Blue oceans denote all the industries not in existence today—the unknown market space, untainted by competition. In blue oceans, demand is created rather than fought over…
W. Chan Kim & Renee Mauborgne – authors, professors of strategy & management, INSEAD and codirectors, INSEAD Blue Ocean Strategy Institute
it seems clear to us that blue oceans will remain the engine of growth.
Takeaways of Note:
Blue Ocean Strategy (strategies to ‘create new industries or markets’ rather than simply competing in existing ones)…
Blue oceans are not about technology innovation – Leading-edge technology is sometimes involved in the creation of blue oceans, but it is not a defining feature of them… the underlying technology is often already in existence.
Incumbents often create blue oceans (and usually within their core businesses) – most blue oceans are created from within existing industries… Blue oceans are right next to us in every industry.
Company & industry are the wrong units of analysis – There is no consistently excellent company or industry. The most appropriate analysis for explaining “Blue Oceans” is the actual strategic move—the set of leader actions & decisions involved in making a market-creating business.
Creating blue oceans builds brands – large R&D budgets are not the key to creating new market space. The key is making the right strategic moves… which can create brand equity that lasts for decades.
Bonus Nugget:
“At present, competing in red oceans (existing industries & markets) dominates the field of strategy in theory and in practice, even as businesses’ need to create blue oceans intensifies… But once corporations realize that the strategies for creating and capturing blue oceans have a different underlying logic from red ocean strategies, they will be able to create many more blue oceans in the future.”
Examples of Blue Ocean Creation…
