Glossary
The book's terms
The words the book uses, each one explained here so that no other page has to stop and explain it.
Core concepts
Red ocean / blue ocean. Red oceans are existing, saturated markets where companies compete head to head on known factors.
The rest of it, and where it comes from
Blue oceans are uncontested market space where competition is made irrelevant through innovation and value creation that unlocks new demand.
blueoceanstrategy.com and Kim & Mauborgne, Blue Ocean Strategy, 2005; the wording checked against the 2015 Expanded Edition, chapter 1, PDF p. 27, where it holds. Verified 25 September, 2026.
Value innovation. The cornerstone of the framework: pursuing differentiation and low cost at the same time, rather than treating them as a trade-off. A move counts as value innovation only when it does both.
The rest of it, and where it comes from
In the book's own words, those who create blue oceans "pursue differentiation and low cost simultaneously", and figure 1-2 carries the line "the simultaneous pursuit of differentiation and low cost". The 2015 text adds that for value innovation to be a sustainable strategy, "the alignment of the company's utility, price, cost, and people is needed".
blueoceanstrategy.com and Kim & Mauborgne, Blue Ocean Strategy, chapter 1, section "Value Innovation: The Cornerstone of Blue Ocean Strategy" and figure 1-2, the same in 2005 and in the 2015 Expanded Edition, PDF pp. 36 and 39; the alignment sentence is new in 2015, PDF p. 40. Verified 25 September, 2026.
Strategy canvas. The one-page diagnostic and action framework: horizontal axis lists the factors the industry competes on and invests in; vertical axis shows the offering level buyers receive on each factor.
The rest of it, and where it comes from
Drawing your value curve against the incumbents' shows where everyone is the same and where you diverge.
blueoceanstrategy.com and Kim & Mauborgne, Blue Ocean Strategy, chapter 2, "Analytical Tools and Frameworks", section "The Strategy Canvas": "both a diagnostic and an action framework for building a compelling blue ocean strategy"; checked against the 2015 Expanded Edition, PDF p. 48. Verified 25 September, 2026.
Four Actions Framework (Eliminate, Reduce, Raise, Create). Four questions that break the differentiation-versus-cost trade-off: which factors the industry takes for granted should be eliminated; which should be reduced well below the industry standard; which should be raised well above the industry standard; which factors should be created that the industry has never offered.
The rest of it, and where it comes from
Eliminate and Reduce drive the cost side; Raise and Create drive the differentiation side. The ERRC grid (eliminate-reduce-raise-create grid) is, in the book's words, "a supplementary analytic to the four actions framework": set out as a fill-in table, it pushes a company not only to ask all four questions but to act on all four, not just the comfortable two.
blueoceanstrategy.com and Kim & Mauborgne, Blue Ocean Strategy, chapter 2, sections "The Four Actions Framework" and "The Eliminate-Reduce-Raise-Create Grid", the same in 2005 and in the 2015 Expanded Edition, PDF pp. 52 and 58. Verified 25 September, 2026.
Focus, divergence, compelling tagline. The three tests of an effective blue ocean strategy, read off the finished canvas: the value curve concentrates on a limited set of factors (focus); its shape stands apart from the industry's average curve (divergence); and the strategy can be stated in a short, honest tagline that speaks to buyers (compelling tagline).
The rest of it, and where it comes from
The book names them two ways in chapter 2: "three characteristics of a good strategy" (its section heading) and "three complementary qualities" (a wording chapter 4 repeats); and it says they "serve as an initial litmus test of the commercial viability of blue ocean ideas". They also steer the work, not only judge it at the end: the four actions "should be well guided toward building a company's strategic profile with these characteristics", and the three criteria "guide companies in carrying out the process of reconstruction".
Kim & Mauborgne via official materials; Kim & Mauborgne, Blue Ocean Strategy, chapter 2, section "Three Characteristics of a Good Strategy", the same in 2005 and in the 2015 Expanded Edition, PDF pp. 61 and 65, and chapter 4, PDF p. 107. Verified 25 September, 2026.
Strategic contradiction. One of the book's five ways of reading a value curve: "areas where a company is offering a high level on one competing factor while ignoring others that support that factor".
The rest of it, and where it comes from
The book's example is investing heavily in making a website easy to use while failing to correct its slow speed. The same reading covers inconsistency between the level of the offering and its price, as with a petroleum station company that offered "less for more": fewer services than the best competitor, at a higher price. Chapter 4 shows the same kind of contradiction surfacing when a company first draws its as-is canvas.
Kim & Mauborgne, Blue Ocean Strategy, chapter 2, section "Reading the Value Curves", subsection "Strategic Contradictions", the same in 2005 and in the 2015 Expanded Edition, PDF p. 70; chapter 4, the EFS case, PDF p. 112. Verified 25 September, 2026.
Reconstructing boundaries
Six Paths Framework. Six systematic ways to look across (not within) the industry's self-imposed boundaries: (1) across alternative industries; (2) across strategic groups within the industry; (3) across the chain of buyers; (4) across complementary product and service offerings; (5) across the functional-emotional orientation of the industry; (6) across time.
Where it comes from
blueoceanstrategy.com/tools/six-paths-framework and Kim & Mauborgne, Blue Ocean Strategy, chapter 3, "Reconstruct Market Boundaries": "we found six basic approaches to remaking market boundaries. We call this the six paths framework."; checked against the 2015 Expanded Edition, PDF p. 73. Verified 25 September, 2026.
Substitute vs alternative (Path 1). Substitutes: different form, same function; they can replace each other (accounting software vs hiring a CPA).
The rest of it, and where it comes from
Alternatives: different form AND different function, but the same underlying purpose (a cinema vs a restaurant, both an evening out). Path 1 works by finding the key factors that make buyers trade across alternatives, building on those, and eliminating or reducing everything else.
Kim & Mauborgne, Blue Ocean Strategy, chapter 3, "Reconstruct Market Boundaries", section "Path 1: Look Across Alternative Industries"; all six paths sit in that one chapter. Checked against the 2015 Expanded Edition, PDF pp. 75 and 80. Verified 25 September, 2026.
Strategic groups (Path 2). Groups of companies within one industry pursuing a similar strategy, generally rankable on two dimensions: price and performance.
The rest of it, and where it comes from
Path 2 asks why buyers trade up or down between groups, then combines the deciding advantages of both.
Kim & Mauborgne via official materials. Verified 28 August, 2026.
Chain of buyers (Path 3). The purchase decision usually involves a chain of people: the users who use the product, the purchasers who pay for it, and in some cases the influencers whose opinion sways the decision.
The rest of it, and where it comes from
Industries converge on one link of the chain as "the customer". Path 3 asks what the chain is, which link the industry focuses on, and what new value would open if the focus shifted to another link. The book's first developed case is Novo Nordisk, which shifted the customer focus for insulin from doctors (influencers) to patients (users); it also develops Bloomberg, which built for the traders (users) instead of the IT managers (purchasers).
the authors' post "How to be creative" on blueoceanstrategy.com and Kim & Mauborgne, Blue Ocean Strategy, 2005, chapter 3; checked against the 2015 Expanded Edition, chapter 3, section "Path 3: Look Across the Chain of Buyers", PDF pp. 86–88, where Novo Nordisk is the first developed case and the Bloomberg case is kept. Verified 25 September, 2026.
Complementary products and services (Path 4). Few products are used in a vacuum; other products and services affect their value.
The rest of it, and where it comes from
Path 4 asks what happens before, during and after the product is used, what the total solution the buyer is looking for is, and which pain points in that wider experience the industry ignores because they sit outside its own definition of the offering. The book's developed case is NABI, a Hungarian bus maker that built US transit buses in lightweight fiberglass to cut the maintenance, repair and fuel costs that come after the purchase, drawn on its own strategy canvas (figure 3-3). The book also gives shorter examples: Philips' kettle with a limescale filter, solving a problem that had nothing to do with the kettle and everything to do with the tea, and Dyson's bagless vacuum cleaner.
The authors' post "How to be creative" on blueoceanstrategy.com and Kim & Mauborgne, Blue Ocean Strategy, 2005, chapter 3; checked against the 2015 Expanded Edition, chapter 3, section "Path 4: Look Across Complementary Product and Service Offerings", PDF pp. 90–93. Verified 25 September, 2026.
Functional versus emotional orientation (Path 5). Each industry converges not only on what it sells but on the basis of its appeal: some compete on price and function (functional appeal), others on feelings (emotional appeal).
The rest of it, and where it comes from
That orientation is learned, and companies teach it to buyers. Path 5 asks whether the industry's orientation could be flipped or blended: stripping the emotional extras out of an emotional industry to make it simpler and cheaper, or adding emotion to a functional commodity to open new demand. The book's two developed cases are QB House barbers (emotional to functional, drawn on its own strategy canvas, figure 3-4) and Cemex, which sold cement in Mexico as the gift of a new room (functional to emotional). It names others in a sentence or two each: Swatch (functional to emotional), The Body Shop (emotional to functional), Viagra (medical treatment to lifestyle), Starbucks (functional to emotional), and Direct Line, Vanguard and Charles Schwab (emotional to functional, in insurance and investing).
The authors' post "How to be creative" on blueoceanstrategy.com and Kim & Mauborgne, Blue Ocean Strategy, 2005, chapter 3; checked against the 2015 Expanded Edition, chapter 3, section "Path 5: Look Across Functional or Emotional Appeal to Buyers", PDF pp. 94–98. Verified 25 September, 2026.
Across time (Path 6). Every industry is shaped by external trends over time.
The rest of it, and where it comes from
Path 6 does not try to predict the future; it takes a trend that is already visible, decisive (clearly matters to the business), irreversible and has a clear trajectory, and asks how that trend will change the value buyers get and the business model, then walks to the trend's logical conclusion and builds for it. The book's case: Apple reading the flood of illegal music file-sharing and building iTunes.
The authors' post "How to be creative" on blueoceanstrategy.com and Kim & Mauborgne, Blue Ocean Strategy, 2005, chapter 3; checked against the 2015 Expanded Edition, chapter 3, section "Path 6: Look Across Time", PDF pp. 100–102, where the three conditions and the Apple case hold. Verified 25 September, 2026.
How the book presents the six paths. The 2005 book sums them up in one table, "From head-to-head competition to blue ocean creation": one row per path, two columns, what head-to-head competition focuses on (the rivals inside the industry, the position inside the strategic group, the buyer group the industry serves, the product as the industry defines it, the industry's accepted appeal, adapting to trends as they happen) against what blue ocean creation looks across (alternative industries, strategic groups, the chain of buyers, complementary offerings, the other basis of appeal, trends walked to their conclusion).
Where it comes from
Kim & Mauborgne, Blue Ocean Strategy, 2005, chapter 3, closing table; the same table, figure 3-5, with the same title and rows, closes chapter 3 of the 2015 Expanded Edition, PDF p. 103. Verified 25 September, 2026.
The six paths recording sheets (Blue Ocean Shift, step 4). The authors publish one recording sheet per path with the exact questions the team asks in the field.
The rest of it, and where it comes from
Path 1: named focal industry and alternative; customers of each side are asked why they chose their side, what its strengths are against the other, and what negatives made them choose against the other. Path 2: named higher and lower strategic group; customers of each are asked why they traded up or down (running through the competing factors), what compromises they still make, and how those could be relieved. Path 3: named current buyer group and one untargeted buyer group; the untargeted group is asked what it would value most if the industry focused on it, what costs and blocks the current offering imposes on it and how to remove them, and what the ideal offering would look like. Path 4: named current buyer group and largest tier of noncustomers; both are asked what happens before, during and after use, the biggest blocks at each stage and how to eliminate or reduce them, using the buyer utility map. Path 5: both groups are asked whether the industry is functional or emotional, for three to five adjectives describing it, what the flip of each would mean in specific terms, and what words they would want to use in future. Path 6: the team and both groups name three to five decisive trends in the short to medium term, keep only those on a clear trajectory and irreversible, and for each ask how it changes what buyers value and the business model, what to eliminate or reduce, and what to raise or create.
the authors' exercise template "Applying the Six Paths Framework to Reconstruct Market Boundaries", blueoceanstrategy.com. Verified 8 September, 2026.
Output of step 4. The authors' five-step guide says step 4 applies the six paths and the four actions to construct six potentially viable blue ocean strategic moves; each move carries its ERRC grid, its to-be line on the canvas and its tagline.
Where it comes from
blueoceanstrategy.com/blog/five-steps-making-blue-ocean-shift. Verified 8 September, 2026.
Process
Four steps of visualizing strategy. The book's process for building the strategy: (1) Visual awakening: draw the as-is strategy canvas against competitors and agree on the current state before discussing change.
The rest of it, and where it comes from
(2) Visual exploration: go into the field and work the six paths, observing which factors to eliminate, create, or change. (3) Visual strategy fair: draw to-be canvases from the field insights, get feedback from customers, competitors' customers and noncustomers, and build the best future curve. (4) Visual communication: put before-and-after profiles on one page so everyone can see the move. Step 3 follows the book's own figure 4-1, which lists drawing the "to be" canvas under the strategy fair; in the book's worked case (EFS), each team draws six new value curves as soon as it returns from the field, at the close of step 2, and brings them to the fair to be judged.
Kim & Mauborgne, Blue Ocean Strategy, chapter 4, "Focus on the Big Picture, Not the Numbers", figure 4-1 and the EFS case, checked against the 2015 Expanded Edition, PDF pp. 108–118; cross-checked across official and secondary sources. Verified 25 September, 2026.
The five steps of Blue Ocean Shift. The authors' 2017 sequel exists because readers asked for the step-by-step; its process is: (1) Get started: choose the right scope for the initiative and build the team.
The rest of it, and where it comes from
(2) Understand where you are now: draw the as-is canvas; name the industry or category you compete in and pinpoint five to twelve competing factors. (3) Imagine where you could be: uncover the hidden pain points that limit the industry (buyer utility) and discover the three tiers of noncustomers. (4) Find how you get there: apply the six paths and the four actions to construct several viable candidate blue ocean moves. (5) Make your move: select the move, run rapid market tests, finalize and launch.
blueoceanstrategy.com/blog/five-steps-making-blue-ocean-shift and the book's chapter structure. The four steps of visualizing strategy live inside steps 2 to 5. Verified 28 August, 2026.
The strategic sequence (sequence of creating a blue ocean). The order for testing a formulated blue ocean idea, in strict series: (1) Buyer utility — does the offering unlock exceptional utility; is there a compelling reason for the mass of people to buy?
The rest of it, and where it comes from
If no, rethink or park. (2) Strategic price — is it priced to attract the mass of target buyers? (3) Target cost — can the cost target be hit so the strategic price is profitable? If not, innovate the model or drop it; never let cost push the price up. (4) Adoption — what hurdles stand in the way among the book's three main stakeholders, "its employees, its business partners, and the general public", and are they addressed up front? Serial gates: move to the next only when the current one passes, and no downstream step may reshape an upstream one. Applied AFTER candidate strategies exist — it is the exam of step 5, not a lens for exploration.
blueoceanstrategy.com, "Sequence of Creating a Blue Ocean", cross-checked; the adoption stakeholders checked against Kim & Mauborgne, Blue Ocean Strategy, chapter 6, section "From Utility, Price, and Cost to Adoption", the same in 2005 and in the 2015 Expanded Edition, PDF p. 165. Verified 25 September, 2026.
Price and cost
Price corridor of the mass. A two-step pricing tool; the 2015 Expanded Edition renames it the price corridor of the target mass.
The rest of it, and where it comes from
Step one lists the products and services a buyer would actually compare the offering against outside the industry, those with a different form but the same function, and those with a different form and function but the same underlying objective, and plots their price and the number of buyers each attracts, to find the price band that captures the largest group of target buyers. The book's figure 6-5 plots these alongside a third group, products of the same form, the ones inside the industry every company looks at first; the text calls looking at them necessary but not sufficient. Step two sets where inside that band to price, based on how well the offering is protected from imitation by law (patents, copyright) or by an exclusive asset or capability: strong protection supports pricing near the top of the band, uncertain protection the middle, and no protection the bottom.
Kim & Mauborgne, Blue Ocean Strategy, 2005, chapter 6, "Get the Strategic Sequence Right"; also the Blue Ocean Shift Glossary, blueoceanstrategy.com, 2020; checked against the 2015 Expanded Edition, chapter 6, figure 6-5 and sections "Step 1: Identify the Price Corridor of the Target Mass" and "Step 2: Specify a Level within the Price Corridor", PDF pp. 155–159. Verified 25 September, 2026.
Target costing, with its three levers. The rule that a company sets its strategic price first, deducts the profit margin it wants, and only then works out what the offering must cost to make: price-minus costing, never cost-plus pricing.
The rest of it, and where it comes from
When cutting costs for focus alone does not close the gap, the book gives three levers, in order: streamlining operations and cost innovations (cheaper materials, cutting or outsourcing low-value steps, cheaper locations, fewer parts, digitising); partnering (buying capability and scale from another company instead of building it); and, only if the first two still fall short, changing the industry's pricing model (for example time-share instead of selling; the 2005 text's example was renting) so the margin is protected without raising the price buyers see. The 2015 text adds that pricing innovation can still be pursued even when the target cost can be met.
Kim & Mauborgne, Blue Ocean Strategy, 2005, chapter 6; checked against the 2015 Expanded Edition, chapter 6, section "From Strategic Pricing to Target Costing" and figure 6-6, PDF pp. 160–163, where the rule and the three levers hold. The Blue Ocean Shift Glossary restates the price-minus-margin rule but does not repeat the three levers by name. Verified 25 September, 2026.
Business model in the strategic sequence. In chapter 6 (2005 and 2015), the business model is the combined result of getting all four steps of the strategic sequence right: buyer utility and strategic price form its revenue side (utility received minus price paid), target cost forms its profit side (price minus cost), and adoption hurdles are addressed as a separate, final condition before the idea is considered commercially viable.
The rest of it, and where it comes from
The Blue Ocean Shift Glossary instead describes the business model as three aligned propositions: a value proposition (utility minus price), a profit proposition (price minus cost), and a people proposition (employees' readiness to execute the strategy), folding what the 2005 book treats as a later adoption question into the model itself. The three propositions are not only Blue Ocean Shift material: the book itself carries them, in chapter 9, "Align Value, Profit, and People Propositions", new in the 2015 Expanded Edition and kept in the Enhanced Edition. There they are "the three strategy propositions": an offering that attracts buyers (value), a business model that lets the company make money out of its offering (profit), and the motivation of the people working for or with the company to execute the strategy (people). A blue ocean strategy is high-performing and sustainable when all three are aligned in pursuit of both differentiation and low cost.
Kim & Mauborgne, Blue Ocean Strategy, 2005, chapter 6, and the 2015 Expanded Edition, chapter 6, PDF p. 146, where the revenue and profit sides of the business model hold as in 2005, and chapter 9, section "The Three Strategy Propositions" and figure 9-1, PDF pp. 221–222; Blue Ocean Shift Glossary, entry "Blue Ocean Strategy (BOS)". The Blue Ocean Shift step 5 chapter text itself was not reachable online on 9 September, 2026; the 2017 wording rests on the glossary plus a flagged secondary summary. Verified 25 September, 2026.
Alternative pricing models. Ways to protect the target profit margin without raising the price buyers see, used when streamlining and partnering are not enough: renting instead of selling (Blockbuster); leasing instead of selling (IBM); time-share, where the buyer pays for the right to use something for a set amount of time rather than to own it (NetJets, for jets); slice-share, where the buyer buys a portion of something rather than the whole of it (mutual funds, for a portfolio); and giving the product itself in exchange for an equity stake in the buyer's business (Hewlett-Packard, for servers).
The rest of it, and where it comes from
The 2015 Expanded Edition drops the Blockbuster and Hewlett-Packard examples and adds freemium: a product or service, typically digital, is given free to pull in the target mass, and a premium is charged for proprietary features, functionality or virtual goods; IBM's leasing, NetJets' time-share and the mutual funds' slice-share remain. The book calls the whole category "pricing innovation" and notes that what is an innovation in one industry is often the ordinary way of doing business in another.
Kim & Mauborgne, Blue Ocean Strategy, 2005, chapter 6, and the 2015 Expanded Edition, chapter 6, section "From Strategic Pricing to Target Costing", PDF pp. 162–163. Not a named category in the Blue Ocean Shift Glossary. Verified 25 September, 2026.
Demand side
Noncustomers first. The blue ocean mantra for finding new demand: look to noncustomers before customers, commonalities before differences, desegmentation before finer segmentation.
The rest of it, and where it comes from
Existing customers asked what they want tend to answer with more of the same for less; new demand insight comes from studying why noncustomers stay away.
blueoceanstrategy.com blog on noncustomer analysis, INSEAD Knowledge, and Kim & Mauborgne, Blue Ocean Strategy, chapter 5, "Reach Beyond Existing Demand": "To reach beyond existing demand, think noncustomers before customers; commonalities before differences; and desegmentation before pursuing finer segmentation."; checked against the 2015 Expanded Edition, PDF p. 130. Verified 25 September, 2026.
Three tiers of noncustomers. Tier 1: soon-to-be noncustomers at the edge of the market, buying minimally out of necessity, ready to leave.
The rest of it, and where it comes from
Tier 2: refusing noncustomers who considered the offering and chose against it, or cannot afford it. Tier 3: unexplored noncustomers whose needs were always assumed to belong to other markets.
blueoceanstrategy.com/tools/three-tiers-of-noncustomers and Kim & Mauborgne, Blue Ocean Strategy, chapter 5, "Reach Beyond Existing Demand", section "The Three Tiers of Noncustomers", figure 5-1; checked against the 2015 Expanded Edition, PDF pp. 131–132. Verified 25 September, 2026.
Buyer utility map. A grid of 36 spaces.
The rest of it, and where it comes from
Across the top, the buyer experience cycle: six stages a buyer goes through, running more or less in order from purchase to disposal: (1) purchase, (2) delivery, (3) use, (4) supplements, (5) maintenance, (6) disposal. The authors say the six stages are a generic template and can be renamed to fit the industry. Down the side, the six utility levers, the ways a company can unlock utility for buyers: (1) customer productivity (less time, effort or money to get the job done; in the book's words, an offering that "helps a customer do things faster or better"), (2) simplicity (less complexity or hassle), (3) convenience (in the book's words, being "easy to obtain, use, or dispose of"), (4) risk reduction (the book names "financial, physical, or credibility risks"), (5) fun and image, (6) environmental friendliness. The team walks the grid and asks, for each space, what the biggest block to buyer utility is and why; it marks where buyers hurt and where the industry already concentrates its effort, and the untouched spaces are the ones to explore. In Blue Ocean Shift the map is the tool of step 3 (uncovering the industry's hidden pain points); in the 2005 book the same map sits inside chapter 6 as the first gate of the strategic sequence (does the offering unlock exceptional utility?).
blueoceanstrategy.com/tools/buyer-utility-map, the authors' blog post "How to turn your customers' pain points into opportunities" (Blue Ocean Shift), the official Blue Ocean Shift exercise template "Plotting Your Buyer Utility Map", and Kim & Mauborgne, Blue Ocean Strategy, 2005, chapter 6, section "The Six Utility Levers", the same in the 2015 Expanded Edition, PDF pp. 149–150. EKANA's stages were renamed to fit club kit: choosing and ordering, delivery, the season, beyond the match kit, mid-season changes, end of season and after; the six levers were kept as the book's. Verified 25 September, 2026.
Execution
The four hurdles to strategy execution. Once a blue ocean strategy exists, four organizational hurdles stand between the idea and its execution: (1) the cognitive hurdle, waking people up to the need for a strategic shift when the current way feels comfortable; (2) the resource hurdle, the assumption that a bigger shift in strategy needs bigger resources; (3) the motivational hurdle, moving the key players to act fast and tenaciously; (4) the political hurdle, the opposition of those who lose from the change.
Where it comes from
blueoceanstrategy.com/tools/four-hurdles-to-strategy-execution and Kim & Mauborgne, Blue Ocean Strategy, 2005, chapter 7; checked against the 2015 Expanded Edition, chapter 7, figure 7-1, PDF p. 177, where the four hurdles hold. Verified 25 September, 2026.
Tipping point leadership. The book's method for jumping the four hurdles fast and at low cost: instead of trying to transform the whole organization, concentrate on the people, acts and activities that exercise a disproportionate influence on performance, and tip each hurdle at those points.
The rest of it, and where it comes from
The idea is taken from epidemiology: fundamental change happens quickly when a critical mass of people's beliefs and energies tip toward an idea, and the key is concentration, not diffusion. The book's case is William Bratton at the New York Police Department, mid-1990s: the 2005 text dates his appointment as commissioner to February 1994 and the results to 1994–1996; the 2015 text drops those dates, placing the case only in "the 1990s", and adds that Bratton was reappointed commissioner in 2014.
blueoceanstrategy.com/tools/tipping-point-leadership and Kim & Mauborgne, Blue Ocean Strategy, 2005, chapter 7; checked against the 2015 Expanded Edition, chapter 7, section "Tipping Point Leadership in Action", PDF pp. 176–179 and 182. Verified 25 September, 2026.
Hot spots, cold spots, horse trading (the resource hurdle). Hot spots are activities with low resource input but high potential performance gain. Cold spots are activities with high resource input but low performance impact.
The rest of it, and where it comes from
Horse trading is exchanging a unit's excess resources in one area for another unit's excess resources to fill remaining gaps. The book's two questions: which actions consume the greatest resources with scant performance impact, and which activities have the greatest performance impact but are resource-starved. Redirecting resources from cold spots to hot spots pursues lower cost and higher value at once.
blueoceanstrategy.com/blog/four-hurdles-strategy-execution and Kim & Mauborgne, Blue Ocean Strategy, 2005, chapter 7; checked against the 2015 Expanded Edition, chapter 7, PDF pp. 185 and 191. Verified 25 September, 2026.
Kingpins, fishbowl management, atomization (the motivational hurdle). Kingpins are the key influencers inside the organization, the natural leaders others follow; motivate them rather than everyone.
The rest of it, and where it comes from
Fishbowl management makes the kingpins' actions visible to all, so who is acting and who is not is transparent, inside a fair process. Atomization breaks the strategic challenge into pieces small enough that each level and each person sees exactly what they have to do and believes it is achievable.
Kim & Mauborgne, Blue Ocean Strategy, 2005, chapter 7, cross-checked against secondary summaries; checked against the 2015 Expanded Edition, chapter 7, PDF pp. 192–196. Verified 25 September, 2026.