The rule of thumb in strategy is that you ask two fundamental questions:
- What position on the landscape do I wish to occupy or hold?
- With what advantage shall I hold that position?
These two questions then lead you into the whole analysis around the external and internal factors, all this is to find that synergized advantage with which to hold the position. But the goal is to find something unique, something you do better, cheaper or faster than everyone else. Because advantage is held on those three fronts in the business ecosystem.
“If the world is condemned to mediocrity, if heroes are no more than statues and mythical figures and if adventure is for madmen then let us condemn ourselves to glory, let us become myth and let us be madmen, for the herd is already too numerous.”
― Nicolás Gómez Dávila
In the end, whether one picks a customer-focused strategy or a cost-leadership strategy, it’s evident that all these strategies will have some form of blue-oceanism to them. Blue oceanism in the sense that it will be something that others cannot easily copy. All strategy seeks to find something unique, to create a unique space.
Because average is crowded and the role of strategy is to get companies far away from average. Far away from mediocrity, far away from the red oceans where everyone is bleeding both on top-line and bottom-line and cast them into Blue Oceans. But soon, today’s blue ocean becomes crowded and turns into tomorrow’s red ocean, and once again the search for new blue oceans kicks off.
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