Strategy Worksheet

The Blue Ocean Shift

ERRC Strategic Grid Worksheet
Spark Hive

Core objective

Break the value–cost trade-off by pursuing high buyer value and low cost at the same time. Answer the four questions below to redraw your industry's boundaries and make the competition irrelevant.

3 ground rules before you start

  1. Concrete factors, not outcomes. Write "self-check-in kiosks," never "convenience."
  2. Don't bench-mark. Look across alternative industries and noncustomers — not one step better than rivals.
  3. Be brutally honest about costs. If you only Raise and Create, you'll bloat your cost structure.
Part 1

The four strategic questions

1 · ELIMINATE

Lower cost

Which factors the industry takes for granted should be entirely eliminated?

Prompt: What has your industry competed on for so long it's accepted blindly, even though it no longer adds value?
Shortcut → "What are the most frustrating things our industry forces buyers to deal with?"

2 · REDUCE

Lower cost

Which factors should be reduced well below the industry's standard?

Prompt: Have your products been over-designed to beat rivals? Where are you over-serving customers and bloating cost for no real gain?

3 · RAISE

Raise value

Which factors should be raised well above the industry's standard?

Prompt: What compromises does your industry routinely force on buyers? Which valued element can you lift far beyond the mediocre standard?

4 · CREATE

Raise value

Which factors should be created that the industry has never offered?

Prompt: Looking at alternative industries, strategic groups, and the three tiers of noncustomers — what entirely new sources of value can you introduce?
Part 2

The ERRC brainstorming grid

Transfer your key actionable factors from Part 1 below. Keep a strict balance between cost-reducing actions (left) and value-enhancing actions (right).

ELIMINATE

Strip out to lower cost

RAISE

Push far above standards

REDUCE

Dial back to lower cost

CREATE

Brand-new factors to build demand
← lower costraise value →
Part 3

The blue ocean litmus test

1.Cost-value check

Are Eliminate and Reduce full of high-impact entries? If they're empty, you're building an over-engineered, high-cost offering — not a blue ocean.

2."Me-too" trap check

Is your Create list truly new to the industry — or just things you've been bad at that rivals already offer? True creation is new to the market.

3.Utility check

On the buyer utility map, does your grid remove the biggest blocks to utility — simplicity, productivity, risk reduction — across the buyer experience cycle?

4.Tagline test

Focus + divergence should yield a compelling line — e.g. the speed of a plane at the price of a car.

Your strategy's tagline

10 words or less. Clear, honest, and unmistakably yours.