Unit of Analysis

Unit of Analysis is, in the context of management literature, the basic observable entity used to study and explain the success or failure of businesses over time. The unit of analysis commonly used in exploring the roots of high performance is the company or the industry. However, as there is no perpetually high- performing firm or high performing industry – both rise and fall across time -- Blue Ocean Strategy uses the strategic move, and not the company or the industry, as the basic unit of analysis for exploring and explaining the creation of blue oceans. The strategic move is the unit of analysis upon which the logic, tools, and methodologies of blue ocean strategy are derived. See Strategic Move.