Blue Ocean Strategy & Blue Ocean Shift: What is it? What’s in it for me?

How can a scuba diving business benefit from using the Blue Ocean Strategy framework?

You may have heard of a “Blue Ocean Strategy.” W. Chan Kim and Renée A. Mauborgne gave the business world a one-two punch with their books: Blue Ocean Strategy: How to Create Uncontested Market Space and Make the Competition Irrelevant and Blue Ocean Shift: Beyond Competing: Proven Steps to Inspire Confidence and Seize New Growth.

In a nutshell, “Blue Ocean Strategy” says: stop getting bogged down in the bloody “red oceans” of existing industries where everyone’s fighting for the same customers, often by just trying to undercut each other. Think chum in the water – it gets messy! Instead, Kim and Mauborgne urge us to set sail for the vast, untapped “blue oceans” of new market space where demand is created, not fought over, and the competition becomes, well, irrelevant. They argue that real growth and profit increasingly come from these blue oceans.

Would it be nice if your dive business stopped competing with other dive businesses and, instead, sailed away on its own blue ocean?

Easier said than done? Maybe. Let’s see.

This post is part of our Blueprints 4.0 for a Healthier Dive Industry Business Model series by the Business of Diving Institute and Darcy Kieran, author of:

Cracking the Code of Blue Ocean Strategy & Blue Ocean Shift (The Big Picture)

Kim and Mauborgne’s research, based on over 150 strategic moves across more than 100 years and 30 industries, showed consistent patterns in how companies create these blue oceans. It’s not just about being innovative; it’s about “value innovation.” This means simultaneously pursuing differentiation (making your offering stand out) and low cost, breaking the traditional trade-off. It’s not enough to just be different or just be cheap; you gotta be both in a way that creates a leap in value for both the buyer and your business.

To help us navigate these blue waters, Kim and Mauborgne armed us with some key analytical tools and frameworks.

Blue Ocean Strategy Canvas

The big one is the “strategy canvas.” Imagine a graph where the horizontal axis lists all the key competitive factors in your industry (think price, service, features, etc.), and the vertical axis shows how high or low different players perform on these factors. By plotting the competition and yourself, you get a visual “value curve.”

Blue ocean strategists aim for value curves that diverge significantly from the industry average, showing focus on key areas and a compelling tagline that screams their unique value.

To get that diverging curve, you need to rethink what your industry takes for granted.

Blue Ocean Strategy’s Four Actions Framework

Kim and Mauborgne introduce the “Four Actions Framework.”

Eliminate: Which factors that the industry competes on can be eliminated? These might be things that don’t add much value anymore or even confuse customers.
Reduce: Which factors have been over-designed in the race to match and beat competitors? Can you dial them back without losing much?
Raise: Which factors could be raised well above the industry standard to create new value for customers?
Create: Which factors that the industry has never offered should be created? These are your truly innovative moves.

It is known as the ERRC grid: eliminate, reduce, raise, and create.

Blue Ocean Strategy’s Six Paths

Another crucial element is understanding that “market boundaries” aren’t set in stone. Kim and Mauborgne offer “Six Paths” to help us reconstruct these boundaries and find blue ocean opportunities.

Look across alternative industries: What else do your customers consider when making a similar decision?
Look across strategic groups within your industry: These are groups of companies that pursue similar strategies. Can you see untapped space by considering why customers might trade up or down between these groups?
Look across the chain of buyers: Who actually uses, pays for, and influences the purchase? Are you overly focused on one group and ignoring the needs of others?
Look across complementary product and service offerings: What other products or services do your customers need before, during, or after using your offering? Can you bundle or integrate these differently?
Look across the functional-emotional appeal to buyers: Does your industry compete mainly on price and function, or on emotional connection? Could you flip that switch?
Look across time: What trends are emerging that could create new opportunities or threats? How can you participate in shaping the future rather than just reacting to it?

The Non-Customers

Kim and Mauborgne also stress the importance of “reaching beyond existing demand.”

Instead of just fighting over the industry’s current customer base, think about “noncustomers” – those who don’t currently buy what your industry offers. They break these down into three tiers:

First-tier: “Soon-to-be” noncustomers who are on the edge of your market and are looking for something better.
Second-tier: “Refusing” noncustomers who consciously choose not to use your industry’s offerings because they find them unacceptable, unaffordable, or too complicated.
Third-tier: “Unexplored” noncustomers who have never even considered your industry’s offerings as an option.

Understanding the pain points of the noncustomers (using a “buyer utility map” to look at utility levers across the buyer experience cycle) can unlock massive new demand.

Blue Ocean Strategy Sequence

Finally, “Blue Ocean Strategy” emphasizes getting the “strategic sequence right.”

You need to test your blue ocean ideas in this order:

Buyer utility: Is there exceptional utility?
Price: Is it strategically priced to attract the masses?
Cost: Can you achieve your target cost?
Adoption: Are there hurdles to adoption?

If an idea fails at any stage, you need to go back to the drawing board. They even provide a “Blue Ocean Idea (BOI) index” as a quick check.

Blue Ocean Shift

Now, fast forward to “Blue Ocean Shift.”

Kim and Mauborgne realized that while “Blue Ocean Strategy” laid out the “what,” people needed more guidance on the “how.” This book is more of a step-by-step guide to actually making it a reality.

It breaks the process down into five key steps.

Get Started: This is about setting the right scope for your blue ocean initiative (don’t try to boil the ocean all at once!) and building the right blue ocean team with diverse perspectives. They emphasize an “earn the right to grow” approach, starting with one offering and expanding from there.
Understand Where You Are Now: This involves getting a clear picture of the current competitive landscape by creating your “as-is” strategy canvas and aligning everyone on the need for a shift. It’s about seeing the big picture and getting out of functional silos.
Imagine Where You Could Be: This is where you explore potential blue oceans by using the buyer utility map to uncover pain points and by identifying the three tiers of noncustomers to unlock new demand.
Find How You Get There: This step is about systematically reconstructing market boundaries using those six paths we talked about. The book delves into how to conduct live-action market explorations with subteams to gather real insights.
Make the Shift Happen: This involves finalizing your blue ocean move, testing it, and rolling it out. They emphasize the importance of getting feedback and ensuring everyone is on board.

“Blue Ocean Shift” also places a big emphasis on the “humanness” of the process. It’s not just about dry analysis; it’s about building confidence and creative competence within your team. They stress the principle of “no surprises—EVER,” keeping everyone informed and building collective confidence.

Throughout both books, W. Chan Kim and Renée A. Mauborgne use tons of examples of companies (big and small, B2C and B2B, even public and non-profit) that have successfully created blue oceans. They also address common “red ocean traps” – mental models that can prevent you from thinking blue.

So, that’s the gist of it. Stop fighting in the crowded red sea, figure out how to create your own sparkling blue one, and make the competition wave goodbye in your wake!

Blue Ocean Bonanza for the Small Dive Business Owner (Making It Real)

Now, let’s get down to brass tacks. You’re a small dive business owner, probably wearing about six different hats. Resources are tighter than a wetsuit that’s shrunk in the closet. Can this “Blue Ocean” stuff actually work for you, or is it just for the big sharks?

Here’s the good news: it absolutely can benefit you! In fact, in some ways, being small and nimble can be an advantage when trying to make a blue ocean shift. You don’t have a massive, lumbering organization to turn around.

Think about it. A dive center isn’t just one business; it’s a school, a retail shop, a travel agent and tour operator, a repair center, a rental service, and a fill station. This complexity, while seemingly daunting, actually gives you multiple potential avenues for blue ocean creation!

Instead of trying to be the cheapest or have the biggest retail selection (which you probably can’t compete with anyway), you can look at those six mini-businesses and ask: Where can we offer something radically different and more valuable to a specific group of customers, even with our limited resources?

Here’s how a small dive business owner can really benefit from a Blue Ocean Strategy, keeping those resource constraints in mind:

Targeting Untapped Needs (Finding Your Niche Blue): Use the buyer utility map and think about the pain points of potential divers or even existing divers who are underserved. Maybe there’s a huge group of people who are interested in the ocean but are intimidated by the traditional scuba certification process. Could you create a more relaxed, beginner-friendly program that focuses on enjoying local reefs without the full pressure of a certification? Maybe you can use tankless diving as a first step from snorkeling to scuba diving. This could tap into that second tier of noncustomers – those who refuse the current offering.
Bundling Uniquely (Creating a Value Package): Look across complementary offerings. Instead of just selling “scuba,” could you create “adventure packages” that combine diving with paddleboarding or with wellness programs? This creates more value for the customer and makes you more than just a dive business.
Shifting the Experience (Emotional vs. Functional): Consider the functional-emotional appeal. Is the local dive scene very focused on skills and C-cards? Maybe you could create a blue ocean by focusing on the fun, social, and exploratory aspects of diving. Think themed dive outings, underwater photography workshops, or even “eco-dives” with a focus on marine conservation and education – tapping into a more emotional connection to create enthusiastic divers.
Streamlining and Simplifying (Lowering Costs While Raising Value): Apply the ERRC framework to your existing operations. What can you eliminate that customers don’t really value (maybe a huge, dusty retail inventory)? What can you reduce (perhaps less emphasis on certification and more focus on the activity of exploring the underwater world)? What can you raise (maybe the quality of your rental gear and the expertise of your guides)? And what can you create (like those unique experience packages or beginner-friendly programs)?
Focusing Your Efforts (The Power of One Offering): The “earn the right to grow” approach is perfect for small businesses. Don’t try to revolutionize all six parts of your dive center at once. Pick one area where you see a blue ocean opportunity and focus your limited resources there. Once you see success, you can then apply the process to other areas. Maybe start with your dive outings and create a truly unique experience that attracts a new type of customer.
Leveraging Local Uniqueness (Your Untapped Asset): Think about what makes your location special. Are there unique dive sites? Local marine life? Historical wrecks? Could you build a blue ocean offering around these specific assets that larger, more generic dive operators can’t easily replicate? This is like looking across buyer groups – maybe focusing on tourists seeking authentic local experiences.
Building a Small but Mighty Team (Human Element is Key): Even with a small staff, you can involve everyone in the blue ocean thinking process, as suggested in “Blue Ocean Shift.” Brainstorming sessions, focusing on customer frustrations, and encouraging creative ideas can lead to surprisingly innovative solutions, even with limited brainpower (in terms of staff numbers, not intelligence, of course!)

About the 6 Businesses Inside a Dive Center

It may seem harder on the surface to deal with the complexity of having six businesses in one, but think of it this way: You have more levers to pull!

You have more potential intersections where you can create something new. Maybe your repair department could offer unique customization services that attract a niche market. Perhaps your fill station could partner with local research groups needing specialized gas mixtures.

The key is to not get overwhelmed by the six-in-one nature of a scuba diving center but to see it as six potential blue ocean springboards.

Of course, you won’t have the massive marketing budgets of a big resort chain. However, a well-defined blue ocean offering with a compelling tagline can generate buzz and word-of-mouth marketing, which can be incredibly powerful. Think about how a truly unique local experience gets talked about.

Avoiding the Red Ocean Traps is also crucial.

Don’t fall into the trap of just trying to be better than the dive shop down the street on the same old competitive factors.
On the flip side, don’t think you have to venture completely outside of diving to find a blue ocean. It could be right there in how you teach a beginner class or organize a local dive trip.

And definitely don’t equate blue ocean with just lowering prices – it’s about creating value at a strategic price.

So, while it might seem like a Herculean task, the principles of Blue Ocean Strategy and the step-by-step guidance in Blue Ocean Shift offer a tangible roadmap for small dive business owners to escape the competitive frenzy and create their own uncontested pockets of success.

It’s about being smart, creative, and really understanding what value you can uniquely offer to a specific group of customers, even with those ever-present resource limitations.

Time to swap that red-stained chum for some sparkling blue innovation!

You may also be interested in the following podcast episode about Blue Ocean Strategy and Blue Ocean Shift in the dive industry: [soon].

Continue reading about Blueprints 4.0 for a Healthier Dive Industry Business Model.