, and less costly business model... Conversely, industries that focus on functional appeal can often breathe new life into consumer products by adding emotional appeal, thereby capable of stimulating new demand" 1 ;
• 6) look into the future: among the many constantly observed trends (for example, the rapid development of technology, changes in lifestyle, legislation, etc.), as a rule, according to the authors of the concept, one or two trends have a significant impact on a particular business. It is important to identify these trends and actively participate in shaping them over time.

Principle 2: focus on the big picture, not the numbers. With this principle, the authors of the blue ocean strategy concept actually emphasize the importance of not only the content of the strategy, but also the strategic process itself. They note: “It is not uncommon for managers to openly or privately express dissatisfaction with existing strategic planning, the basis of any strategy. In their opinion, strategic planning should be more about working collectively on a problem, rather than transferring plans from the top down or bottom up. They believe that the process should be conducted through discussion rather than by sending documents, and that the goal should be to create a big picture rather than exercise numbers. Planning should contain elements of creativity, not be based solely on analysis, it should be motivating, capable of instilling in employees a sincere commitment to the chosen course, and not be reduced to bargaining and compromises regarding the further implementation of the plan” 2. Thus, it is emphasized here that analytical tools for strategy development are important, but their output only provides the basis for the creative activities of managers to create a successful strategy.

As Aristotle aptly noted, “an image is necessary for thinking.” According to Ch. Kim and R. Mauborgne, strategy visualization helps unlock the creative potential of managers. They identify four steps/stages in the strategy visualization process (Table 6.4).

Table 6.4

Four Stages of Blue Ocean Strategy Visualization 3

• 1 Kim W. C., Mauborgne R. Blue ocean strategy. P. 71.
• 2 Ibid. P. 102.
• 3 Ibid. P. 87.

End of table. 6.4

Interesting are the recommendations that are given for the implementation of the third stage - the visual fair of strategies, which the authors came to on the basis of practical experience in building strategies in various organizations. Thus, in one of the organizations that successfully developed a new strategic profile that allowed it to break into the blue ocean, the first two phases took about two weeks. After repeatedly drawing and redrawing various possible versions of the organization's strategy canvas, several of the most interesting and promising options were showcased at what was called a visual strategy fair. The audience at these types of presentations were top-level managers and representatives of the organization’s external counterparties, including clients. Each value curve was given no more than 10 minutes to present because it was believed that “an idea that takes more than ten minutes to present is too complex to be useful.” Then all participants evaluated the presented options for the organization's new strategic profile. At the same time, the evaluation or judging process was very simple and transparent: all participants were given a certain number of self-adhesive pieces of paper (each piece of paper was actually equivalent to one evaluation point). Voting was carried out by gluing the appropriate number of sheets onto posters with images of strategic profile options (strategic outline).

Note that if at the level of a business unit (or mono-organization) visual stimulation of strategy development is carried out using a strategic outline, then at the level of a diversified organization (i.e. for a corporate strategy) it is proposed to use the map of the pioneer-migrator-coloist (Fig. 6.7) . The pioneer-migrator-colonist (PPC) map proposed by the authors of the blue ocean strategy concept is actually a type of matrix of the business portfolio of a diversified company (see paragraph 5.2). The main task that the PPC map helps to solve is assessing the growth potential of a diversified organization.

Rice. 6.7.

organizations

“First movers” are defined as business units that offer unprecedented, innovative value, i.e. These are business units that implement a blue ocean strategy and therefore promise significant growth in the future. Their value curve is significantly different from other organizations. In contrast, “colonists” are business units that play by the rules that dominate the industry market. Their strategies are predominantly imitative, and their business models are similar to those of other players. Colonists are revenue generators for the organization today, but do not promise significant growth in the future. An intermediate position is occupied by business units called “resettlers”. They offer above-average value but are not innovative.

C. Kim and R. Mauborgne suggest that organizational management strive to shift the balance in the future portfolio of business units in favor of the “pioneers.” Obviously, such a recommendation is aimed at increasing the innovativeness of diversified organizations.

Principle 3: go beyond existing demand. Following this principle, according to the authors of the blue ocean strategy concept, allows us to understand how to achieve the maximum size of the new market space, or blue ocean, created by the organization?

When looking for an answer to this question, you should first pay attention to the following feature: the stronger the competition, the higher the individualization of the offer, as a rule. This means that traditional strategic practices in competitive markets (i.e., in red oceans, using the terminology of the CGS concept) tend to focus on existing customers and increase market segmentation and, as a result, individualize the offer.

The strategic logic of organizations creating a new market space (i.e., reaching the blue ocean) is usually the opposite. C. Kim and R. Mauborgne conclude: “Instead of focusing on customers, they should look towards non-customers. And instead of focusing on the differences between customers, you need to build a strategy based on the commonalities that most customers value." In other words, when creating a new market space, it is recommended to first look for similarities and only then differences in consumer needs, first think about desegmentation and only then about more advanced segmentation.

• 1) the first tier (closest to the original industry market/quasi-market) includes clients who minimally use the goods/services offered on this industry market, but do not consider themselves its clients. If you offer them new, increased value, they will stay and purchase services/products more often;
• 2) the second tier of non-customers includes consumers who considered the offer of a given industry market as a possible option, but decided to refuse it;
• 3) consumers, who are classified as the third tier of non-customers, have never considered the offer of this industry as an option of interest to them.

It is important to focus not on the differences, but on the key similarities between these types of non-customers. This may allow the size of latent demand to increase.

Principle 4 define a strategic sequence and follow it. The implementation of the above principles allows us to develop a strategic outline, i.e. formulate a blue ocean strategy, and identify ways to attract a growing range of consumers. This, according to the authors of the SGO concept, allows us to move on to the task of creating a sustainable management model (business model). Compliance with the following strategic sequence is considered as a key principle when creating a business model (Fig. 6.8).

The first step in this sequence is to ensure that your strategic vision contains a viable idea of ​​delivering exceptional value to customers. In their quest to provide exceptional value to consumers, many organizations fall into a technological trap. Technical improvement of products does not necessarily mean an increase in perceived consumer utility. There are many examples of technological wonders appearing on the market that performed such a variety of new functions that consumers could not understand why they should be used and how. In other words, value innovation is not equivalent

Rice. 6.8.

blue ocean

valence of technological innovation. As a tool to help managers create exceptional utility for customers, C. Kim and R. Mauborgne propose a utility map (Table 6.5).

Table 6.5

Buyer utility hag 1

1 Kim W. C. at Mauborgne R. Blue ocean strategy. P. 125.

Utility levers are those product dimensions that create exceptional value for the customer. Using this map, you can test a new idea for the possibility of creating an innovative utility proposal by writing it in separate cells of the map. If the content of the cells in your map and the map compiled for other organizations have many similarities, then it is unlikely that you are on the right path to creating a new market space.

If the answer is positive regarding the exclusivity of utility, it is recommended to move on to the second one - setting a strategic price. Can the organization realize benefits by selling products at a strategic price, e.g. price that attracts masses of target buyers and helps retain them? At the same time, it is important to prevent a decrease in consumer utility due to the fact that high costs do not allow the manufacturer to benefit from strategic prices. In other words, the cost side of a business model allows an organization to ensure that value is added to the organization itself.

It is important to note here that in the third stage of the strategic sequence, i.e. When determining the target cost, it is recommended to start from a price that is attractive to the consumer, and not assign it based on the addition of cost and profit. The proposed approach, as a rule, requires quite radical changes, rationalization of production processes and the introduction of innovations in the field of cost reduction.

But sometimes no amount of rationalization to reduce costs allows the organization to achieve its target cost level. Then, in order to implement the blue ocean strategy, i.e. to create a new market space, we have to change the industry’s price model. C. Kim and R. Mauborgne give the following example to illustrate the possibility of changing the industry's pricing model. When the first video cassettes with films appeared on sale, they cost about $80. Since no one was going to watch the same recording more than two or three times, there were very few people willing to pay that kind of money. How could the manufacturing company make a profit if it applied the principle of strategic pricing (i.e., when determining the price of video cassettes, it was based on the cost of visiting cinemas, and was not guided by the lifetime ownership of the cassette, which means it would have to sell cassettes for several dollars at costs exceeding this level)? The answer is no. However, the company Blockbuster dealt with this problem by reorienting the pricing model from the sale of videocassettes to their rental. The company made more money by renting out the same $80 tapes over and over again than it would have by selling them.

You can count on the success of the SGS if, even at the development stage, efforts are made to solve possible problems associated with its implementation. Identifying obstacles of this kind and finding ways to overcome them constitutes the content of the fourth stage of the strategic sequence proposed by the authors of the CDF concept.

Principle 5: Overcome organizational obstacles.

Among the many factors that impede the implementation of value innovation, the authors of the blue ocean strategy concept identify four main groups:

Cognitive obstacles associated with a lack of understanding of the need for change, the desire to maintain the status quo;

obstacles associated with limited resources. Since the larger the changes, the more resources they typically require, changes aimed at creating value innovation often face resource barriers;

motivational barriers that arise when employees lack motivation to implement changes;

Political obstacles associated with opposition from persons whose interests are affected by the changes.

It is suggested that purposeful leadership plays an important role in overcoming emerging barriers. C. Kim and R. Mauborgne note that the idea of ​​purposeful leadership is borrowed from epidemiology and the theory of points of irreversible change. Purposeful Leadership based on the fact that “in any organization, fundamental change occurs quickly when the convictions and energy of a critical mass of people create an epidemic movement towards an idea” 1. The main task in this case is to give people, through their own experience, and not “relying on numbers,” to feel the cruel reality, thereby “making changes in a person’s mind that this person will make solely of his own free will.” At the same time, the opinion is expressed that in order to launch an epidemic movement of positive energy, one must not scatter efforts, but, on the contrary, concentrate one’s efforts on working with the “head pins”, i.e. with those who have the most influence in the organization.

Principle 6: Build implementation into strategy.

This principle means that when developing a strategy, it is necessary to initially pay special attention to thinking through the mechanisms that will facilitate the implementation of the blue ocean strategy. The authors of the concept emphasize that it is important to gain the loyalty of employees and inspire them to voluntarily cooperate. One cannot but agree with their opinion that many of the issues that arise in the implementation of a blue ocean strategy ultimately “come down to the intellectual and emotional recognition of employees. Each employee emotionally seeks recognition of his value not as a “workforce”, “staff” or “human resource”, but as a person who is treated with respect and dignity and valued based on individual merit, regardless of position in the hierarchy . On the intellectual plane, each individual seeks recognition of his ideas, he needs to be interested in his thoughts, carefully discuss them, and those around him would have a fairly high opinion of his intellect and would discuss their ideas with him” 1 .

In conclusion, creating value innovation, or developing a blue ocean strategy, is not a one-time process, but a dynamic process. If successful, sooner or later imitators will appear - potential competitors. Therefore, the question of sustainability and renewal of the strategy aimed at creating value innovation arises.

As emphasized above, value innovation is a strategic innovation, i.e. radical management innovation. Therefore, its successful implementation and sustainable development must be accompanied by incremental, operational improvements. This allows an organization with a blue ocean strategy to become a moving target, constantly moving away from imitators. However, if the value curve of an innovative organization becomes largely similar to the value curve of emerging competitors, then this is a signal that it is worth starting to create a new business model or open a new industry market/quasi-market space.

English Blue Ocean Strategy 2005

Reads in 14 minutes, original - 25 minutes

The blue ocean strategy is designed to minimize possible risks. It is based on three principles:

• minimizing search risk - reconsidering market boundaries;
• minimizing planning risk - focusing on the big picture, not on numbers;
• minimizing the risk of scale - going beyond existing demand.

To effectively implement a blue ocean strategy, direct the organization's activities towards its implementation. There are two principles for reducing organizational and management risks.

• Minimizing organizational risk - overcoming organizational obstacles.
• Minimizing management risk - monitoring the implementation of the strategy.

Customer value innovation is the foundation of a blue ocean strategy

The main goal of the blue ocean strategy is value innovation, that is, improving consumer qualities and reducing costs. This can be achieved if the company maintains a balance between utility, price and costs.

In most cases, the company strives to gain market share. This is the traditional approach of enterprises - the red ocean strategy.

A new product is created only 14% of the time, which accounts for 61% of total profits. This shows that companies that choose a blue ocean strategy have a much greater chance of success.

But modern business is characterized by a number of trends.

• Thanks to technological progress, productivity has increased and supply exceeds demand.
• Due to lower trade barriers and globalization, specialized market niches with high prices have disappeared.
• Global demand for many products is falling along with population decline in developed countries.

As a result, profits decrease and many products become standardized mass products. To avoid fighting for market share, companies are trying to create a new market space that is highly profitable and free from competition.

Companies creating new customer value strive to achieve both differentiation and cost reduction. To do this, you need to offer customers a new product at an affordable price. Over time, economies of scale will take effect and costs will fall even further.

How to develop a blue ocean strategy?

Tool #1: Strategy Canvas.

The strategy canvas shows the key drivers of competition in an industry and allows you to analyze what firms are investing in and what benefits they offer to their customers.

Using this method, you need to pay attention to alternative products. Create an offer for customers that includes elements of the consumer value of products from other industries. This way you can develop new ideas, rather than offering customers analogues of existing products.

Tool No. 2. Four Action Model.

To find the weaknesses in the way an industry operates, there are four key questions.

1. Which customer value factors should you exclude?
2. Which factors should be reduced?
3. Which factors should be increased in importance?
4. What new sources of value should be created?

Every industry has the necessary factors to penetrate the market. But consumer preferences are changing, and current products and services may be too complex and expensive for consumers.

These questions will help identify irrelevant competitive factors. Try to identify the hidden trade-offs that consumers were forced to make.

Tool No. 3. Lattice.

Grid method: the company fills out a table that allows you to understand the differences in its actions from industry standards. Thanks to this method, managers will be able to act in a coordinated manner.

When completing the grid, carefully examine the factors that are considered necessary for an industry player and evaluate whether they are justified.

An effective blue ocean strategy has three distinctive features.

• Having priorities. Rely on a limited set of competitive factors. Do not invest in development areas that are not related to these priorities.
• Deviation from the standard. Consider alternative options rather than industry-standard approaches.
• Clarity and intelligibility. A good and obvious strategy can be described in one capacious slogan.

Principles for developing a blue ocean strategy

There are four principles for creating a blue ocean strategy.

Principle 1: Redefining Market Boundaries

There are six ways to find attractive blue ocean ideas.

1. Analyze alternative industries and determine which products and services look different but serve the same purpose. The consumer often chooses between offers from different industries. Take advantage of the space between these spheres.

Example. NetJets offered customers a scheme that combined the speed and convenience of private jets with the low cost of fractional ownership found in other industries.

2. Consider the different classes of firms in this industry and determine what factors influence client choice. Borrow the core benefits of each class and discard the excess.

Example. Lexus vehicles combine the quality of luxury brands such as Mercedes, BMW and Jaguar with the price of inexpensive Cadillac and Lincoln models.

3. Study different buyer groups and connect their perceptions of value. Change the traditional perception of your target buyer.

Example. Canon developed desktop copiers by shifting from corporate buyers to users who wanted to have their own photocopier at home.

4. Consider complementary products and services and come up with a combined solution.

Example. Bookselling chain Barnes & Noble has shifted its focus from selling books to creating a conducive environment for reading and learning.

5. Evaluate the attractiveness of the product and reconsider the traditional industry solution. Add emotional appeal to a functionally useful product or shift the balance from the emotional component towards functionality.

6. Predict what the market will be like when the development of a particular technology is completed. You will discover new opportunities if you identify what needs to change today.

Example. Apple was inspired to create the iTunes online store by the success of the file-sharing network Napster. It has become clear that consumer demand for technology that allows digital music downloads is high. Then Apple developed a legal, simple and inexpensive way to access audio files and captured the market.

Principle 2: Focus on the big picture, not the numbers

The typical strategic plan imposes a red ocean strategy on the company and never creates blue oceans. To avoid this mistake, you need to focus on the big picture rather than getting lost in a sea of ​​numbers. To do this, draw a strategic outline for your company that:

• accurately and clearly represents the company’s position in the market;
• allows you to build the future strategy of the company;
• helps employees focus on the big picture;
• determines factors influencing competition in the industry;
• shows what areas your company and its competitors are investing in;
• promotes dialogue between company divisions on issues of further development;
• activates the dissemination of strategically successful methods and the exchange of experience between departments.

Creating a firm's strategic canvas is not easy. Disagreements in the choice of competitive factors and their assessment in relation to your company are inevitable. Many managers tend to define utility and value in terms of internal users rather than customers.

How to build a strategic outline for a company?

Achieve complete understanding. Clearly compare your company with its competitors. Let everyone see the big picture and look beyond personal interests. Draw a proposed strategic outline, discuss and compare it with competitors' strategies. Encourage everyone's participation and creativity.

Send managers to conduct on-site research. Let them interact with customers personally and find out exactly how people use your product or service. You should not entrust this to third parties or rely on other people's reports.

Talk to non-customers and determine why your product doesn't appeal to them. Analyze what alternatives they are currently using. Assign this task to two teams. Let everyone offer their own version of a new strategy and slogan.

Hold a concept competition in which each team will present a version of the strategy canvas based on the results of their “field research.” Let each “judge” vote for their favorite concept. This will immediately determine the most successful strategy.

Communicate the approved strategy to everyone. Distribute graphs to employees that compare the company's old and new strategic profiles. Managers should discuss these changes with their subordinates.

Principle 3: Going beyond existing demand

By creating a blue ocean, the company strives to make it as large as possible, and therefore reduce the risk associated with establishing services for this market. To do this, try to interest as many non-customers as possible with your offer, who can be divided into three categories.

Level 1 non-customers- buyers located on the border of your market. They will abandon your products as soon as something more interesting comes along. Offer them a radically new customer value, and they will buy more often.

Tier 1 non-customers also include people who use your products for lack of better options. Find something in common between non-customers and borderline clients and you'll know what to focus on.

Find out what they like, find out what solutions attract them. Often more ideas about discovering and expanding the blue ocean come from non-customers than from regular customers.

Level 2 non-customers- customers who don't use your product because it's too expensive or complicated. Find out why these people don't buy your products or use your industry's products and services, and try to find commonalities between these reasons.

Level 3 non-customers- Buyers who have not considered your industry offerings because their needs lie in other markets. Try to reach beyond industry boundaries and tap into a vast ocean of previously untapped demand.

Principle 4. Commitment to the chosen strategy

When developing blue ocean strategies, you need to create a sustainable business model that will effectively implement your idea. It is important to adhere to the chosen strategy - this will reduce possible risks associated with the business model.

Optimal strategic sequence.

1. Usefulness for the buyer.
2. Affordable price.
3. Costs and possible profits.
4. Promoting ideas and solving possible problems.

What are the differences between useful goods and services?

• They are easy to buy.
• They are delivered quickly.
• No special training is required to use them.
• They do not require expensive auxiliary products.
• They are easy to maintain.
• They are easy to dispose of at the end of their service life.

It is necessary to determine what price will allow you to quickly conquer the mass market. Go to market with an offer that customers can't refuse, and then try to retain that audience.

There is a price corridor, which is determined by comparison of alternative products. If it will be difficult for competitors to copy your work methods, you can set the price near the upper limit of this corridor. But if you are not protected from imitators, it is better to set the price at the lower limit of the corridor, limiting the number of competitors. Setting an affordable price will trigger the “word of mouth” mechanism and make the product popular.

Next, you need to understand whether you will make a profit at the target price. Here you need to start from the strategic price, subtracting the desired profit from it and getting the planned cost, and not determine the price based on costs. The following methods will help you meet these stringent requirements.

Streamlining the production process and introducing innovations to reduce costs, for example, replacing raw materials with non-traditional but more affordable alternatives.

The use of other materials and new production methods, for example through more modern and cheaper technologies.

Entering into partnerships with other suppliers that perform production and sales functions more efficiently. The partnership also allows you to benefit from the professional knowledge of another company.

Changing the pricing model, for example, switching from selling a product to renting or leasing. Some firms are very successful in providing their products in exchange for equity participation and a share of future profits.

Your product won't succeed if people aren't willing to accept it. Therefore, it is important to overcome the resistance of the three main groups.

1. Employees who will unknowingly sabotage any innovation if they see it as a threat to their income.
2. Business partners who need to be assured that a new product or service will not affect their income and market position.
3. A wide audience that has difficulty accepting new ideas.

Principles for implementing a blue ocean strategy

To implement a blue ocean strategy, it is necessary to direct the company’s activities towards its implementation, for which there are two principles.

Principle 1. Overcoming organizational obstacles.

The implementation of a blue ocean strategy faces three obstacles:

• most employees are against change;
• the company has a limited amount of resources;
• employees do not want to change their usual working methods.

The “spot activation” method helps to overcome these obstacles: the leader focuses on the people and activities on which the work of the entire organization depends.

To convince employees of the need to change strategy, have them independently assess the market situation and understand that change is necessary. Get employees to interact with unhappy customers.

To solve the problem of lack of resources, properly allocate the resources you already have. Determine what requires the least investment but still improves the organization's performance, and direct resources to those hot spots. Exchange unnecessary resources for necessary ones. Identify areas of inefficient use of resources (“cold spots”). Transferring resources from “cold spots” to “hot spots” can significantly facilitate the implementation of a blue ocean strategy.

To encourage employees to adopt more effective work practices, tell them about the future. Don't issue orders that force everyone to think differently from now on.

Work with opinion leaders. Get the support of influential people in your company - their willingness to revise the way they work will convince others.

Encourage transparency. Emphasize the importance of inclusiveness and honest, open discussion. Explain to employees the need for change. This allows you to smooth out doubts that arise among ordinary employees.

Break down the task. Using the “point activation” method, break the overall goal into small components that are feasible for the performers.

Provide support to those who will benefit most from a change in strategy. Build a broad coalition of change advocates and convince them to support you.

Neutralize those who stand to lose the most from a change in strategy. Refute the attacks of skeptics with facts and irrefutable logic.

Add a respected, knowledgeable employee to your team. This advisor knows the situation from the inside and will help you solve the problems of intra-company intrigue.

Principle 2. Formation of commitment to the strategy.

A blue ocean strategy must be developed through open, collaborative discussion. Seeing that the development of the strategy is being carried out honestly, employees will voluntarily participate in the implementation of the plan in the following stages.

• Strategy Development: involve employees in the discussion and explain the essence of the proposed strategy.
• Formation of installations: Show your employees that you take their opinions into account - this is how you will win their trust and loyalty.
• Stimulating desired behavior: Encourage voluntary participation in strategy implementation.
• Implementation of the strategy: Create conditions for employees to show personal initiative.

Brand image prevents competitors from borrowing innovative ideas. The implemented blue ocean strategy sometimes covers all available demand, so that imitation becomes unprofitable. Patents or licenses can be used to protect against copycats.

When your value curve starts to converge with your competitors', you'll need to innovate again. Step outside your strategy canvas and look for a new blue ocean. An organization's long-term success depends on its ability to repeatedly create blue oceans.

The book “Blue Ocean Strategy: How to Create a Free Market and Make the Issue of Competition Insignificant” ( Blue Ocean Strategy: How to Create Uncontested Market Space and Make Competition Irrelevant), written by W. Chan Kim and Renée Mauborgne, is one of the most important business publications in recent memory. It takes upon itself the task of becoming a guide to how to create and occupy areas of the market free from competition - and it copes with this task quite successfully.

The authors, who are professors at the Blue Ocean Strategy Institute and co-directors of INSEAD, use 150 successful strategies applied over a period of more than 100 years in 30 industries to prove that open confrontation with competitors does not bring real success.

On the contrary, creating “blue oceans” free of competition will ensure growth of the business, customer base and workforce, while creating demand and making the problem of competition irrelevant. The book offers a set of guiding principles and tools that should help companies systematically access these “blue oceans.”

Blue ocean concept

As an illustrative example of the application of a blue ocean strategy, Mauborgne and Kim consider the experience of Cirque Du Soleil. In 1984, when the Circus was first created, it faced a number of seemingly insurmountable obstacles. The circus business was (and remains) in decline, increasingly overshadowed by forms of entertainment such as television, sporting events and cinema.

Children, the target audience of the circus business, were addicted to video games in the mid-80s, and animal rights activists seriously raised the issue of the ethics of using animals in performances. Importantly, such major players in the circus market as Ringling Bros and Barnum and Bailey used the business model they themselves created more than a century ago.

But how did Du Soleil manage to increase revenue receipts 22 times in 10 years in such a hostile environment? The answer may be the slogan for one of the first productions: “We have reinvented the circus.” Du Soleil wasn't trying to make money by competing within an existing market by luring viewers away from Ringling Bros. and others. Instead, he created a free segment of the market, which made the issue of competition irrelevant.

It attracted a new audience that had not traditionally been spectators of circus performances - adults and corporate clients who preferred theater, opera, ballet, and therefore were willing to pay many times more than the cost of a regular circus ticket in order to witness an unprecedented performance.

"Oceanography" of modern business

To understand the nature of Du Soleil's achievement, it is necessary to recognize that the business universe consists of two separate spaces, which can be thought of as the “red” and “blue” oceans.

Red Oceans represent the types of businesses that exist today—the markets that have been studied. In red oceans, market boundaries are defined and accepted by all participants, and the rules of competition are clear.

Companies here are trying to outperform their competitors in order to capture a larger market share. As more and more players enter this market, the prospects for profitability and growth become dim. The product turns into a product, and growing competition “colors the water the color of blood.”

Blue oceans represent economic activities that do not yet exist today - poorly understood markets, untainted by competition. In blue oceans, demand is created rather than fought over. There are ample opportunities for growth that is both profitable and rapid.

Instead of a conclusion

There are two ways to create—or discover—blue oceans. In rare cases, companies manage to open completely new types of business, such as eBay did with the online auction market. In most cases, a blue ocean is created from within a red ocean when companies manage to change the boundaries of existing activities.

Blue Ocean Strategy aims to encourage companies to break out of the red ocean of competition by creating a market niche for themselves where they do not have to fear competitors. The blue ocean strategy suggests refusing to share existing - and often diminishing - demand with others, while constantly looking at competitors, and instead dedicating oneself to creating new, growing demand and avoiding competition. The book not only encourages companies to take this step, but also explains what needs to be done to achieve this. Our goal is to make blue ocean strategy as effective as competition in the red waters of the market we already know.”

"Blue Ocean Strategy" W. Chuck Kim, Rene Mauborgne

Regardless of my personal attitude towards the idea of ​​“blue oceans”, I would like to first impartially talk about the idea presented by the authors of this strategy, so that those who are not familiar with this theory or are only vaguely familiar with it can formulate some kind of their own opinion about this approach to strategy. And after reviewing this work, in response to the reader’s already formed opinion, I will express my own opinion about this strategy.

The essence of the blue ocean strategy proposed by Chen Kim and Mauborgne is that at the current pace of development and copying of technologies, head-to-head competition is irrelevant and, in the long term, destructive for the company. Allegorically speaking, the authors call competitive markets “red oceans” full of the blood of competitors “grabbing” each other. In the “red ocean,” the boundaries of the market and the operating principles of the industry are clearly defined and uniform for all participants. Competing companies' products have similar characteristics, and the differences between them become blurred with time and benchmarking efforts.

“Blue Ocean” is an unoccupied niche in the market that the company creates based on:

• unmet needs of different consumer groups united by it;
• concentration on key criteria for consumer selection and evaluation of a product;
• orientation towards attracting “non-customers” of the company to consume the product.

In a blue ocean, a company does not have to choose between a low-cost or high-value strategy; it can offer both.

Blue Ocean Strategy is the result of fifteen years of research and data examining the market strategies of 108 companies in 30 industries over the past 100 years. As a result, the authors found that 86% of business ventures during this period were linear expansions, that is, improving work in “red oceans.” At the same time, such undertakings accounted for 62% of total income and only 39% of profit. In other words, it is in the “blue oceans” that the company’s prospects for obtaining the greatest profits lie. And there are no competitors there at all - since the company that created the “blue ocean” is the first and, for a long time, the only one in it. It is important to note that Blue Ocean is not measured by an industry or a specific company - rather, it is a strategic move, a company's winning decision for its market situation.

The main tool of a blue ocean strategy is the “strategy canvas” - it serves to diagnose and build such a strategy. To build a “strategic canvas,” a company needs to identify the key characteristics of products—its own and those of its competitors—that are subject to competition within a given industry. The company also analyzes the level of supply received by the consumer for each factor. A high indicator means large investments in the development of a specific factor area.

The authors provide a way to visually depict the “strategic canvas” to facilitate its analysis and presentation. Analysis of the "strategy canvas" allows a company to determine how similar its market strategy is to the strategies of competitors. Using the example of a strategic canvas, such similarities are easy to determine - the graphical forms of the “strategic canvas” of companies with similar approaches to competition have a similar shape.

After analyzing the “strategic canvas” and the importance of different competitive factors for different companies and for the customers themselves, Chen Kim and Mauborgne suggest that company management ask themselves four questions:

1. What competitive factors, identified and accepted in the industry, can be eliminated? For example, McDonald’s positions itself as a restaurant, but such an integral “sign” of a restaurant as waiters was initially deliberately abolished - costs are lower, service is faster.

2. What competitive factors should be significantly reduced from industry standards? For example, after analyzing the “strategic canvas” of the US wine market, Cassela Wines concluded that factors such as the richness and complexity of the wine, the prestige of the winery and the choice of wine names, so cherished by winemakers, are not particularly important for American consumers. All three factors were reduced by limiting the product range, shifting the emphasis of communications from the history and prestige of the winery to other factors, and producing wines with a more pronounced and simple taste.

3. What factors should be significantly improved above industry standards? Thus, Apple's creation of the iTunes online music store is based on improving a number of key factors in the music file sharing industry: high sound quality; a wide range of melodies, including works from previous years; possibility of purchasing thematic selections of songs.

4. What factors should the industry create that have never been proposed before? Virgin, for example, has left even major competitors behind by offering an unconventional but sought-after range of services to passengers, including in-flight massages. Another airline, NetJets, offers corporate clients the service of using a private jet for a fixed annual fee, which differs significantly from the cost of actually maintaining such an aircraft at the company's expense.

The book outlines approaches and tools for developing and implementing a blue ocean strategy, including six ways to create one and approaches to interpreting the resulting strategic canvas. Despite the popularity of the described idea of ​​\u200b\u200bthe perception of competition, it was Chen Kim and Mauborgne who were the first to offer a clear and practical toolkit for applying the blue ocean strategy in practice. The language of presentation is simple, the examples are modern and understandable. The book contains appendices with background information on the industry and conceptual features of the blue ocean strategy.

It is worth noting that the methodology for creating blue oceans has been reduced to a simple graphical representation and several easy-to-remember rules. For example, it is proposed to pave the way to the blue ocean using a matrix called “abolish-lower-increase-create.” To work with a team, it is proposed to use the rule of three E: Engagement (involvement), Explanation (explanation), Expectation (clarity of expectations). This presentation of the theory is convenient for businessmen who are hungry for new knowledge but do not have free time.

The first way is to consider as competitors not only representatives of your industry, but also companies operating in alternative industries. For example, cinema and restaurants are completely different types of business. However, on a Saturday evening they are equally valuable alternatives for a pleasant pastime. And most often it is in the space of such alternatives that value innovation can be created.

The second way is to examine the underlying strategies of companies within an industry. Typically, differences in strategies come down to whether a given company chooses low prices or high quality. In fact, we need to abandon this alternative and understand what other factors, in addition to price and quality, influence customer choice.

The third way is to look at the customer chain. The person who makes the purchasing decision is not always the end user of the product.

The fourth way is to consider additional products and services that provide value to the customer.

The fifth way is to analyze the functional and emotional appeal of the product for buyers

The sixth way is to look to tomorrow and see the possibilities for creating a blue ocean.

I would also like to cite one of the wonderful methodological tables given in the book.

The chapter “Focus on the Big Picture, Not the Numbers” in Creating a Blue Ocean Strategy outlines four steps to visualize your strategy.

Now we can say that we have achieved a brief introduction to the content and principles of creating a blue ocean strategy. I gave a review of the text that was as objective as possible, or rather positive, but now I would like to add a couple of fly in the ointment to this huge barrel of honey.

Let's try to understand what the popularity and all the hype is about this theory about "blue oceans" - the basic concept of a "blue ocean" is that a company that, guided by the methods given in the book, can create its own "blue ocean" which, in fact, is the “Grail of immortality” in the business world, because the creation of a “blue ocean”, according to the authors, leads to the company forever leaving the “red ocean” of the competitive environment and ensuring eternal prosperity at the expense of a huge army of clients, excess profits and lack of competitors.

This idea of ​​“eternal life”, flavored with the author’s terminology “blue and scarlet oceans”, “visualization”, etc., looks less like a business work, and more like a book by modern esotericists, promising “enlightenment” and “eternal life” . Again, in this terminology lies a deep impact on the reader’s subconscious - every top manager or business owner has a dream of a “blue ocean”, workaholics who dream of a vacation on the shores of a “blue ocean”, and “red oceans” of competition, “ full of blood”, on the contrary, affect typical human fears and cause disgust. Here are the words of one Russian entrepreneur about the reasons for his acquisition of this publication: “Blue Ocean is an excellent term for a new market where your company is the first, where there are no competitors, where you can make high profits. Escaping competition is the dream of entrepreneurs. This is probably why the title of the book, Blue Ocean Strategy, immediately intrigued me.” Again, the authors of this book also play the Messiah, who has come to save this world from the blood of competition and lead it to the blue oceans of happiness, as illustrated by a quote from Chen Kim’s speech during his visit to Ukraine: “Ukrainians, wake up. I came to you with hope. Like a farmer who sows grain in the spring and hopes for a big harvest, I came to Kyiv to sow grain (to give new knowledge). I hope it will grow here, and I will water it. And I will be proud of what Ukraine has become!”

But it’s good, it’s clear that, first of all, the popularity of a book is caused by a beautiful “wrapper”, PR and so on, but this is not bad, the main significance in any scientific or business work is assessed by its usefulness, but this is a different question... But I would prefer to divide the work into 2 parts (idea and methodology) and accordingly evaluate the usefulness based on this division.

The usefulness of the blue ocean idea is most likely close to “0”, why? Because the initially utopian idea of ​​a “blue ocean” cannot be used and therefore be useful in a pragmatic business world. Its utopianism lies in the fact that the declared withdrawal from the competitive field with the help of the “blue ocean”, like anything else, is impossible! And the examples of “blue oceans” given by the authors are, to put it mildly, far-fetched. After all, the creation of the “blue ocean” McDonalds, cited as an example of a successful “blue ocean”, did not take this network of “restaurants” out of the competitive field of catering, fast food, etc. The “blue oceans” of American auto giants, given as examples, have not taken them out of the competitive field; moreover, they do not help them get ahead of competitors, for example, Japanese automakers. On the contrary, while they are actively losing to them... Here is a quote: “Blue oceans are not technological innovations. Advanced technologies are sometimes involved in creating blue oceans, but are not their hallmark. This also applies to technology industries. Blue oceans are often created by older players within the confines of their core business. For example, Crysler and GM were established companies when they created blue oceans. Research has shown that most blue oceans are created within, rather than outside, the red oceans of existing industries. Blue oceans are near you in every industry.

A blue oceans strategy is so powerful that it can create a brand that will last for decades. Think Ford (Model T), Crysler (minivan), IBM (electronic computer). The leaders of these companies can attest that the key to creating new market space is not large R&D budgets, but the right strategic actions. That is, the creation of a blue ocean is a product of strategy and, in many respects, a product of management actions.”

Let’s say that the companies cited by the authors created “blue oceans,” but we can easily recall the recent problems of each of these companies - Ford, Chrysler, and IBM. Accordingly, it can be understood that the “blue ocean” theory does not exist.

The methodology is definitely useful, but, unfortunately, it is secondary... Michael Porter wrote about the possibilities of protection from market competition in his work of the same name. He proposed two strategies for such protection:

a) create a “reliable defense against the power of competition”;

b) take a position where the company will be least vulnerable to competitive forces.

Of these strategies, it is the second that is increasingly resonant with modern management thinkers and practitioners.

And most of all, the methods of the authors of “Creating a Blue Ocean Strategy” are similar to the classic works of D. Trout - “Differentiate or Die!” and his other works. By the way, despite the fact that W. Chuck Kim and Rene Mauborgne constantly repeat that benchmarking and focus on competitors are the exclusive prerogative of the “red ocean” of competition, and are fundamentally not applicable in creating a “blue ocean”, nevertheless, in their own methods actively use these approaches, which we can see in the table above in the text “Four stages of strategy visualization” (places where competitive benchmarking is used are underlined).

To make the “blue ocean” methods more convincing, I would like to give a brief analysis of the works of D. Trout.

As competition intensifies, it becomes more and more difficult for companies to find points of difference (in Chuck Kim’s words, this would sound like “finding blue oceans is increasingly difficult”). But there is no other way.

“Differentiate or die!” This slogan, proclaimed by Jack Trout in 2000 in his book of the same name, opened a new page in the development of modern marketing. According to some experts, the word “differentiation” is actually just a new version of the term “positioning”, to which Trout personally and co-authored (with Al Ries and others) devoted many books. Which again shows the love of the “classics” of the business genre to use new terminology to describe old concepts.

The essence of the theory of differentiation is extremely simple and boils down to the following: in order to survive in conditions of fierce competition and commodity saturation in the markets, you need to loudly declare your difference, or, in other words, about the blue ocean. At the same time, the main sign of both product and market differentiation is the image that consumers have of the company and its products. Another sign is the methods by which the company provides itself with advantages over its competitors.

In Differentiate or Die, Jack Trout and Steve Rivkin outline the basic steps to achieving differentiation. First, you need to know the situation in your market and be aware of the positions of your competitors. Secondly, find an idea that would qualitatively distinguish the company or its product from similar ones. This idea must then be effectively implemented and instilled in the minds of the target audience. Those. the company must understand its position, the positions of direct and indirect competitors and non-competitors close to it, on the basis of this, develop its qualitative difference from them (“blue ocean”), which subsequently loudly declare on the market (brand itself and its own difference (blue ocean) ocean), inform about it, explain the value of this difference to the target audience).

“It’s better to be first than to prove that you are better,” says the first principle of J. Trout’s bestseller “The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing.” However, experts question this postulate, just as they now question even more the postulates of the authors of “Creating a Blue Ocean Strategy.” In most cases, this approach works when products from brands in the same segment have tangible differences between them. Over the past two years, we have observed a trend toward gradual equalization of product quality in all markets. Without a strong brand and equally well-established distribution, most consumers are unlikely to choose a brand with the same quality as others but at a higher price.

In an increasingly competitive environment, it is becoming increasingly difficult for companies to find a point of differentiation when building marketing strategies. The successful implementation of this task largely depends on whether the company can place an image or quality characteristic of the product in the buyer’s mind. Today, leaders have simply dismantled the values ​​generally accepted by the target audience: quality, reliability, simplicity, sophistication. In this context, it is worth citing the example of the Finnish company Raisio Group and its brand of instant porridge. Among all the positive characteristics of this product (healthiness, affordability, ease of preparation, high taste), the category “speed of preparation” was chosen when building a marketing strategy. The slogan “More time to communicate” perfectly expresses the main idea of ​​​​positioning this brand. If this case were considered in “Creating a Blue Ocean Strategy”, it would be cited as one of the most successful examples of creating a “blue ocean”, because Before that, none of their direct or indirect competitors identified “communication” as their competitive advantage, i.e. From the highly competitive field of food products, these instant porridges moved to the sphere of communications and leisure, where they are also outside the competitive field, because there were no porridges in this market segment yet.

A classic example of the Rolls-Royce strategy demonstrates how to segment a market and achieve a dominant position in its segment. The consumer was offered additional car finishing and after-sales service to ensure the reliability of the cars. Thus, a stable idea of ​​the product was created as an item of luxury, comfort, designed for the snobbery of buyers. It is worth noting that Rolls-Royce does not often offer innovative technical developments, remaining in the shadow of the auto giants. Again, here we can talk about a “blue ocean,” right? But once upon a time it was called positioning, or differentiation...

Well, I think that I have examined the concept of blue oceans strategy quite clearly and objectively.

From all this, I concluded for myself that the book is good, but as an exciting business fiction about a business utopia with more than vague and not clear recommendations for using the hackneyed, but always burning topic of competition in the key of “wishful thinking.”

But again, even though this is a “fairy tale”, and the given methods of avoiding competition or competitive struggle are “secondary” and are based on the earlier works of such classics as M. Porter, D. Trout and others, but this is not the main thing...

The main thing is that the beautiful “wrapper” and the ease of presentation of the material in the form of a “serious fairy tale for adults” attracted the attention of a very wide audience of readers who, perhaps, had not read either D. Trout or M. Porter, respectively, the authors of the book found their “ blue ocean", selling his work not only to potential clients, but also to lovers of light reading, esotericism, etc., introducing a very large readership to the basics of strategic marketing, differentiation and positioning, creative marketing in the form of "for dummies", without giving readers feel like that.

Moreover, “advanced” readers were able to enjoy easy reading and repetition of what they had learned in classical works in a new form. Whatever you say, “repetition is the mother of learning”!

Despite all the fly in the ointment, this book can be considered a barrel of honey, because it quite well presents previously known methods and ideas, but in a beautiful and intelligible form. The authors cannot be called “creators,” but their “tuning” of ideas and the creation of a beautiful myth “about milk rivers and jelly banks” deserves all praise.