Introduction to Round Blue-3

Round Blue-3 starts in Year 47, as shown in the figure below.  As you enter this new Round, you will see that your offering is beginning to be imitated by new entrants to your Blue Ocean.  This is true only if you have been successful during the two previous Rounds in creating an attractive Blue Ocean.  In addition, your traditional competitors will possibly have launched new offerings during the previous year.  Their initial sales are likely to be low but will increase over time, even though you have first mover advantage.

 

Since competition is increasing and product imitations are entering Roundland and Starland from abroad, there is a need to break away from the competition again. 

Mike and the rest of the Executive Team go back to the field to conduct another round of Visual Exploration to see how they could extend their strategic profile further into the Blue Ocean.  However, this time they are not concentrating on the Product aspect of the offering, but on Service and Delivery. 

Many successful Blue Ocean strategies have been created by deciding that even though the product portfolio in question may not be the most attractive in the market, a Blue Ocean can still be created by considering Delivery and/or Service.  Dell is a good example of an organization creating its first Blue Ocean move by focusing on Delivery!

It is also wise and often necessary to rotate the platforms of Value Innovation amongst Product, Service and Delivery much as a farmer would do crop rotation.  It is also a way to demoralize potential competitors who may have worked hard to imitate you on one dimension of strategy merely to see you innovate in another.

Mike and the Executive team found that two Paths offered the most insight on how they could potentially break away from the competition again and extend further into the Blue Ocean where the competitors would be irrelevant:

•   Path 4:  Looking Across Complementary Product and Service Offerings which yielded new insights regarding Services

•   Path 5:  Looking Across the Functional and Emotional Appeal for Buyers which yielded new insights regarding Delivery.