4 Actions Framework: The Bedrock of Blue Ocean Strategy

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Multiple industry sectors are entangled in unrelenting competition as organizations endeavor vigorously, frequently competing over identical attributes, while offering comparable products and services.

This environment of intense competition has distinct and accepted boundaries and well-defined competitive norms. Companies endeavor to surpass their competitors and acquire a larger portion of the product or service demand in this setting.

As the market space grows more and more crowded, prospects for growth and profit dwindle.

Products either become commodities or discover their niche, resulting in intense competition that transforms the industry into a battlefield. This is why such environments are referred to as "red oceans."

Establishing an uncontested market space, also known as a "blue ocean," is one method for sustaining profitable growth. Blue Ocean is a business strategy that encourages the creation of new markets and Value Propositions that make competitors irrelevant.

The basis of this strategy is Value Innovation, through which unchallenged markets are created. Value Innovation is the simultaneous effort to achieve uniqueness and cost effectiveness. The companies shatter the conventional cost-value trade-off by providing substantially greater value to end consumers at a reduced price.

The foundation of the Blue Ocean Strategy is the 4 Actions Framework, which represents a powerful tool. The primary argument of the 4 Actions Framework is that establishing a new market can generate more advantages than contending against entrenched competitors in an existing market.

The framework considers the following 4 actions when either enhancing a current offering or developing a fresh one:

Raise
Eliminate
Reduce
Create

The vital component to implementing a successful 4 Actions Framework strategy is identifying the recurrent obstacles that only the organization can address. The framework is designed for assessing the current Value Proposition of an organization whilst discovering a way to create a new one that resonates with a different group of consumers or needs.

Let us delve a little deeper into some of the actions.

Raise

In this action, queries pertaining to product, pricing, or service characteristics that must exceed industry standards are addressed. The essential query to pose is, "Which factors justify significantly exceeding typical industry standards?"

This query pushes businesses to identify and eliminate the trade-offs that customers must tolerate.

Eliminate

This action investigates segments of an organization or industry that can be eliminated wholly to reduce costs and help establish an entirely new market. The essential question that must be asked is, "What are elements that are frequently ignored by the industry that ought to be eliminated?"

This question necessitates consideration about the elimination of factors upon which competitors have customarily competed. The focus should on characteristics that necessitate significant effort and investment, but generate only marginal revenue or new consumers.

Reduce

This action examines areas of a company's product or service that are not essential but are notable in the industry and can be streamlined without being eliminated.

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"Strategy without Tactics is the slowest route to victory. Tactics without Strategy is the noise before defeat." - Sun Tzu

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