Blue Ocean Strategy of Tech Data

1. Blue ocean strategy: introduction

The blue ocean strategy seeks to bring differentiation to organizations and brands like Tech Data to create awareness and presence in a new market place and create demand amongst consumers. The blue ocean strategy focuses on creating demand in the uncontested market space, and by doing this, it makes the competition unrelated and irrelevant. Through the blue ocean strategy, industry players like Tech Data are able to reconstruct the market boundaries as well as the industry structure through their strategies and actions. Under the blue ocean model and framework, the industry structures are assumed to be flexible, and not rigid.

With Tech Data, the blue ocean model and framework has allowed the company to explore new market spaces that have not been competitive, or actively utilized by players existing in the present business environment. By doing so, Tech Data has been able to create new demand, rather than fight over and encroach existing competitive space. In doing so, Tech Data has been able to experience rapid growth as well as enjoy increased profits. When Tech Data adopts the blue ocean strategy, it changes the rules of the game and eradicates the competition – rendering them unimportant, and irrelevant factors of the environment. 

For businesses, the blue ocean signifies a deeper section of the ocean that is unexplored and holds unlimited potential and opportunities for growth and expansion. Tech Data adopts the broader blue ocean strategy through different means and frameworks.

2. Blue vs Red Ocean

Tech Data differs in its adoption of the blue ocean strategy to achieve rapid growth in unexplored market spaces. While Tech Data also actively pursues the red ocean strategy, it is also an avid follower of the blue ocean strategy. The choice of strategy differs based on the product nature and offerings, as well as the business goals, and market development.

The red and the blue ocean strategy for Tech Data are different in the following ways

3. Four action framework

The four actions framework by Tech Data has helped the company explore and refine buyer value more intricately. The Tech Data Company has made use of the four actions framework in reconstructing or developing new value curves or strategic profiles for the company and its various offerings in uncontested market spaces. However, when a new value curve is created, companies typically face a trade-off between differentiation and low cost. Tech Data has also been able to break this tradeoff by challenging the strategic formation, foundation and logic of the industry – thereby challenging the industry boundaries and working at large. 

3.1. The four strategic actions for developing new buyer value curves

Tech Data breaks the tradeoff through four simple strategic processes and ways – highlighted as the four actions in the four action framework. 

3.1.1. Eliminate

With elimination, Tech Data identifies and shortlists the factors through which a given industry has competed over a long period of time, and which may be eliminated now. These factors include, for example, obsolete technology, mundane operational processes, and stringent human resource policies.

3.1.2. Raise

Under this option, Tech Data is able to identify the factors that it wants to rise well above the industry’s average in its own settings and operations. These factors will give the company an edge over other players and will provide it with a competitive advantage. Tech Data, therefore, focuses on developing these factors for a sustainable advantage. These factors include, for example, its organizational culture, human resource training and policies, technological innovation, and market research capabilities – for example. 

3.1.3. Create

Under the action of create, the Tech Data is able to develop and identify strategic factors and capacities that are new to the industry at large, and have never been introduced before. With these capacities, the company is able to maintain and control costs, and is at the same time, able to offer higher value to the buyers. The company is also able to create sustainable advantage and a refined first-mover advantage through the development of these capacities that will give it a sustainable advantage.

3.1.4. Reduce

Under this strategic option and choice, Tech Data assesses and reviews a given industry, and identifies factors and aspects that it should reduce in its expansion plans to be able to maximally benefit from untapped market spaces and related opportunities. These factors are reduced considerably in comparison to industry standards.

4. Six path framework

Tech Data makes use of the six paths framework under the blue ocean model and framework to reduce, contain and identify the search risk that many businesses are challenged within their expansion plans. By using this framework, Tech Data is able to identify the numerous possibilities associated with expanding into an untapped market space, which allows it to reconstruct the industry boundaries and structures towards innovation and new value creation.

4.1. Six paths 

The six paths that Tech Data makes use of are:

4.1.1. Industry

Compared to red ocean players who focus on competing with exiting rivals within an industry, blue ocean players like Tech Data are able to expand beyond existing players. Tech Data looks at alternative industries, and alternate possibilities in its expansion and growth plans, and as such, renders existing competition irrelevant.

4.1.2. Strategic group

Red ocean players focus one existing strategic groups for positioning possibilities, Tech Data, on the other hand, looks beyond the existing strategic groups within an industry, and in turn, creates new strategic positioning and groups with first-mover advantage, and through exploring new market possibilities ad spaces.

4.1.3. Buyer group

Red ocean players continually eek to serve better-existing consumer groups. Tech Data in turn also focuses on creating new demand and creating new consumer groups to be able to expand its overall customer base. In doing so, Tech Data is able to redefine the buyer group and consumers for the industry – by identifying new and potential consumer groups as well.

4.1.4. Scope of product or service offering

Red ocean players focus on improving the core product offering to e babel to better serve the consumers. Tech Data, in turn, seeks not only to meet consumer expectations but to move across to be able to delight them. This is done by the company by focusing on consumer service, adding complementary offerings, as well as enhancing the service offerings for the consumers.

4.1.5. Functional-emotional orientation

Tech Data is able to innovate the functional-emotional orientation of the industry through its strategic choices and direction, as well as creativity and foresight. Tech Data is able to develop and create new market spaces and new demand for its products and offerings – highlighting innovation which is needed for redefining the industrial focus, and changing the balance of emotional and functional orientation within a given industry to better appeal to the target consumer groups. 

4.1.6. Time 

Red ocean players adapt to external trends and patterns in the external environment and incorporate them in their strategic decisions and directions. Tech Data in turn, seeks to influence the external trends and patterns in an industry’s environment. Instead of being reactive, it is more proactive in nature and actively seeks to enhance the business environment through influencing it over time with its actions, strategies and philosophies. 

5. Three tiers of non-customers

To tap into unexplored market spaces and create new demand, Tech Data has invested considerably in market research, and in understanding consumer trends and behavioral patterns. This research is especially focused on non-customers, and how to unlock them to create new demand for the company’s offerings. While Tech Data strives to maintain and expand its current consumer base, it must do so by tapping into new consumer groups. 

Figure 1 non-consumer groups of an industry

The first group of non-consumers for Tech Data are those who make minimal purchases of industry products – only out of necessity and are deemed to be non-customers. The second group involves those consumers who decline an industry’s offerings. This group has awareness about the industry’s offerings and benefits, but refuse to participate as active consumer groups., and instead, refuse to make the purchases altogether. The third group is the most away from the company, and have not considered the industry’s offerings as a possibility al att. These consumers are not interest or non-aware of the offerings. 

Tech Data makes use of blue ocean networks and models to pull in the non-consumers and convert them into customers through strategic decisions and planning. 

6. The sequence of creating a blue ocean value innovation 

Tech Data has made use of the blue ocean strategy optimally by making use of the framework to sequence its strategy to be able to gain the highest benefit and profit from it. Tech Data makes use of the optimal sequencing for value innovation under the blue ocean strategy i.e. buyer utility, price, cost, and adoption. By making use of this sequence, Tech Data is able to tap into the blue oceans of untapped market places and make sure that its growth is coming from unused market spaces, and is organic in terms of demand creation. With this sequence, Tech Data has also been able to reduce the risks of expansion and internationalization, and at the same time, also ensured that maximum value is created and enjoyed not only by the customers but also by the company itself in the untapped and new market spaces.

Figure 2 sequence of creating buyer value under the blue ocean model

6.1. Blue ocean value creation sequence

The sequence adopted by Tech Data makes perfect sense for expansion and business development. 

1. Tech Data ensures that its product offerings are developed, and marketed to convey exceptional utility for buyers and consumers in its markets. Though Tech Data manufactured products that require a low emotional attachment, the offerings and products are often repeatedly purchased for the gratification they offer. For Tech Data, this is achieved through marketing activities, where the company markets, and advertises its products to deliver exceptional buyer utility.
2. Based on the product offerings, its nature, and its characteristics, Tech Data ensures that the offerings are appropriately priced. This pricing strategy is maintained not only to attract new consumers, and penetrate existing consumer groups, but also to attract, and appeal to the masses. The products are priced to attract the maximum number of buyers from the target audience groups of the Tech Data Company’s products to determine the affordability of its audience. This affordability and purchase will lead to a ripple effect in terms of buzz generation for the product. 
3. After securing the revenue aspects of the model in the sequencing, Tech Data also ensures that it contains the costs of operations and manufacturing so as to derive a profit from its operations. Profit here is defined as the price of the products less the cost of production for the company – and involved fixed and variable costs. Tech Data ensures that its costs are maintained through economies of scale and that its product prices are not driven up because of the increase in costs. This price maintenance is important to attract the target consumers and benefit from the blue ocean maximally. 
4. Finally, Tech Data assesses the business environment and the consumer market and reviews it for any obstacles or hurdles in the process of adoption of the products in the blue ocean region. The company eliminates these hurdles and obstacles earlier along the way to prevent Tech Data form actualizing its goals and targets. 

7. Buyer Utility Map

Tech Data also makes use of the buyer utility map in its exploration of untapped market spaces for purposes of growth and expansion. The buyer utility map helps Tech Data understand consumer’s betters, and also allows Tech Data to think, and perceive from a buyer's point of view. As such, the company is able to explore the demand side better, and also allows Tech Data to devise innovative ways to enhance the buyer utility that are different dim the conventional utility measures. Exploration of the demand side also helps Tech Data develop new experiences for buyers with its offerings – to help enhance their relation and interaction with the products, and increase the offerings’ appeal. Tech Data is thus able to identify different and various utility spaces that its offerings can potentially fill. 

Figure 3 utility maps under the blue ocean model

The utility maps are based on two dimensions - The Buyer Experience Cycle (BEC) and the Utility levers.

7.1. Buyer experience cycle and utility levers

The BEC is the cycle or process through which a consumer interacts, consumers, and disposes of the product. It generally occurs in six phases – and runs from purchase to disposal stage. 
The utility levers, in turn, are the ways through which Tech Data can increase and enhance the utility of its offerings across the six stages of BEC for the consumers – thereby increasing the overall utility of the product.

7.2. Utility maps and value creation in the blue ocean

By identifying new and different utility spaces for consumers, Tech Data is able to identify new ideas and concepts that will help it tap into new consumer groups, and convert non-consumers onto avid consumers of its offerings. At the same time, the buyer utility amp also helps Tech Data in identifying spaces for differentiation of its products and creating new value propositions for the consumers – playing on the differentiation aspect as well.  

8. Value innovation

One of the tools that Tech Data employs in its application of the blue ocean strategy is the value innovation model or framework. With the value innovation framework, Tech Data is able to continually and simultaneously pursue a strategy of differentiation and low cost. By doing this, Tech Data is able to create enhanced and increased value for not only itself but also for its customers. This enhanced and increased value is developed because of value innovation. 

8.1. Creating value innovation: buyer vs. manufacturer

Value innovation is the pivotal factor that has helped Tech Data in developing and creating new demand by identifying and tapping into unexplored market spaces. With value innovation, the company has been able to continually refine its market-creating strategy, and develop new markets for its products, and product invocations. For value innovation, it is important to understand that customers gain value from the product’s utility less than the price paid. In contrast, value for manufacturers or companies – such as Tech Data, is derived based on the product’s price less the cost. Value innovation for Tech Data is achieved by aligning the aspects of price, cost, and utility. With this value innovation, a value leap is developed which enhances the value of the product for the customer as well as for Tech Data. 

Figure 4 value innovation under the blue ocean model