Consigliere

Blue Ocean Strategy Glossary : Consigliere

Consigliere is a politically adept and highly respected insider who can help identify landmines that may lie ahead in executing a Blue Ocean Strategy. A consigliere will, for example, help identify who will fight and who will support the changes a tipping point leader would like to make. While it is important to build a top management team with strong functional skills such as marketing, operations or finance, bringing a Consigliere on board allows a leader to zoom in on identifying the key players and how they will likely play the political game. See Political Hurdles.

Source: Blue Ocean Strategy Glossary at www.blueoceanstrategy.com

Complementary Products and Services

Blue Ocean Strategy Glossary : Complementary Products and Services

Complementary Products and Services are products and services that indirectly impact the utility a buyer receives from an offering. Few products and services are used in a vacuum. Yet managers tend to confine their worldview within the bounds of their industry, without asking what happens before, during, and after the use of their product or service.

The key is to define the total solution buyers seek when they choose a product or service. For example, babysitting assistance and parking facilities are two complementary services to movie theaters. By expanding one's attention to the total solution buyers seek when they choose a product or service, and by removing the "pain points" that buyers experience before, during or after the use of their product or service, a company can create a blue ocean of new market space. See Six Paths Framework.

Source: Blue Ocean Strategy Glossary at www.blueoceanstrategy.com

Commonalities

Blue Ocean Strategy Glossary : Commonalities

Commonalities are shared preferences among buyers. To ensure that a blue ocean is deep and wide enough to guarantee sustainable profitability, managers must aggregate the greatest demand for their offering by challenging two conventional strategic practices: focusing on existing customers and driving for finer segmentation to accommodate buyer differences. By looking to noncustomers and by building on powerful commonalities across them, it is possible to reach beyond existing demand and unlock a new mass of customers that did not exist before.

Source: Blue Ocean Strategy Glossary at www.blueoceanstrategy.com