BOS is the simultaneous pursuit of differentiation and low cost.
The aim of BOS is not to outperform the competition in the existing industry, but to create new market space or a blue ocean, thereby making the competition irrelevant. It means that competition is irrelevant whereas in Red Ocean Strategy (ROS), the boundaries and competition are the major rules. The BOC is focusing the competition to become irrelevant and uncontested in market place.
While innovation has been seen as a random/experimental process where entrepreneurs and spin-offs are the primary drivers. BOS offers systematic and processes in pursuit of blue oceans by both new and existing companies.
BOS is creating and capturing a new demand whereas ROS is expoiting the the existing demand.
BOS frameworks and tools include: strategy canvas, value curve, four actions framework, six paths, buyer experience cycle, buyer utility map, and blue ocean idea index.
These frameworks and tools are designed to be visual in order to not only effectively build the collective wisdom of the company but also allow for effective strategy execution through easy communication.
BOS covers both strategy formulation, strategy execution and implementation.
The three key conceptual building blocks of BOS are: value innovation, leadership, and fair process.
While competitive strategy is a structuralist theory of strategy where structure shapes strategy, BOS is a reconstructionist theory of strategy where strategy shapes structure.
As an integrated approach to strategy at the system level, BOS requires organizations to develop and align the three strategy propositions: value, profit and people .