The strategy canvas is the central diagnostic and action framework for building a compelling blue ocean strategy. The horizontal axis captures the range of factors that the industry competes on and invests in, and the vertical axis captures the offering level that buyers receive across all these key competing factors.

 

The strategy canvas serves two purposes.

• Firstly, it captures the current state of play in the known market space. This allows you to understand where the competition is currently investing and the factors that the industry competes on.
• Secondly, it propels you to action by reorienting your focus from competitors to alternatives and from customers to noncustomers of the industry.

The value curve is the basic component of the strategy canvas. It is a graphic depiction of a company's relative performance across its industry's factors of competition.

 

As you can see on the diagram above, what makes a good value curve is focus, divergence as well as a compelling tagline.