Creating value for customers

Looking at your company, charity, product (or yourself) through the eyes of your customer is always instructive. We discuss one simple tool for doing so - the Value Curve, popularised by the controversial but interesting book "Blue Ocean Strategy". This bit they got right - thinking about how to improve the customer offer, not forgetting lowering price, is a great place to start with developing options. The first step is to understand your customer value proposition - a critical part of the "internal situation" and the value curve is a neat and easy way to do it.