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Every business has a picture that can be seen from the outside. This picture is drawn by top managers and owners of the business. Although this is a common belief that every business is different, in fact so many businesses act similar and their picture is pretty much alike. If you study your industry, you’ll see the majority of players compete in the same areas and they try to beat each other by offering more of the same thing.
However, Blue Ocean Strategy gives you the possibility to re-invent your strategy and develop areas that your competitors do not offer. It gives you a clear picture of your current state in the industry and how to change to a business with no competition.
Strategy Canvas is about generating possibilities that normally other competitors in your industry do not compete on them. There are many great examples of the successful execution of the Blue Ocean Strategy.
"A strategy canvas is highly effective if you want to start a new business. That’s because it shows you what you will be up against when entering the market.
For instance, ALDI Australia implemented this model very outstandingly. While the supermarket industry is saturated with big players in the Australian market like Coles, Woolworth and IGA, a newcomer German supermarket, ALDI, disrupted the market by Blue Ocean Strategy Canvas principals. It could obtain a large share of the market in not many years whereas the major competitors have been in a bloody fight for market share for several years.
Whilst Coles and Woolworth try hard to grow physically and add more items to their shelves, ALDI focused on a different aspect of shopping; convenience! Yes, it is much faster, easier and cheaper to shop at ALDI and this example shows how competing in the wrong areas can be costly and not bring any value to customers. ALDI by the smaller range and much smaller shop space firstly made it faster for shoppers to find their items and second saved a lot of cash on rent/least and real estate costs.
The principles of Blue Ocean Strategy are about focusing on the items in your strategy canvas that bring the most value to the customers and eliminating the ones that have little or no value to customers.
Certainly, creating new valuable areas in the strategic landscape can be very innovative and beneficial. This is how a business can be ahead of the competition by just being smart and not spending big bucks!
How to differentiate your business? Click here