- A.Becoming the lowest-cost producer in an industry through scale, learning curves, process design, and ruthless overhead control.
- B.Kim & Mauborgne's framework for creating uncontested market space by reducing/eliminating competitive factors and raising/creating new ones — value innovation, not competition. ✓
- C.Porter's 2x2 of strategic positioning — Cost Leadership, Differentiation, Cost Focus, Differentiation Focus — and the warning against being "stuck in the middle."
- D.Kim & Mauborgne's framework for creating uncontested market space by reducing/eliminating competitive factors and raising/creating new ones — value innovation, not competition.
Blue Ocean Strategy is kim & Mauborgne's framework for creating uncontested market space by reducing/eliminating competitive factors and raising/creating new ones — value innovation, not competition. The other options describe related but distinct concepts in Strategic Frameworks — see the deep-dive guide for the full distinction.
How to think about questions like this
Competing in red oceans (existing markets) yields shrinking profits; creating blue oceans yields growth. Questions like this test whether you can distinguish Blue Ocean Strategy from neighboring concepts. The most common trap is choosing a closely-related concept that sounds similar but applies in a different context.
When you see a definition question on an exam, do two things: (1) translate the question into your own words, then (2) generate the answer in your own words before reading the options. This avoids the cognitive bias of recognizing a familiar phrase as correct just because it is familiar.