Competition is a significant concern for almost every company in today’s business world. Market competition is becoming more and more challenging to overcome; companies often stop operating because they cannot continue to produce, sell or provide services. This paper summarizes my approach to developing a Blue Ocean Strategy for Virgin Galactic. I have used the six given tools to outline this strategic plan. For Virgin Galactic company to be successful, it must adopt strategic management. This must take a series of necessary actions on behalf of the client to maximize the use of capital to achieve the company’s goals. The company’s development is kept in the right direction through continuous strategic management. It involves exploring the world, developing a strategy, putting it into practice, and evaluating the results to understand their competitors better and outperform them.
The first tool of the Blue Ocean Strategy that Virgin Galactic would employ is the visualizing strategy which entails four steps. According to Bos-Dictionary (n.d.), visual awakening helps the company know where it stands. Visual exploration is knowing how competitors and clients see the company. Using a strategic canvas and the six paths framework, a visual strategy creates a visual representation of where the company could be. Visual communication creates maps for employees that show the path from the current to the new location. The challenge I faced in this section was finding the proper blue ocean, for it was hard to develop innovative concepts.
Strategy canvas reflects the current state of the market and the level of competition facing consumers in many essential ways (Blue Ocean Strategy, 2022). It is helpful since the visual interpretation of a value curve can be seen by presenting these factors in an open matrix. It shifts the strategic focus from competition to non-customers. Its limitation is the exclusion of external forces to a business model like competition. The limitation of strategy canvas is the strategy execution, where venturing into new markets becomes difficult.
The four-actions framework builds a new value curve by reflecting the critical concerns of Virgin Galactic. These factors should be reduced below industry standards, and aspects should be raised above industry standards. The first concern provides insight into opportunities to reduce cost structures in the industry, whereas the second focus on ways to increase consumer demand and price. Challenges faced while implementing the four actions framework are strategic clarity and corporate mindset. The Eliminate-Reduce-Raise-Create Grid completes a four-step plan. It allows Virgin Galactic company to answer the concerns previously addressed in the Four Actions Framework and provide new value. A matrix with four criteria of what to eliminate, reduce, raise, and create was used to review each factor of industry competition. The limitation of the Eliminate-Reduce-Raise-Create Grid is non-defensibility, whereby the strategy does not defend the market after making the new ocean.
The six paths framework is an essential strategy for redefining market boundaries. Its limitation is caused by the assumption of products competing in a defined and static company. Virgin Galactic company should follow the following methods:
- Look at other promising industries.
- Explore strategic groups across industries.
- Look at the entire buyer chain.
- Look at services and other complementary products.
- Focus on the emotional appeal or performance of the buyer.
- Look around time.
In conclusion, Virgin Galactic would be able to analyze every way to learn how to carve the blue ocean by re-creating the market reality and moving away from the traditional boundaries of competition. It entered the Blue Ocean right from the start and utilized the tools of the Blue Ocean Strategy to create demands. For instance, the creation of the world’s first space shuttle made space travel accessible to everyone (Wattles, 2021). Virgin Galactic is striving to achieve that clear goal with its first commercial flight, which is expected to be the first for space tourism in eight years. The company also adds value to air tourism through its customers’ luxury and outperforms its existing customers by offering this service for less than 1% of its original cost. It overcomes organizational barriers and creates a clear vision from the start.
Reference List
Blue Ocean Strategy: Strategy Canvas | Blue Ocean Strategy Tools and Frameworks (2022) Web.
Bos-Dictionary (n.d.). Visual Awakening / Visual Exploration / Visual Strategy Fair / Visual Communication. Web.
Wattles, J. (2021) Virgin Galactic founder Richard Branson successfully rockets to outer space. [online] CNN. Web.