Strategic Transformation - a Case Study
Re-positioning and setting of new Vision, Mission, Values and Strategy using Blue Ocean methodology were the first part of the Strategic Transformation program we undertook to transform a Chinese Print Management business to a multi-media regional Marketing Solutions company.
1. What was your Blue Ocean Strategy and how was it implemented?
We used Blue Ocean Strategy to differentiate our service offerings while maintaining low cost through valuing and pricing what customers want and are willing to pay for, not what we can do - which has been the industry practice using cost-plus pricing.
How we implemented it was three-fold:
First, we researched into what our key clients & potential customers wanted and valued through asking them several consultative questions on their Marketing and Procurement needs.
Then we looked into our organisational capabilities and potential for providing better value services and designed innovative processes to deliver these services at lower prices.
Last but not least, we designed our pricing in a different way to how other market players have been pricing services in similar categories in the market - the industry has been pricing based on their marginal costs which varied widely depending on their operating costs base and margin, and it is not easy for customers to differentiate quality and value based on this kind of pricing.
We priced our services based on defining accurately our customers' project brief.
On the face of it, it may look like we have undercut market prices a great deal. For example, we provided lower cost alternatives to Video Production and Photo Shooting – for a market that is increasingly consuming “high volume/low cost” videos and photos to communicate to end-consumers and stakeholders such as talents (as opposed to Television Commercials and Print Media productions that are much lower volume and higher costs). Actually, we were able to create project briefs that are in line with what customers wanted and are willing to pay for, rather than how it has been done in the market – and priced our services according to the shorter timeframe, higher volume and lower creative quality demanded by the customer.
2. How were the new Company Vision and Mission re-defined?
Formulating the new Company Vision and Mission demanded clear assessment of our businesses capabilities and competitive strengths in the market, as well as analytical foresight for how the market is going to develop and take shape in the upcoming 5 years.
We visualized and valued where the Asian market was headed to in 3 to 5 years’ time based on assessing global market dynamics – what is happening in key markets around the world: Europe, US, Australia – and determined the potential upside and downside risks of imminent changes coming to the Asian market. Furthermore, we determined the part we wanted to play in shaping these changes in the Asian market. This involved redefining the business Purpose first, and it was a soul-searching exercise. At the end of this exercise, we decided our guiding Purpose was to “Lead Positive Changes in a Dynamic World”.
Having defined our new Purpose, and formulated our Mission and Vision based on where we see the Asian market is heading as well as where our businesses capabilities and competitive strengths lay, we designed our Strategic Plans using Blue Ocean methodology.
Finally, we are ready to plan our 3 year Financial Goals and provided Strategy planning for Board approval and Leadership commitment.
Joyce Kwong is a Professional Business Consultant at Disruptive Business Consulting specialising in:
1. Strategy and Business Development,
2. Digital Transformation,
3. Performance & Talent Management
4. International Expansion
She runs a 30minutes Business Clinic for Entrepreneurs and SMEs as part of her Coaching and Mentorship program.
Joyce graduated from the University of Oxford and has a MBA from INSEAD.
She is a Member of the Institute of Directors (MIoD) and Royal Institute of International Affairs (Chatham House) in the UK, & a Freeman at the Worshipful Company of Marketors in the City of London.