Four Actions Framework

Four Actions Framework - Blue Ocean Strategy Glossary

Four Actions Framework is a tool that helps managers reconstruct buyer value elements into a new value curve that breaks the differentiation/low cost trade-off. It forces the organization to ask the following four questions:

1. Which of the factors that the industry takes for granted should be eliminated?
2. Which factors should be reduced well below the industry's standard?
3. Which factors should be raised well above the industry's standard?
4. Which factors should be created that the industry has never offered?

The first question forces managers to consider eliminating factors that may have made sense in the past, but do not add much value to buyers today. The second question forces them to consider reducing factors that may have been over-designed in the race to beat the competition. Hence those two questions address the low cost side of the equation by helping companies reduce their cost structure. The third question forces managers to uncover and eliminate the compromises that the industry has forced buyers to make. The fourth question helps managers discover new sources of value for buyers. The last two questions address the differentiation side of the equation.

Source: BOS Terms, Four Actions Framework - Blue Ocean Strategy Glossary, Business Strategy at blueoceanstrategy.com