This master's thesis demonstrates ASIT's effectiveness beyond the technical domain by applying it to business and managerial innovation. Fabian Maume proposes an unprecedented methodology combining ASIT with Kim and Mauborgne's Blue Ocean Strategy (BOS), thus responding to the practical implementation difficulties of this nevertheless recognised strategy.
Submitted at Masaryk University (Czech Republic) in 2016, this 102-page research empirically validates that 80% of historical Blue Oceans respect ASIT's Closed World Hypothesis. An in-depth practical case on French cheese retail in the Czech Republic concretely illustrates how ASIT structures business innovation.
The Blue Ocean Strategy, introduced by Kim and Mauborgne in 2004, promises to create market spaces without competition (the "blue oceans") rather than fighting in saturated markets (the "red oceans"). However, practitioners emphasise the difficulty of implementing this approach in practice.
The BOS framework notably proposes the "strategic canvas" (value curve) and the ERRC grid (Eliminate-Reduce-Raise-Create) to rethink the value proposition. But a major problem subsists: how to identify the relevant criteria to place on the strategic canvas? Kim and Mauborgne propose 6 exploration paths without providing a structured process nor marketing research methodology.
This absence of structure makes BOS difficult to apply systematically, limiting its adoption by companies despite its theoretical potential.
Fabian Maume proposes to fill this gap by applying ASIT as a methodological framework to structure the BOS ideation phase. The central hypothesis: the consumption process constitutes a "closed world" (Closed World) in the ASIT sense, allowing to identify all relevant criteria for innovation.
The thesis tests this approach via a three-phase methodology applied to a real case: developing a value proposition to sell French cheeses in the Czech Republic. This case study choice is strategic: a traditional product (cheeses) whose core cannot be modified, forcing innovation on the business model and associated services.
The research deploys according to a rigorous methodology in three distinct phases:
Phase 1 - Exploratory qualitative research: 11 in-depth semi-structured interviews complemented by shop observations and two focus group workshops. This phase explores the cheese consumption process: shop choice, product selection, storage, preparation and consumption. The interviews reveal notably that certain process steps are partially unconscious for consumers, making mapping complex.
Phase 2 - Ideation via ASIT: Application of the ASIT framework with consumption process mapping via the S-field tool (from TRIZ). Systematic identification of costs and revenues for the customer at each step. Analysis of trade-offs (value/cost compromises) and search for solutions to eliminate them while respecting the Closed World Hypothesis.
Phase 3 - Quantitative validation: Online questionnaire with 310 respondents to validate hypotheses generated in phase 2. Two questionnaire versions (positive and negative question formulation) allow controlling cognitive biases. This phase confirms or invalidates the innovative value propositions identified via ASIT.
The diagnosis is clear: BOS proposes tools without structured process. Kim and Mauborgne provide the strategic canvas and 6 exploration paths, but do not specify in which order to use these tools nor how to conduct field research. This absence of formalism makes BOS difficult to implement, as confirmed by several practitioners cited in the thesis.
ASIT brings precisely what BOS lacks: a rigorous methodological framework and a focused research space. Where BOS risks uncontrolled creative divergence, ASIT's Closed World Hypothesis defines clear boundaries for exploration, making the process both more efficient and systematic.
This structuring also responds to a psychological observation: managers are accustomed to thinking "in a box" (constraints, limited resources). ASIT exploits this natural tendency by proposing a well-defined box rather than a paralysing unlimited space.
The major methodological innovation of this thesis lies in applying the Closed World to the consumption process. Rather than adding new external resources, ASIT optimises the use of elements already present in the system.
Concretely, Maume proposes to:
This approach guarantees that all relevant criteria for the strategic canvas emerge naturally from the systematic analysis of the consumption process.
To test his hypothesis's validity, Maume analyses 117 cases of historical Blue Oceans documented in academic literature. The result is remarkable: 95 cases (81%) respect ASIT's Closed World Hypothesis.
These successful Blue Oceans did not add new elements to the system, but optimised the use of existing resources. For example:
The 22 cases (19%) not respecting the Closed World mainly add an emotional or experiential dimension to the product. Eleven of them use BOS's 5th path (switching emotional/functional focus). For example: Starbucks adds a "third place" experience, Viagra adds an emotional dimension to a pharmaceutical product.
This limit is explicitly recognised by Horowitz himself in his foundational thesis on ASIT: the Closed World is a "sufficient condition" but not necessary for innovation. ASIT does not claim to capture 100% of possible innovations, but defines a space where 80% of creative solutions are found.
This thesis brings a major contribution by empirically demonstrating that ASIT applies successfully beyond its original technical and mechanical domain. Application to retail, marketing and business models generates concrete and actionable value propositions.
The French cheeses case illustrates this effectiveness. The ASIT analysis identifies notably:
These solutions emerge naturally from ASIT mapping without requiring divergent brainstorming or traditional creative techniques. Quantitative validation confirms consumer interest in these propositions.
The principal academic contribution of this thesis is the empirical demonstration that ASIT works effectively for management, marketing and business model innovation problems. This validation was awaited since Horowitz's foundational thesis (1999) which already suggested this extension without testing it.
The proposed framework is replicable: the 3-phase methodology (qualitative-ideation-quantitative) can be applied to other sectors than food retail. The thesis provides a detailed protocol including appropriate marketing research tools for each phase.
This validation opens the way to numerous applications: corporate strategy, service innovation, customer experience design, organisational process optimisation. Everywhere a process can be mapped, ASIT can structure innovation.
For ASIT: the thesis empirically extends the field of application beyond technical engineering. The 117 analysed Blue Oceans show that the Closed World Hypothesis applies to 81% of successful strategic innovations. This statistical validation on a large sample significantly strengthens ASIT's credibility as a universal innovation method.
For BOS: Maume resolves the problem of identifying relevant criteria for the strategic canvas, a recognised weakness of the framework. ASIT structures the ideation phase that remained vague in Kim and Mauborgne's original method. The process becomes reproducible and teachable, increasing its potential adoption in companies.
The thesis also clearly identifies the combination's limits: ASIT does not cover innovations based on adding pure emotional value (BOS path 5). Maume recommends complementing ASIT with Business Model Innovation Patterns to capture these residual cases.
Maume identifies several promising paths to prolong this work:
Neuro-marketing tools: the consumption process being partially unconscious, more sophisticated investigation techniques could improve the initial mapping. Eye-tracking, behaviour analysis or projective metaphors would enrich the qualitative phase.
Cultural know-how transfer: the thesis suggests that analysing cultural differences could reveal Blue Oceans. If the French eat cheese differently from Czechs, exporting this know-how can create new markets. This "cultural Blue Ocean" approach would deserve systematic exploration.
ASIT + Business Model Patterns combination: to capture the 19% of Blue Oceans outside the Closed World, combining ASIT with the 55 patterns of the Business Model Navigator could offer exhaustive coverage of possible innovations.
Questioned on this point, SolidCreativity specified having anticipated this opportunity with the development of ASIT-BIM, a method that surpasses simple canvas improvement to systematically generate innovative business models by effectively combining ASIT's structuring power with proven innovation patterns.
Author : Fabian Tanguy Maume
Title : ASIT applied to Blue Ocean Strategy
Type : Diploma work (Master's thesis)
University : Masaryk University
Faculty : Faculty of Economics and Administration
Speciality : Business Management
Thesis director : Doc. Ing. Alena Klapalová, Ph.D.
Defence date : 2016
Location : Brno, Czech Republic
Number of pages : 102 pages (excluding appendices)
Language : English
Keywords : ASIT, Blue Ocean Strategy, innovation management, business model, retail, closed world hypothesis, ideation, strategy, TRIZ
Canonical link (official source) : https://www.researchgate.net/publication/299411748_ASIT_applied_to_Blue_Ocean_Strategy
The complete document (150 pages with appendices) is available for download on ResearchGate. We recommend consulting the official version to respect copyright.
APA Format :
Maume, F. T. (2016). ASIT applied to Blue Ocean Strategy [Master's thesis, Masaryk University]. ResearchGate. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/299411748_ASIT_applied_to_Blue_Ocean_Strategy
ISO 690 Format :
MAUME, Fabian Tanguy. ASIT applied to Blue Ocean Strategy. Brno, 2016. Master's thesis. Masaryk University, Faculty of Economics and Administration. Supervisor Alena Klapalová.
This thesis demonstrates that ASIT effectively structures managerial innovation. Ready to apply it to your strategy?