Ali Anani, PhD

A New Metaphor for

Blue OceanS t r a t e g y ( B O S )

Blue Ocean Strategy (BOS) is widely accepted as a venuefor Differentiation and adding value to products and services

BOS has four building blocks. These are:

EliminateIncreaseReduceCreate

It occurred to me that a visual metaphor would ease the process of performing the four blocks of BOS

A suitable visual metaphor is relating BOS to a picture

Let us start the correlation

Recolor picture…. Recolor your problem, your product. What attributes to Create? Recolor creatively may add new thinking to the application of BOS

Compress picture…. Compress your problem, to suit intended use and means of delivery. Compress might trigger different ideas than Reduce

Brighten (or Dim) picture…. Brighten or dim the possibilities resulting from solving the problem of a product or service. Again, Dim and Brighten might trigger different ideas than Reduce or Increase

Contrast picture…. Contrast the problem at hand. See it from both optimistic and pessimistic views. Contrast isn’t explicitly used in BOS, which might lead to different thinking paths.

Rotate picture…. Rotate the problem to see it from different perspectives. Again, Rotate isn’t explicitly mentioned in BOS, which might trigger new approaches and ideas

Reflect picture…. Reflect your problem and see things from the other side of the river. Reflect adds to the possibilities of applying BOS Strategy

Reshape picture…. Reshape your problem and change your perspective of the problem. Reshape isn’t used explicitly in BOS, which might lead to the generation of new ideas

Border picture…. Put your problem within defined borders.Defining problems results in framing their solutions

Shade picture…. Shade your problem. Eliminate or reduce certain attributes of your product or service.The use of Shade would lead to new thinking and problem-solving approaches

Blur picture… What attributes to blur? For example, to reduce or eliminate their advertising? The use of Blur instead of Reduce might lead to different thinking lines.

Annotate picture… Annotate your product or service creatively to draw attention to them

Highlight picture… What attributes to highlight and increase their exposure? Highlight may add to our thinking in producing improved BOS ideas

Erase picture…. What parts of product or service to Eliminate or Erase.Erase is comprehensive as it opens new windows of thinking BOS. Erase not only from the market, but also from customers’ memory as well.

Stepwise annotation of picture…What attributes to Increase, Reduce, Create or Eliminate gradually?

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Cut pictureWhat attributes to cut or Reduce of your product or service? Cut may open the mind to new possibilities