Tool 04/30 - Blue Ocean Strategy

 

The objectives of this short ten minute exercise -

1. To learn a tool that will be helpful in work life 
2. To apply the learning
3. To use this as a morning ritual to start a great day 

Step 1 - the warm up

Keep your journal and the pen at hand

Sit in a relaxed position with an intent to go into a ‘flow state’ to learn something new

Take three deep, powerful breaths to lock in your focus and start the next step

Step 2 - the learning

About Blue Ocean Strategy

Blue Ocean Strategy, introduced in 2004 by W. Chan Kim and Renée Mauborgne, encourages businesses to create uncontested market spaces ("blue oceans") by breaking free from competition. It emphasizes differentiation and cost reduction simultaneously, shifting focus from competing in existing markets to unlocking new demand and growth opportunities. The strategy works best in situations where traditional offerings have saturated the market.

Situations (examples) where this tool can be best used

• Redefining corporate wellness programs
• Transforming customer experience
• Revolutionizing internal communication

The top three mental muscles (competencies) developed by practicing this tool

• Strategic planning - defining and executing strategies aligned with organizational goals
• Innovation and creativity - encouraging new ideas and creative problem-solving
• Visionary thinking - articulating a clear, compelling vision for the future

A corporate story to understand the usage of this tool

Melanie Perkins (Canva) story

Overview
Melanie Perkins co-founded Canva (2012), revolutionizing the graphic design industry using Blue Ocean Strategy. She created a simple, affordable platform targeting non-designers.

Blue ocean strategy in action

1. Create uncontested market space
   Before Canva, graphic design was dominated by professional tools like Adobe Photoshop, catering to skilled designers. Perkins identified the need for an easy-to-use platform for non-designers. Canva’s intuitive, web-based platform with drag-and-drop functionality and pre-designed templates appealed to individuals and small businesses, creating an untapped market for graphic design.
2. Make the Competition Irrelevant
   Rather than competing with industry giants, Canva focused on underserved groups like beginners and small business owners. Its simplicity and affordability made it a compelling alternative.
3. Create and Capture New Demand
   Canva attracted a broad audience by addressing the rise of social media content creation. It leveraged emerging trends, such as visual marketing, offering free tools for casual users and premium solutions for businesses, capturing previously ignored demand.
4. Break the Value-Cost Trade-Off
   Canva’s model provided professional-quality tools at low costs, breaking the value-cost trade-off. Its cloud-based platform and extensive library of free resources offered high value without high costs.

Impact
By 2023, Canva reached 135 million active users and a $26 billion valuation, solidifying its leadership in the design space.

A story from the World Wars

My personal story

The context

In early 2000, when I was Product centre head of our Finance product, I had submitted an idea to our management. The idea was - How middle and lower class account holders can have new types of accounts where the amount can be stored in terms of grammes of gold. With small, regular deposits, their future need for gold required during their daughters’ marriage could be met. 

This was altogether a new idea but needed a lot of resources to do research and lobby with the banking industry. It was a win-win for Banks, to us as solution providers and to the customers of the bank.

How does my idea look from the lens of Blue Ocean strategy

Create uncontested market - It was a unique financial product that was not available at that time

Making the competition irrelevant - While the competitors (other IT companies) and customers (banks) were focusing on rupee accounts, this new product was looking at a totally new segment

Creating and capturing new demand - Most poor and middle class people kept gold in homes or in bank lockers. They would welcome this product. Monthly small savings in terms of gold would one day become a huge treasure.

Breaking the value-cost trade-off - Gold stored at home comes with hidden costs, such as theft risk and lack of returns. This new product could give them great value. 

Step 3 - the reflection

Sit back, go down memory lane, think of various events in your work life where you could have used this learning.

If nothing comes to mind, think of a situation that would help you answer any one of these interview questions.

1. “Can you provide an example of how you helped your organization differentiate itself in the market?” - Share a specific example. Highlight the impact, such as increased customer satisfaction, market share, or profitability.
2. “Describe a time when you turned a competitive challenge into an opportunity.” - Talk about a situation where intense competition led you to explore alternative market segments or innovate in ways that made competitors irrelevant.
3. “Can you share a time when you successfully targeted non-customers?” - Provide an example where you segmented potential non-customers (e.g., soon-to-be, refusing, or unexplored non-customers) and designed offerings to convert them into customers

Step 4 - the practice

Apply your learning to the situation you selected above.

• Create uncontested market
• Making the competition irrelevant
• Creating and capturing new demand
• Breaking the value-cost trade-off

Step 5 - the victory lap

Celebrate your achievement for a minute. Maybe a quick victory lap doing some energizing exercise?

**

To those who felt, “Fear of Failure: People may worry that the solution they found using the tool won’t work, potentially harming their reputation.” - Do you feel that the last ten minutes were worth the effort? 

This exercise is not only about management tools. It’s about building a neural pathway at the start of the day. And it’s about my mantra for creating small daily acts of feeling successful and happy. 

Don’t forget to carry this image 👇 in your mind. There could be a great situation where you may want to use the tool. Keep a log of all such situations. It will help you when you want to train someone.

My congratulations for your first dose of the day of success and happiness. Have a great day ahead.