Blue Ocean Strategy - And a laptop for all

And a laptop for all….. - Blue Ocean Strategy

Blue Ocean Strategy: “Most of the nearly two–billion children in the developing world are inadequately educated, or receive no education at all. One in three does not complete the fifth grade… The individual and societal consequences of this chronic global crisis are profound. Children are consigned to poverty and isolation—just like their parents—never knowing what the light of learning could mean in their lives.” – from One laptop per child website.

Blue Ocean Strategy: What would the impact on society be if computers and the Internet were accessible to every child in the world? How would educational standards change? What would be the new pace of Innovation? Would the balance of power around the globe stay the same, or begin to shift?

We’ve been watching the unfolding of Nicholas Negroponte’s ambitious project One laptop per child, which is designed to provide “a means to an end – an end that sees children in even the most remote regions of the globe being given the opportunity to tap into their own potential, to be exposed to a whole world of ideas, and to contribute to a more productive and saner world community.”

Using a Blue Ocean-like strategy approach, Mr. Negroponte is working to surmount the obstacle of equal education for all by providing children in poor and underdeveloped countries with a laptop. In the process, he is breaking the mold of accepted assumptions and limitations of how personal computers work. His laptop, designed especially with children in mind, is equipped with a Web browser, rich media player, and e-book reader. The distinctive, green machine, while rugged and durable inside and out, offers all the relevant benefits of a laptop, while eliminating the peripherals and non-essentials. Amazingly, the notebook costs a mere $100!

If you are interested in learning more about Blue Ocean Strategy at the intersection of successful business and lasting social impact, be sure to tune into our Perfect Calm Series.

Blue Ocean Strategy - Classics From the Vaults of Creating Blue Oceans

Classics From the Vaults of Creating Blue Oceans

At Creating Blue Oceans,Blue Ocean Strategy, we cater to visitor feedback and interaction. To this end, we monitor which of our entries provoke especially lively discussion and response from our readers. So today, by request, we are opening up the Creating Blue Oceans vaults and re-introducing these ever-green entries. What follows is one such classic:

How Can You Turn Red Oceans Into Blue?
First a quick definition of terminology again: Red Oceans are those market environments which are dominated by cutthroat head-to-head competition. In contrast Blue Oceans are new market spaces in which companies can achieve such leaps in customer value (and hence profitability), that competition becomes irrelevant.

Consider this joke about psychologists: ‘How many psychologists does it take to change a light bulb?’ Answer: ‘Just one, but the light bulb must really, really want to change.’

This is the crux of it with companies too. The first step in discovering Blue Oceans, or turning Red Oceans into Blue, is a major shift in the strategic approach and mindset of a company. This is much easier said than done. Firstly, because companies stuck in Red Oceans need to abandon the limiting, yet much more familiar approach to competition and market opportunities that they have been cultivated for a long time. This is not easy, and requires highly committed leadership and the involvement of the whole organization.

It is also difficult because in many ways Blue Oceans are moving targets. While in Red Oceans benchmarking and market research were stable sources of market intelligence, Blue Oceans try to tap into not just expressed but also latent customer needs. Latent customer needs by definition are hard to define and measure because they have not yet been discovered.

And now for the good news: Blue Ocean Strategy is here to help! The methodology of BOS is designed to provide a step by step guide to any company, regardless of size or industry on this difficult but highly rewarding journey from Red Oceans to Blue.

Blue Ocean Strategy - The Path of Least Resistance: Steelcase

The Path of Least Resistance: Steelcase - Blue Ocean Strategy

“To break out of red oceans, companies must overstep accepted boundaries of how they compete. Instead of looking within these boundaries, businesses need to systematically scan across what Blue Ocean Strategy calls the Six Paths: Alternative industries, strategic groups, buyer groups, complementary offerings, functional-emotional orientation of an industry, and important trends. This gives companies fresh insight into how to reconstruct markets to open up blue oceans opportunities.” (Blue Ocean Strategy, p. 48)

A key quality companies should strive for is adaptability, always scanning and acting upon broad market opportunities. All companies face difficult or life-threatening challenges at one point or another, and it is their adaptability to make smart strategic moves which allow them to prosper even in the face of adversity.

We recently came across an example of this in a BusinessWeek article about Steelcase, the office furniture giant. Like other players in the office furniture industry, Steelcase was stuck in a Red Ocean of drastically reduced revenues and profitability in the recent past. In 2006, looking for a way to rebound, executives at Steelcase spearheaded a Blue Ocean Strategy-like approach of scanning across alternative industries. They began to focus on the health-care industry, which seemed like a logical new direction given its high-growth potential: The aging baby-boomer population is expected to drive annual spending on hospital construction beyond $30 billion by 2009, up from $19.8 billion in 2005.

The article reveals: “Initially, Steelcase executives assumed that hospital administrators and doctors' office managers were using their Criterion chairs in office environments. But when their salespeople talked in-depth with these customers [a core recommendation of Blue Ocean Strategy], they learned that physicians and hospitals were increasingly providing the comfortable chairs to patients and their family members in waiting rooms and physician-consultation areas, where they endure physical and mental stress.”

Having already entered the medical furnishings market without even knowing it, once Steelcase started researching opportunities for hospital and clinical furnishings, they discovered a fragmented market. Thus the birth of Nurture, a subsidiary company which could set itself apart and enjoy a market space to itself by offering compatible suites of examination tables, patient beds, physician desks, nurses' stations, and bariatric (for obese patients) waiting-room seats.

When companies chose to compete in their narrowly-defined industry, it draws them into the trap of wanting to continuously outperform competitors. Instead, Steelcase chose the path of least resistance: discover Blue Oceans, Blue Ocean Strategy, by actively overstepping industry boundaries.

Blue Ocean Strategy - The Perfect Calm Series: Solar in a box

The Perfect Calm Series: Solar in a box - Blue Ocean Strategy

One of the most exciting spheres of application for Blue Ocean Strategy is the realm of Social Capitalism. This explosive market space is at very intersection of successful business and lasting social impact. Traditionally these two spheres were considered separate, but the two can be pursued simultaneously via Blue Ocean Strategy. Periodically, we offer a feature from WorldChanging a repository site for stimulating ventures, ideas and concept targeting this very intersection.

This week, we select the story: Solar in a box.

Do you know of other companies, organizations or business visionaries sailing along the intersection of good business and social good? Share your ideas with the Creating Blue Oceans Community.

Blue Ocean Strategy - Entrepreneurs Organization: The Pioneers of Innovation

Entrepreneurs Organization: The Pioneers of Innovation - Blue Ocean Strategy

Founded almost 20 years ago by young, energetic entrepreneurs, Blue Ocean Strategy company, EO is now 6,000+ members strong with over 120 Chapters in 40 Countries around the globe. Members come from all walks of life and run companies of every type and size imaginable. The common goal amongst members is to grow their businesses, learn from others and above all, share their experiences with each other.

The sales of all Blue Ocean Strategy company, EO members worldwide total more than US$81 billion. Last month, Japan was the venue of EO’s tri-annual gathering dubbed Blue Ocean Strategy company EO University. Over the course of four days, the Tokyo event provided a line-up of highly-stimulating speakers, a charged forum of discussion and idea-exchange, as well as programs of cultural immersion.

Gabor was invited to give the featured keynote presentation on Blue Ocean Strategy to the audience of 300+ leading entrepreneurs from around the world. The message of BOS is particularly relevant to Blue Ocean Strategy company EO members, as they are in the perfect position to challenge traditional industry assumptions and boundaries, as well as to create new market spaces.

Blue Ocean Strategy - Classics From the Vaults of Creating Blue Oceans

Classics From the Vaults of Creating Blue Oceans - Blue Ocean Strategy

At Creating Blue Oceans, Blue Ocean Strategy, we cater to visitor feedback and interaction. To this end, we monitor which of our entries provoke especially lively discussion and response from our readers. So today, by request, we are opening up the Creating Blue Oceans vaults and re-introducing these ever-green entries. What follows is one such classic:

Are you providing your customers comprehensive solutions?

Instead of manufacturing products or providing services within certain industry limits, businesses should be in the business of providing comprehensive solutions to customers, even if that means overstepping traditional industry boundaries.

As an illustration, consider the following anecdote. In the 90’s, scores of Ukrainians would pack into buses headed for Central European destinations such as Budapest, where they could buy all kinds of western consumer goods for the first time. These elaborate shopping excursions caught the attention of the Ukrainian underground. Packs of modern-day bandits started raiding the buses in mid-journey, knowing that they were full of cash on the way out or full of goods on the way back home.

As this ritual evolved, empathetic bandits began issuing certificates to their victims which stated that they have already been robbed. This way, if the bus was to be intercepted again, the passengers could prove to the next group of robbers that they have already been cleaned out and were not trying to hide anything. As such, the certificates saved time and confusion, and by overstepping traditional boundaries of banditry, much improved the overall experience of the victims.

Blue Ocean Strategy - The hands of time are not standing still

The hands of time are not standing still - Blue Ocean Strategy

All industries are subject to external trends that affect their business over time. They tend to pace their own thinking to keep up with the development of the trends they are tracking.

With the plethora of digital devices, Blackberries and mobile phones these days, we’ve found ourselves wondering about the future of the traditional timepiece: the wristwatch. So we were intrigued to read a recent article about Seiko, Timex and “other non-luxury watch manufacturers who are scrambling to rethink the timepiece for the cell-phone era.”

Without taking immediate action to address looming and inevitable market trends, these industry heavyweights could very well become Lava Casualties:

In the first century AD, the city of Pompeii in Italy was covered by lava from the massive eruption of nearby Mount Vesuvius. The resulting solidified lava contains hollow casts of residents caught in various poses by the advancing flow. It’s easy to understand poses of attempted escape or helpless terror.

But there are also casts of people in the middle of eating a meal. What were those people thinking? They must have heard and seen the great eruption, so did they not think it would pose enough of a threat to interrupt their meal? Or did they just gravely misjudge the speed of the lava’s advance and the impact in would have on their dinner?

Point of the story? Just make sure that your business does not become a lava casualty…

Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister to Entrepreneurs: Adopt Blue Ocean Strategy

Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister to Entrepreneurs: Adopt Blue Ocean Strategy

“Companies need to go beyond competing. To seize new profit and growth opportunities, they also need to create blue oceans.” (Blue Ocean Strategy, p. 5)

Recently, the Deputy Prime Minister of Malaysia, Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak, issued a call to entrepreneurs to make the shift from a culture of know-who to know-how in creating wealth and finding a niche for their businesses. The approach he recommends: Blue Ocean Strategy:

“Entrepreneurs should adopt the 'blue ocean' strategy by creating a new market space for themselves, making themselves different from everyone else and producing something that others did not have in order to stay put in the fast changing world,” he added.

Demonstrating the need for Blue Ocean Strategy adoption, the Deputy Prime Minister cited the Malaysian National Service as an example. The National Service was created in 2003 to bring together Malaysia’s youth as a way to overcome nationwide ethnic division by instilling a sense of national pride and unity among youngsters.

When the National Service started, several entrepreneurs applied to set up MNS camps. But injecting traditional entrepreneurship into this initiative has not been enough, and the camps remain less profitable than expected.

Kudos to the Deputy Prime Minister for encouraging entrepreneurs to embrace Blue Ocean Strategy as a way of energizing the country’s business environment.

Blue Ocean Strategy - Can your business communicate under water?

Can your business communicate under water? - Blue Ocean Strategy

A key utensil in the Blue Ocean Strategy toolset is the Six Path Framework, which allows for the exploration of business strategy from six distinct perspectives, leading to the discovery of blue ocean market space. One of the perspectives, ‘Strategic Groups’ tells us that in most industries, all the fundamental strategic differences among customers are captured by a small number of clusters called “strategic groups.” Blue oceans can be created by challenging these delineations or by establishing new strategic groups.

Consider the example of scuba diving. Scuba divers make use of hand signals to communicate basic information under water, such as “I am low on air”, “Stay together”, or “Look over there”. But the extent of underwater communication is greatly limited, which may deter more social, talkative adventure seekers from taking the plunge.

Suppose a dive shop wanted to reach out to the previously overlooked strategic group of customers: Chatty divers. They could attempt to accomplish this by significantly expanding the underwater hand signal repertoire with an array of new expressions such as “You look great in those flippers”, or “That grouper reminds me of my mother-in-law”, etc. In the process, this pioneering dive shop would overstep traditional industry definitions of target customers and establish a new strategic group – well on its way towards a blue ocean market space.

Blue Ocean Strategy - I want you to want me—virtually speaking

I want you to want me—virtually speaking… Blue Ocean Strategy

Challenging an industry’s conventional wisdom about which buyer group to target can lead to the discovery of new blue oceans. By looking across buyer groups, companies can gain new insights into how to redesign their value curves to focus on a previously overlooked set of buyers.” (Blue Ocean Strategy, p. 61)

One of the most visible success stories of Blue Ocean Strategy and Value Innovation is Samsung, Blue Ocean Strategy company. Since 1998, Samsung products have continuously redefined markets in consumer electronics, thanks to BOS. A telling example is mobile phones, where Samsung, Blue Ocean Strategy company, entered an already saturated market in 1998, yet in five years become one of its leading players.

And is there a limit to Samsung’s Blue Ocean journey? Apparently not. Once again Samsung is creating buzz by challenging conventional industry wisdom about which buyer group to target and where. As Softpedia reports:

After thinking about female interest in mobile communication that resulted in shiny and thin devices, Samsung, Blue Ocean Strategy company, is preparing a major surprise for another major segment, the teenagers that entertain themselves on the Second life site. The space is going to be used for the launching of the new Samsung mobile phones or better say the residents will actually have a virtual mobile communication store to visit while playing.

Second Life, a virtual reality environment, plays host to over five million users worldwide—many of them gadget- and technology hungry teenagers. This strategic move will allow Samsung to showcase its range of mobile handsets to one of the most sought after and profitable buyer groups, in a competition-less way.

Are you a Second Life member? Have you seen other Blue Ocean-like approaches implemented in your neighborhood? Tell us about it.

Blue Ocean Strategy - The Perfect Calm Series: Next Billion Customers? Intel's Already a World Ahead

The Perfect Calm Series: Next Billion Customers? Intel's Already a World Ahead - Blue Ocean Strategy

One of the most exciting spheres of application for Blue Ocean Strategy is the realm of Social Capitalism. This explosive market space is at very intersection of successful business and lasting social impact. Traditionally these two spheres were considered separate, but the two can be pursued simultaneously via Blue Ocean Strategy. Periodically, we offer a feature from WorldChanging a repository site for stimulating ventures, ideas and concept targeting this very intersection.

This week, we select the story: Next Billion Customers? Intel's Already a World Ahead.

Do you know of other companies, organizations or business visionaries sailing along the intersection of good business and social good? Share your ideas with the Creating Blue Oceans Community.

Blue Ocean Strategy - Xerox: Speeding towards Blue Oceans on two motors

Xerox: Speeding towards Blue Oceans on two motors - Blue Ocean Strategy

“To tip the cognitive hurdle, not only must you get your managers out of the office to see operations horror, but also you must get them to listen to their most disgruntled customers firsthand. To what extent does your top team actively observe the market firsthand and meet with your most disgruntled customers to hear their concerns? …. Simply put, there is no substitute for meeting and listening to dissatisfied customers directly.” (Blue Ocean Strategy, p. 155)

For anyone who has ever been an office intern, or had the unfortunate responsibility of overseeing the office copy machine, you know how nightmarish things become when the copy machine goes down. We recently came across an article discussing that very frustration, and what Xerox is doing to sidestep it. And in this particular respect, its efforts correlate to a central tenet of Blue Ocean Strategy: to really observe and listen to customers.

It seems that someone at Xerox, Blue Ocean Strategy company, dreamed up the idea of building a copy machine that ran on two motors. Typically, copy machines run on one motor, but the idea was to have a second motor which would be used to handle special inks and fancy colors. But rather than following the company's standard development process of building the prototype and then generate customer feedback, they decided to hold focus groups with customers to find out what they thought of the idea.

During the meeting, customers were asked what they thought of a high-speed machine that wouldn't have to shut down if a problem arose, but could operate at half-speed. Xerox, Blue Ocean Strategy company, officials and engineers were quite surprised by the positive customer response.

Stephen Hoover, vice-president of Xerox’s R&D:

The team had had a certain idea of what customers wanted. Going out and actually talking to them really changed that. The new focus became building a machine that would both run fast—pumping out 288 pages per minute with both engines working—and keep on running if one engine conked out.

With a better understanding of the customer under its belt, Xerox, Blue Ocean Strategy company, is set to launch the first copier that can run on only one of its two engines if the other goes down. As Xerox engineer Ed Wooten said, “If we hadn't listened to our customers, we wouldn't have had that unique differentiator."

Blue Ocean Strategy - What Can Sporting Greats Teach Us About Blue Oceans?

What Can Sporting Greats Teach Us About Blue Oceans? - Blue Ocean Strategy

Not surprisingly there is a strong correlation between the accomplishments of sporting greats and the principles of Blue Ocean Strategy.

Consider the story of Roger Bannister. Bannister was the first man to break the 4-minute mile in 1954. Before then, everyone thought that breaking this time barrier was impossible for a human being. The most striking thing about his triumph was that within 10 years after his run, more than 300 others also ran faster than 4 minutes, indicating that the mark was more of a psychological barrier than a physiological one. Overstepping psychological barriers is a dominant theme of Blue Ocean Strategy.

Another source of sporting inspiration comes from mountain climber Joe Simpson. Once faced with an apparently insurmountable challenge of getting down the icy slopes of Siula Grande, Peru, with a smashed and useless leg, he survived, in part due to a mind game: He separated the descend into small, achievable stages, each seeming relatively easy. And each success boosted his morale along the way. This is an important lesson for implementing Blue Ocean Strategy. Seemingly bold, unchartered strategies can be accomplished by breaking them down into smaller, manageable steps, a process we call ‘atomization’.

Blue Ocean Strategy - Putting all your chips on the table

Putting all your chips on the table - Blue Ocean Strategy

“Almost every Blue Ocean will be imitated. As imitators try to grab a share of your blue ocean, you typically launch offenses to defend your hard-earned customer base. But imitators often persist …. Over time, the competition, not the buyer may come to occupy the center of your strategic thought and actions. If you stay on this course, the basic shape of your value curve will begin to converge with those of the competition.” (Blue Ocean Strategy, p. 188)

Taiwan was recently listed as the number one global player in the semiconductor industry, with few other countries expected to rival it in the next several years. So it comes as no surprise that its focus on Blue Ocean Strategy has enabled Taiwan to enjoy its position as the leader in chip technology and advanced process development.

Tu Tze Chien, director of the Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI) recently said that “the Blue Ocean Strategy for Taiwan's semiconductor industry is aimed at making other countries think twice about challenging Taiwan's pre-eminent position in this field.” Chien explains:

Taiwan is facing less and less competition abroad in the field, with major integrated device manufacturers (IDMs) around the world pulling out of advanced process development. All these factors represent a promising future for Taiwan manufacturers.

In fact, Taiwan’s integrated circuit manufacturing industry is expected to surpass US$ 30 billion by 2009.

Do you know of other companies or industries which are well on their way to tranquil, Blue Oceans? Tell us about this journey by getting in touch via the ‘email me’ tab in the upper, left-hand corner.

Blue Ocean Strategy - The Perfect Calm Series: GoLoco.org

The Perfect Calm Series: GoLoco.org - Blue Ocean Strategy

One of the most exciting spheres of application for Blue Ocean Strategy is the realm of Social Capitalism. This explosive market space is at the very intersection of successful business and lasting social impact. Traditionally these two spheres were considered separate, but the two can be pursued simultaneously via Blue Ocean Strategy. Periodically, we offer a feature from WorldChanging a repository site for stimulating ventures, ideas and concepts targeting this very intersection.

This week, we select the story: GoLoco.org.

Do you know of other companies, organizations or business visionaries sailing along the intersection of good business and social good? Share your ideas with the Creating Blue Oceans Community.

Blue Ocean Strategy - You’re never too old to get back in the game!

Blue Ocean Strategy - You’re never too old to get back in the game!

We’ve been following closely the Blue Ocean Strategy-induced success of Nintendo’s Wii, Blue Ocean Strategy Company, (check out some of our previous postings here and here) and their push to open up video-gaming to untapped markets, more specifically, non-gamers.

That’s why, when we came across this amusing story about the Nintendo Wii being cleverly introduced to an entirely new audience, we thought to share it with our Creating Blue Oceans community as an ideal example of turning non-customers into customers:

Blue Ocean Strategy: The marketing minds behind Nintendo looked beyond the traditional gamer mediums and advertised its innovations at targets as far from gaming as you can imagine, such as retirees. Nintendo even went against the current and took the Wii to an AARP convention. “The AARP thing was a little bit tough at first. They were like, ‘We don't really want to talk to you because we're all grandparents and we already buy stuff for our kids,’ and so we said, ‘No we want to talk to you about you,’” said Perrin Kaplan, VP Marketing & Corporate Affairs for Nintendo of America. “It took several attempts for them to finally say, ‘So why do you want to talk to us?’ And it's because we have products for them as well now.”

Blue Ocean Strategy: Nintendo’s efforts seemed to have paid off. The Chicago Tribune is reporting (registration required) that the Wii is now the latest rage at the Sedgebrook retirement community in Lincolnshire, where the average age is 77. In particular, the Wii Bowling component of Wii Sports has members of the retirement community hooked on playing the Wii installed inside the Sedgebrooks’s clubhouse lounge.

“I've never been into video games, but this is addictive,” said 72-year-old Flora Dierbach. “They come in after dinner and play. Sometimes, on Saturday afternoons, their grandkids come play with them … A lot of grandparents are being taught by their grandkids. But, now, some grandparents are instead teaching their grandkids.”

Nintendo’s Wii, Blue Ocean Strategy Product, is improving the quality of life for retirement community residents, their families and friends, and carving out new customers for itself. That’s Blue Ocean Strategy in action.

Blue Ocean Strategy - Don’t Miss The Boat

Blue Ocean Strategy - Don’t Miss The Boat

Register to join this Tuesday’s online presentation ‘Breaking Away from the Pack: How to ignite your sales process with Blue Ocean Strategy’ featuring Gabor as a host speaker along with Razi Imam, CEO of the highly successful BOS start-up Landslide Technologies.

Blue Ocean Strategy: The one-hour presentation will be held through WebEx on Tuesday, March 6th at 1:00 PM EST 10.00 AM PST.

During the talk show, Razi and Gabor will discuss:

• The difference between Red and Blue Oceans.
• Real world applications of Blue Ocean Strategy (BOS).
• How you can apply BOS principles to your sales organization to increase its performance.

Blue Ocean Strategy: Ten attendees will be selected through a random drawing to receive copies of the best-selling Blue Ocean Strategy. Additionally, five attendees will have the chance to win a complimentary 30-minute, private phone consultation with Gabor on the topic of implementing Blue Ocean Strategy.

Blue Ocean Strategy - Let’s turn Blue

Blue Ocean Strategy - Let’s turn Blue

Inspirational Blue Ocean Strategy stories come from start-ups to Fortune 500s. However, we also track Blue Ocean-related success stories outside of the business world.

Here are just a few of our recent, hand-selected stories of inspiration:

The Sheikh who dared to defy conventional wisdom. Through one man’s defying conventional wisdom and Blue Ocean-like thinking, a sun-scorched village turns into the playground of the world.

Blue Ocean Strategy wins by a Landslide. Since implementing its Blue Ocean Strategy, technology start-up Landslide wins accolades for its workstyle enrichment solutions for salespeople.

Life is Good at LG, Blue Ocean Strategy Company. LG’s creation of new products which enrich the lifestyles of its consumers, a key tenet of Blue Ocean Strategy, as well as an emphasis on design, has helped it to capture the attention of the public eye and exceed financial targets.

Platform for Changing the World. Introducing a Blue Ocean-like Innovation, designers present Lifestraw, a straw which purifies enough drinking water for one person for six months to a year, without electricity, moving parts, or the material waste or transport costs of plastic bottles.

You’re never too old to get back in the game! Following Blue Ocean Strategy’s credo of creating new marketspace, Nintendo introduces it’s newest gaming product to an entirely new audience of gamers: grandparents.

The Greatest Comeback in College Football history - a la Blue Ocean. Texas Tech’s football Coach, Mike Leach, works outside the confines of traditional game strategies and assumptions, and through his Blue Ocean-like thinking scores the largest comeback in Division I-A bowl history.

And don’t forget: We invite you to tune in to today’s online presentation ‘Breaking Away from the Pack: How to ignite your sales process with Blue Ocean Strategy’ featuring Gabor as a host speaker along with Razi Imam, CEO of the highly successful BOS start-up Landslide Technologies.

Blue Ocean Strategy - New market space right under your nose

Blue Ocean Strategy - New market space right under your nose

Last week we posted the entry 'Uncontested market space right under your nose’ which discussed Pushmail and getting connected to ‘always on’ email. When we began searching for a mobile email solution that would deliver email to our messaging devices in real time we were rather surprised (and disappointed) to find out that these solutions exist primarily for large corporations because “pushmail” requires fancy servers and expensive software!

What we found out was that smaller companies, consultants and sales people who are independently employed are, for the most part, left in the dark.

Since we posted that entry we came across an interesting article entitled ‘Nokia: Blackberry isn’t the enemy’ which supports our point. At a recent Nokia event in Bangkok, Mathia Nalappan, Nokia’s Asia Pacific vice president for Enterprise Solutions told ZD Net:

When you look at the enterprise e-mail space today, most deployment is at the C-level and middle managers, the busy mobile executives. But they represent less than 2 percent of the total number of e-mail inboxes. The rest belong to less mobile mid-level managers and the masses below them, so there’s still 98 percent of the market that is wide open to us.

So it seems that Nokia has set its sights on the wide, uncontested market space we talked about. Now the question is: how much longer will we have to wait for the solution?

Blue Ocean Strategy - The Perfect Calm Series: Empowerment through Laziness

Blue Ocean Strategy - The Perfect Calm Series: Empowerment through Laziness

One of the most exciting spheres of application for Blue Ocean Strategy is the realm of Social Capitalism. This explosive market space is at the intersection of successful business and lasting social impact. The two can be pursued simultaneously via Blue Ocean Strategy. Periodically, we offer a feature from WorldChanging a repository site for stimulating ventures, ideas and concept targeting this very intersection.

This week, we select the story Gradually Greening: Empowerment through Laziness.

Do you know of other companies, organizations or business visionaries sailing along the intersection of good business and social good? Share your ideas with the Creating Blue Oceans Community.

Blue Ocean Strategy - Innovation: So loved yet so abused

Blue Ocean Strategy - Innovation: So loved yet so abused

There certainly has been a lot of buzz around Innovation lately. In fact, it seems that every time we turn a corner we are bombarded with stories that include the word ‘Innovation’ front-and-center. Recently we read an insightful article which spoke to this particular issue, and to the true meaning of Innovation.

The article quotes Boston Consulting’s Harold Sirkin: "There's a belief that innovation is about great ideas … but in the business context, it's also about bringing a great idea to market, and how to maximize the payback on the investment made in the idea."

All of this points to a need for a structured framework to drive Innovation forward, like that found in Blue Ocean Strategy, so that the Innovation process becomes profitable and worthwhile, rather than a loosely flaunted word.

Sirkin presents Apple’s cash curve for the iPod. As the article describes “the graphic shows the company's low startup costs (because Apple didn't invent the portable digital music player, it simply redesigned it), speed to market, and ability to quickly achieve a large volume of sales.” Very blue ocean, indeed.

Would you like to join in the discussion? Get in touch with us via the ‘email me’ tab in the upper left-hand corner.

Blue Ocean Strategy - The Perfect Calm Series: Frybrid -- How to Run Your Car on Grease

Blue Ocean Strategy - The Perfect Calm Series: Frybrid -- How to Run Your Car on Grease

One of the most exciting spheres of application for Blue Ocean Strategy is the realm of Social Capitalism. This explosive market space is at the very intersection of successful business and lasting social impact. Traditionally these two spheres were considered separate, but the two can be pursued simultaneously via Blue Ocean Strategy. Periodically, we offer a feature from WorldChanging a repository site for stimulating ventures, ideas and concept targeting this very intersection.

This week, we select the story: Frybrid -- How to Run Your Car on Grease, which is a topic we actually discussed a few years ago.

Do you know of other companies, organizations or business visionaries sailing along the intersection of good business and social good? Share your ideas with the Creating Blue Oceans Community.

Blue Ocean Strategy - Give the people what they want: Tune-in to the Blue Ocean Strategy - Landslide Webinar

Blue Ocean Strategy - Give the people what they want: Tune-in to the Blue Ocean Strategy - Landslide Webinar

Here at CreatingBlueOceans.com we’ve received a number of requests from people who missed out on the recent online presentation ‘Breaking Away from the Pack: How to ignite your sales process with Blue Ocean Strategy’ – as well as from those who were keen to listen-in a second time.

So bending to popular demand, we’re here with some good news: A streaming version of the presentation has been made available via this link.

During the highly-attended 50 minute session, presentation co-hosts Razi Imam (CEO of Landslide) and Gabor first described the nature of Red Oceans and Blue Oceans. They also discussed real world Blue Ocean Strategy applications, how the concept can be applied to increase sales performance, and fielded some audience questions.

As a show of appreciation for participants, we gave out complimentary copies of the Blue Ocean Strategy book, and as the piece-de-resistance offered five free telephone consultations with Gabor. If you were a participant on the call, we invite you to share your feedback. Get in touch with us via the ‘email me’ tab in the upper left-hand corner.

Blue Ocean Strategy Company - LG’s Heart and Seoul: 2 By 10

Blue Ocean Strategy Company - LG’s Heart and Seoul: 2 By 10

We recently came across a snapshot of the promotional materials for LG’s Blue Ocean Strategy campaign, Blue Ocean Strategy Company. The campaign, entitled ‘BLUE OCEAN 2 BY 10’ represents LG Electronic’s aim to be among the world's Top 3 mobile communications companies in three years, and the Number 2 player by 2010.

The blog jeffooi.com has some interesting stories and photos from a recent promo tour LG, Blue Ocean Strategy Company, gave to journalists about its Blue Ocean Strategy at its Seoul headquarters. According to Jae Bae, LG’s Executive Vice President for Overseas Sales & Marketing Division:

To be the Top 3 in three years' time, the entire LG, Blue Ocean Strategy Company, workforce -- from product development, global marketing and distribution to analysing customer feedback and user experience -- has been psyched on the mantra of ERRC Framework which, in the LG's adoption of Blue Ocean Strategy, stands for Elimination (of factors that the industry have taken for granted), Reduction (of factors that are below the industry standards), Raising (of factors well above the industry standards) and Creation (of factors that the industry has never created).

Some acknowledge that LG’s goal seems pretty ambitious. But as Blue Ocean Strategy shows, it is only when we raise the bar to seemingly absurd levels that we begin to rethink everything. And it looks like LG has done quite a bit of rethinking over the past year, as evidenced with the sale of over 7,5 million Chocolate Bar phones and 21 of its products receiving accolades at the recent International Forum Design Awards in Germany.

Blue Ocean Strategy - Defying Conventional Wisdom: Very Cherry

Blue Ocean Strategy - Defying Conventional Wisdom: Very Cherry

Blue Ocean Strategy is all about challenging conventional wisdom – questioning taken-for-granted assumptions, and overstepping industry boundaries. It’s a frame of mind of continuously questioning and searching for a different angle and fresh perspective. You can draw inspiration from everyday life, and train your mind to have a discerning view of the world around you. Consider the following bit of comic insight as examples of challenging conventional wisdom.

Very cherry
Why do dried cherries cost so much? They cost 5-6 dollars for a small container, when by comparison raisins, which are dried grapes, are a fraction of that price. Both are abundant, locally grown produce of roughly the same size, so why the big price difference? Perhaps there is a powerful cherry drying cartel a la OPEC, which has been very successful at keeping prices artificially elevated.

Track and field
Just to add a layer of excitement for both athletes and spectators, what if in track and field the landing pit for the long jump would be filled with quicksand?

Blue Ocean Strategy - The Perfect Calm Series: Natural Vending Machines and the Psychology of Snacking

Blue Ocean Strategy - The Perfect Calm Series: Natural Vending Machines and the Psychology of Snacking

One of the most exciting spheres of application for Blue Ocean Strategy is the realm of Social Capitalism. This explosive market space is at very intersection of successful business and lasting social impact. Traditionally these two spheres were considered separate, but the two can be pursued simultaneously via Blue Ocean Strategy. Periodically, we offer a feature from WorldChanging a repository site for stimulating ventures, ideas and concept targeting this very intersection.

This week, we select the story: Natural Vending Machines and the Psychology of Snacking.

Do you know of other companies, organizations or business visionaries sailing along the intersection of good business and social good? Share your ideas with the Creating Blue Oceans Community.

Blue Ocean Strategy Article - If you can’t beat your rivals, don’t join them!

Blue Ocean Strategy Article - If you can’t beat your rivals, don’t join them! - LG, Blue Ocean Strategy Company.

You likely recall an entry we posted last week entitled 'LG’s Heart and Seoul: 2 By 10' regarding LG’s Blue Ocean Strategy mantra to rank as one of the Top 3 mobile communications companies in three years, and the Number 2 player by 2010.

Continuing the popular LG dialogue, we share with our Creating Blue Oceans community a copy of a recent interview with Gabor on LG and its implementation of Blue Ocean Strategy, specifically in India.

The interview is featured in the March 2007 edition of The Analyst, the flagship publication of ICFAI University Press, which brings to life the insights and best practices of corporate world in the area of finance.

The interview begins with the question from The Analyst “What is the rationale behind LGEIL adopting the Blue Ocean Strategy in India?” To this, Gabor responds:

LG is adopting the Blue Ocean Strategy (BOS) in India as part of its global strategy. LG has set ambitious growth targets for both revenues and profits for which BOS provides the blueprint for achievement. While other strategic concepts tell companies how to survive or realize incremental growth in well-defined, over-saturated markets (which we call “red ocean” market space), BOS gives a framework for breaking away from the competition to achieve high customer value and profitability simultaneously (which we call “blue ocean” market space).

More specifically, India has market attributes that make the application of BOS especially compelling: It is a vast and rapidly evolving market, so the business potential is ample over here. Indian consumers are very sensible and closely consider product attributes before purchase; so real product distinction is important.

Furthermore, LG, Blue Ocean Strategy company, has a strong position in almost every one of its product categories in India which would be difficult to maintain and expand, unless a strategy of continuous innovation is adopted. And lastly, LG is looking at India not just as a market destination but also as a production and export base. Therefore, adopting the right strategy and accompanying internal culture will help LG to build a strong international center of operations in India.

Blue Ocean Strategy - The Starbucks Struggle: Wake up and smell the coffee

Blue Ocean Strategy - The Starbucks Struggle: Wake up and smell the coffee

Blue Ocean Strategy Example - Starbucks - Blue Ocean Strategy Company

“There’s no such thing as a permanently great company or a permanently great industry. All industries rise and fall as do companies. However, there are permanently smart strategic moves” -- W. Chan Kim & Renee Mauborgne (“Flouting Conventional Wisdom,” Chief Executive Magazine, May 2003).

We recently read a though-provoking article at BusinessWeek online entitled “Latte Questions for Starbucks' Execs.” It highlights Starbucks struggle to cope successfully with its growing pains as it joins the ranks of multinational heavyweights.

The article cites a memo written by Starbucks Chairman Howard Schultz entitled "The Commoditization of the Starbucks Experience." While for some at Starbucks the leaking of this memo was a bit of an embarrassment, we feel that Mr. Schultz, in his memo, brings to light a critical point that is oftentimes overlooked in business today:

In 25 years I have written hundreds of memos, and if I look at the theme and the thread of those memos through the years, there is a common thread … It's self-examination, it's the pursuit of excellence, it's the willingness to constantly challenge yourself and not embrace the status quo … It is important we take a step back and ask ourselves a serious question, about whether or not we're as good as we once were, whether we're good as we need to be.

Mr. Schultz’s sentiment reminds us of the entry we posted two years ago entitled “Are There Really No Permanently Great Companies?” All companies face difficult or life-threatening challenges at one point or another, and it is their adaptability to make smart strategic moves which allow them to prosper even in the face of adversity. And clearly, Mr. Schultz and his team are now facing the challenges of continued flexibility. May we suggest Blue Ocean Strategy for guidance?

Blue Ocean Strategy - Defying Conventional Wisdom: Fruits and Math

Blue Ocean Strategy - Defying Conventional Wisdom: Fruits and Math

Blue Ocean Strategy is all about challenging conventional wisdom – questioning taken-for-granted assumptions, and overstepping industry boundaries. It’s a frame of mind of continuously questioning and searching for a different angle and fresh perspective. You can draw inspiration from everyday life, and train your mind to have a discerning view of the world around you. Consider the following bit of comic insight as examples of challenging conventional wisdom.

Defying Conventional Wisdom: Fruits and Math

When buying fresh produce, you see all kinds of fruits and vegetables on sale in batches, such as “3 lemons for a dollar,” or “2 dollars for a dozen corn.” But what if instead of simplifying the math, a store tried to make it more challenging and more entertaining for shoppers? For example, it could display signs like “4 apples for Pi dollars,” or “square root of five bucks for a pair of mangos.”

Blue Ocean Strategy - Sound Investment Strategy: Go Blue!

Blue Ocean Strategy - Sound Investment Strategy: Go Blue!

The accolades for Blue Ocean Strategy, including those from Fast Company, Business Week and the Wall Street Journal are well-known. And since its initial publication in 2005, Blue Ocean Strategy the book is nearing two-million copies sold, existing in 37 languages worldwide.

Now, Blue Ocean Strategy has a new honor: It ranks in the Top Five books for General Investing according to Amazon, thus supporting the claim that companies practicing Blue Ocean Strategy enjoy higher profits.

Be sure to tune in tomorrow when we continue to highlight a well-know company practicing Blue Ocean Strategy and reaping the rewards….

Sea of Riches - Blue Ocean Strategy

Sea of Riches - Blue Ocean Strategy

As a follow-up to our previous posting, today we wanted to check in with a previously featured, high-profile Blue Ocean Strategy practitioner to see how they are coming along.

Nintendo has seen great success with its Blue Ocean Strategy and Wii product. After the holidays we wrote a story entitled ‘Nintendo Plays with Blue Ocean Strategy and Wins,’ which highlighted the fact that the number three player in the gaming world had beaten its rivals with its must-have console, the Wii.

Continuing coverage of Nintendo’s dramatic leap to market leadership was reported in a recent Business Week article entitled ‘Nintendo Storms the Gaming World,’ which writes “Nintendo executives, and some game analysts, believe the Wii's mass market potential could make it a breakthrough product for the $30 billion video game industry. Worldwide, Nintendo has sold 3 million units and is confident that figure will double by the end of March.”

Blue Ocean Strategy - What Color is Your Strategy?

Blue Ocean Strategy - What Color is Your Strategy?

Here at CreatingBlueOceans.com we are delighted to continue receiving contributions from Blue Ocean Strategy enthusiasts. Although quite different in scope, each reflects an interesting angle about Blue Ocean Strategy and Value Innovation.

The latest in our series of contributed articles comes from Cheenu Srinivasan, our Blue Ocean Strategy colleague at Ganges Consulting in Australia. In his thoughtful article ‘What Colour is Your Strategy’ Mr. Srinivasan writes:

There is nothing wrong with your competing in Red Oceans where you relish competition and are looking to new battlefronts. But a time will come when the pressures of competition start eroding your market share, revenues and margins because others in those market spaces are doing exactly the same thing!

You may download the full article in .pdf format here.

We welcome contributions to the site, whether it be an article you have written or a direct comment. Do you see ways in which you might be able to get involved with the Blue Ocean Strategy community? Get in touch with Gabor George Burt via the email address above and share your ideas.

Blue Ocean Strategy - Ready for lift-off with Viagra

Blue Ocean Strategy - Ready for lift-off with Viagra

With its wildly successful Viagra, Pfizer shifted the focus from medical treatment to lifestyle enhancement. Likewise, Starbucks turned the coffee industry on its head by shifting its focus from commodity coffee sales to the emotional atmosphere in which customers enjoy their coffee (Blue Ocean Strategy, p. 74).

Blue Ocean Strategy, What is the common link among all the companies that are successful in creating Blue Oceans? The answer can be distilled down to two words: Lifestyle enrichment. Companies that understand that they are not in the business of selling certain products or services, but rather in the business of delivering lifestyle enrichment to customers, are the ones that prosper.

Blue Ocean Strategy helps to instill this perspective, and once it takes root, a company can continue to stay highly relevant to customers, drive lifestyle changes, and continuously create blue oceans.

Be sure to tune-in tomorrow when we discuss an example of a company, Blue Ocean Strategy, which has really caught on to the lifestyle enrichment concept and has successfully employed it as a part of its Blue Ocean Strategy.

Blue Ocean Strategy - Hello LG, Prada calling!

Blue Ocean Strategy - Hello LG, Prada calling!

Untapped value is often hidden in complementary products and services. The key is to define the total solution buyers seek when they choose a product or service. (Blue Ocean Strategy, p. 65)

In the movie The Devil Wears Prada, Miranda Priestly says that fashion is inevitably created by a handful of select individuals, and then trickles down to the masses. Similarly, the team at LG understands that design and fashion ultimately affect lifestyles, and, thus, drive profits.

And, judging by the initial splash made over the LG Prada phone, they also understand that people are willing to pay premium prices for goods or services associated with a lifestyle sector they aspire to (indications are that the phone will start at an eye-popping $500+).

“We are creating a new market," says Chang Ma, a vice-president with LG's mobile communications unit. "Design has become a good enough factor for consumers to choose their phones."

LG is a very committed practitioner of Blue Ocean strategy and their most recent success with design in the mobile telephone sector was with its candy bar-like ‘Chocolate’ Phone. Prized for its simple, elegant design giving way to workhorse-like digital features, the Chocolate has become the best-selling model LG has ever introduced. In fact it turned LG's money-losing mobile phone business around, posting an operating profit of $148.2 million in the second half of 2006.

Be sure to stay tuned as we continue to chart the waters of LG’s Blue Ocean Strategy successes. We invite you to share your stories of companies having a significant impact through lifestyle enrichment. Share your story with us!

Landslide: A Blue Ocean Juggernaut - Blue Ocean Strategy

Landslide: A Blue Ocean Juggernaut - Blue Ocean Strategy

Standing out from the crowd as it continues to ride the wave of its Blue Ocean Strategy success, Landslide Technologies announced that Small Business Technology Magazine, the only print and digital publication in the U.S. focusing on the technology needs of small businesses, selected Landslide as a Finalist in the 2006 Product of the Year Awards, its annual salute to the best technology products and services for small business.

The Product of the Year Awards program recognizes outstanding technology products that improve key functions in a small business, such as business operations, management, marketing and sales, productivity and financial management, in addition to critical technology areas such as security and infrastructure.

In his acknowledgement of the nomination, Razi Imam, CEO of Landslide Technologies, said:

Landslide provides the opportunity for small businesses to create and implement world-class sales processes that were previously only available to large enterprises. This award from Small Business Technology Magazine underscores our value as a unique, cost-effective solution that equips individual sales reps with the tools they need to improve sales effectiveness.

Landslide was recently bestowed a Stevie Award, the business world’s equivalent of the Oscars. More information about Landslide Technologies and its pioneering approach is available here. A full copy of the press release detailing Landslide’s Small Business Technology Magazine’s nomination may be viewed here.

Blue Ocean Strategy -Defying Conventional Wisdom: Pork chops socks

Blue Ocean Strategy -Defying Conventional Wisdom: Pork chops socks

Blue Ocean Strategy is all about challenging conventional wisdom – questioning taken-for-granted assumptions, and overstepping industry boundaries. It’s a frame of mind of continuously questioning and searching for a different angle and fresh perspective. You can draw inspiration from everyday life, and train your mind to have a discerning view of the world around you. Consider the following bit of comic insight as examples of challenging conventional wisdom.

Defying Conventional Wisdom: Pork chops socks

Salmon, Blue Ocean Strategy, has become an accepted color label within the fashion industry for clothes of a pinkish-orange tint. Yet referencing the color of a garment we wear to the flesh tone of an animal we eat seems to be an odd association. What’s next? Will we soon be flipping through catalogues displaying turkey breast cardigans, tuna fish ties, and pork chop socks?

Blue Ocean Strategy - Lifestyle enrichment: I want my slip-on driving shoes!

Blue Ocean Strategy - Lifestyle enrichment: I want my slip-on driving shoes!

As we highlighted in a previous posting, companies that understand that they are not in the business of selling certain products or services, but rather in the business of delivering lifestyle enrichment to customers, are the ones that create blue oceans. As a recent example of this type of thinking, Volkswagen is making a splash by reaching out to women with something a little different—like, say, a cashmere wrap or a pair of slip-on driving shoes.

Alongside the launch of VW’s Eos, designed to appeal to the discriminating, female driver, VW is introducing a new line of softly-branded luxury accessories aimed at the car’s core audience of buyers. As this recent article reveals, the move could foster “a community of like-minded, style-conscious women who can unite around a range of products that might not center on the car but might encourage them to look at VW more closely next time they're in the market for a new ride.”

It is especially interesting to note that the VW accessories are high-end, elegantly designed and less overtly branded, speak of self-pampering and are priced accordingly.

So in case you’re looking for something extra-special to enrich the driving experience of a particular female companion, you just might want to check out the Eos Boutique.

Blue Ocean Strategy - The Perfect Calm Series: Where good business and social good intersect

Blue Ocean Strategy - The Perfect Calm Series: Where good business and social good intersect

One of the most exciting spheres of application for Blue Ocean Strategy is the realm of Social Capitalism. This explosive market space is at the intersection of successful business and lasting social impact. The two can be pursued simultaneously via Blue Ocean Strategy. Periodically we offer a feature from WorldChanging a repository site for stimulating ventures, ideas and concept targeting this very intersection.

This week, we select the story: Making Money Work for Change.

Do you know of other companies, organizations or business visionaries sailing along the intersection of good business and social good? Share your ideas with the Creating Blue Oceans Community.

Creating Blue Oceans and You: Interact with Gabor, live!

Creating Blue Oceans and You: Interact with Gabor, live!

Register to join the upcoming online presentation ‘Breaking Away from the Pack: How to ignite your sales process with Blue Ocean Strategy’ featuring Gabor as a host speaker along with Razi Imam, CEO of the highly successful BOS start-up Landslide Technologies.

During the talk show, Razi and Gabor will discuss:

The difference between Red and Blue Oceans.
Real world example of the application of Blue Ocean Strategy (BOS).
How you can apply BOS principles to your to sales organization to increase its performance.
Ten attendees will be selected through a random drawing to receive copies of the best-selling Blue Ocean Strategy. Additionally, five attendees will have the chance to win a complimentary 30 minute, private phone consultation with Gabor on the topic of implementing Blue Ocean Strategy.

Uncontested market space right under your nose

Uncontested market space right under your nose

Challenging an industry’s conventional wisdom about which buyer group to target can lead to the discovery of new blue ocean, Blue Ocean Strategy. By looking across buyer groups, companies can gain new insights into how to redesign their value curves to focus on a previously overlooked set of buyers (Blue Ocean Strategy, p. 61).

Do you work for a large corporation that keeps you chained (virtually speaking of course) to your desk? Are you one of the millions of “CrackBerry” users? While people either love or hate the ability to receive and send email instantly, it’s evident from the number of subscribers and number of devices on the market that they are here to stay.

Recently at CreatingBlueOceans, Blue Ocean Strategy, we decided it was time to get connected. However, when we began searching for a mobile email solution that would deliver email to our messaging devices in real time we were rather surprised (and disappointed) to find out that these solutions exist only for large corporations because “pushmail” requires fancy servers and expensive software!

That leaves smaller companies, consultants and sales people who are independently employed in the dark. As the Blue Ocean Strategy framework shows us, by scanning across buyer groups one can discover previously overlooked sets of buyers, or, in this case, the millions of independent business people around the world who do not have access to pushmail solutions.

The Power Of The Blue Ocean Strategy And To Use It

The Power Of The Blue Ocean Strategy And To Use It By dave

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In the modern society competition is something we see everyday and everywhere. Even when there isn’t a direct competitor you’ll have to ‘fight’ to make a want and need for your product or service. This strategy will help you to look further than your competition and create a completely new market and standards for your own business.

The purpose of this strategy is to create a new standard in the market where only your products and services can live up to. This way you automatically create a new market and stand above all your previous competitors. In short: from the red ocean (competition) you go to your own, blue ocean where you’re king.

This age is called the ‘consumer age’ by many marketers, everything is about the consumer. The Blue Ocean strategy too. This strategy actually implies to craft your offer in such a different way that a new market develops itself for you.

A small example of the power of the Blue Ocean strategy:

Samsung changed it’s strategy in 2006, leaded by the slogan ‘Market-Driven Change’. A number of product developers en designers gathered in Seoul to work on a new flat-screen TV, code name ‘Bordeaux’. They worked there, under the supervision of the CEO’s, till they met all the expectations, wants and needs of the consumer were met.

By this and several other developments of the strategy, the market share of Samsung grew to 26.4% where Sony scored 24.6%, followed by Sharp with 8.2% And note that Samsung started in 2006 with a market share of just 12.1%

Here are the pro’s and con’s of the Blue Ocean strategy.

Pro’s - Blue Ocean Strategy:

Superior strategy for small- and medium-sized businesses. These are often more flexible and can move more quickly towards the needs and wants of their customers and market. Because they’re relatively small they stand closer to their customers, whereby more information can be obtained from them.

Smaller companies can obtain lots of publicity quickly by using this strategy. Even quicker then big companies. Because small companies normally operate on a local or regional basis, they can get their message out more quickly and gather more free publicity.

This strategy is perfect for companies that now how to use their marketing and communication effectively. Lots and preferably ‘close’ contact with the customers and market is needed to obtain the best results from this strategy.

Con’s - Blue Ocean Strategy:

It’s quite difficult to create a blue ocean without the necessary knowledge and experience of marketing and communication. A marketing budget comes very handy but many small- and medium-sized companies don’t have one.

After a while the first copycats will arise, competing on the very same value points as you. That’s completely normal, however it forces the entrepreneur to find a new strategy every several years.

For big companies it’s harder to maneuver or change, to get a new strategy working in the complete company as soon as possible. These companies do have the resources and budget, but before the process has even started - smaller competitors might have run off with the idea already.

If you want to know more about the Blue Ocean strategy you can find more information at the links and the literature list below. First, some practical tips to create and apply a Blue Ocean strategy.

Checklist ‘How To Apply’:

1) Research what the customer truly wants. Ask for the problems and challenges they face and what the solutions could be. Ask for the ideal situation the customer wants to achieve.

2) Research which points the competitors use in their marketing and which not.

3) Try to find the ideal solution for the client outside the borders, criteria and standards of your market or industry. Forget about standards and ‘unspoken rules’ but only think about the best possible solution for your customers - and how you can help them achieve that in an efficient and pleasant manner.

4) Create a marketing system that sells your product as nicely and simple as possible. Don’t let the customer leave with any problems, questions or choices - but make the whole process as easy as possible.

5) Teach the potential client and market about what you can do about the problem, that you go beyond any competitor and that you care more about the clients

6) Come up with the best possible guarantee, a 100% unconditional money-back guarantee for example. This points alone goes beyond many competitors in many cases.

Blue Ocean Strategy - W. Chan Kim, Renée Mauborgne

Blue Ocean Strategy - W. Chan Kim, Renée Mauborgne

Winning by not competing: a fresh approach to strategy Since the dawn of the industrial age, companies have engaged in head-to-head competition in search of sustained, profitable growth. They have fought for competitive advantage, battled over market share, and struggled for differentiation. Yet these hallmarks of competitive strategy are not the way to create profitable growth in the future. In a book that challenges everything you thought you knew about the requirements for strategic success, W. Chan Kim and Renée Mauborgne argue that cutthroat competition results in nothing but a bloody red ocean of rivals fighting over a shrinking profit pool. Based on a study of 150 strategic moves spanning more than a hundred years and thirty industries, the authors argue that lasting success comes not from battling competitors, but from creating “blue oceans”: untapped new market spaces ripe for growth. Such strategic moves—which the authors call “value innovation”—create powerful leaps in value that often render rivals obsolete for more than a decade. Blue Ocean Strategy presents a systematic approach to making the competition irrelevant and outlines principles and tools any company can use to create and capture blue oceans. A landmark work that upends traditional thinking about strategy, this book charts a bold new path to winning the future.

From the Inside Flap "After reading Blue Ocean Strategy, you will never again see your competition in quite the same light. Kim and Mauborgne present a compelling case for pursuing strategy with a creative, not combative, approach. Their emphases on value innovation and stakeholder engagement alone make this book a must-read for both executives and students of business." -Carlos Ghosn, President and CEO, Nissan Motor Co., Ltd.

"This is an extremely valuable book to read. It examines the experience of companies in areas as diverse as watches, wine, cement, computers, automobiles, and even the circus to shed new light on the development of future strategies."

-Nicolas G. Hayek, Cofounder and Chairman of the Board, Swatch Group

"I recommend Blue Ocean Strategy to any executive in the private or public sector. It shows how to break from the status quo, create a winning future strategy, and execute this fast at low cost. As much a practical guide as an eye-opener."

-William J. Bratton, Chief of the Los Angeles Police Department, former Police Commissioner of the City of New York

"Kim and Mauborgne's strategies are not only original but practical. Our company has used them and obtained powerful results. The authors chart a bold new path to winning the future."

-Patrick Snowball, Chief Executive, Norwich Union Insurance

About the Author W. Chan Kim is The Boston Consulting Group Bruce D. Henderson Chair Professor of Strategy and International Management at INSEAD and an advisory member for the European Union. Renée Mauborgne is The INSEAD Distinguished Fellow and a professor of strategy and management and a Fellow of the World Economic Forum. Together, they have written for the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, and Financial Times, and their Harvard Business Review articles have sold over 500,000 reprints. They were selected for Thinkers 50, the global ranking of business thinkers, and The Sunday Times (London) called them “two of Europe’s brightest business thinkers…Kim and Mauborgne provide a sizeable challenge to the way managers think about and practice strategy.” They split their time between New York and Fontainebleau, France.

Blue Ocean Strategy: How to Create Uncontested Market Space and Make the Competition Irrelevant

Blue Ocean Strategy: How to Create Uncontested Market Space and Make the Competition Irrelevant

If you are concerned about winning against your competitors you are swimming in the bloody Red Ocean of competition where there is limited room for real growth. Based on the techniques described in the award winning book Blue Ocean Strategy: How to create uncontested market space and make the competition irrelevant, by Chan Kim and Renee Mauborgne, strategist Dr. Sarah Layton presents a dynamic approach for making the competition irrelevant by creating a leap in value, through value innovation, for both the company and its buyers. She will show how companies can offer innovation and value to their customers while keeping costs low and profits high.

BLUE OCEAN STRATEGY offers an inspiring message: that success is not dependent on fierce competition, expensive marketing or R&D budgets, but on smart strategic moves that can be used systematically by established companies and startups alike.

The image of the vast blue ocean conveys the infinite possibilities for profitable growth that exist with this strategy.

Creation of a Blue Ocean Strategy does more than contribute to strong profitable growth. It exercises a strong, positive effect on establishing a company’s standing brand name in buyers’ minds.

Dr. Layton has developed the Blue Ocean Strategy concepts into straight forward, easy to understand presentations in which you and your organization will:

• Learn about the four step process for creating a Blue Ocean Strategy
• Be able to apply the Blue Ocean Strategy tools to your current markets and industry
• Understand Blue Ocean Strategy’s guiding principles
• Discover the acid test for a potentially successful Blue Ocean Strategy
• Learn where to look for those Blue Ocean Strategy markets
• Construct an “as is” value curve for their company on the Strategy Canvas
• Improve the organization’s position in the current red ocean environment
  

Yesterday’s news becomes new ‘blueprint’ - Blue Ocean Strategy

Yesterday’s news becomes new ‘blueprint’ - Blue Ocean Strategy

To break out of red oceans, companies must overstep accepted boundaries of how they compete. Instead of looking within these boundaries, businesses need to systematically scan across what Blue Ocean Strategy calls the Six Paths: Alternative industries, strategic groups, buyer groups, complementary offerings, functional-emotional orientation of an industry, and important trends. This gives companies fresh insight into how to reconstruct markets to open up blue oceans opportunities.

A recent Fast Company story revealed how Rob Curley, a self-proclaimed ‘35-year-old overcaffeinated and entrepreneurial Internet punk’ is defying the newspaper industry’s model of business and even its way of reporting. And, along the way, Curley is creating a Blue Ocean of his own.

It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that newspaper readership has been steadily on the decline. In fact since 1989, papers in the US have lost 8 million subscribers and the percentage of adults who read a daily during the week has plummeted to scarcely half the population.

So how is Curley able to breath new life into a declining industry in a Blue Ocean Strategy way? Here’s an overview:

Bucking the system. Curley doesn’t accept something because it’s “how we've always done it."

Eliminating the competition through ‘hyperlocalization.’ Rather than mirroring the national and international topics covered by the biggies like CNN, Curley’s smaller, home-town sites focus on local news which oftentimes would not get reported. Curley focuses on topics which define the local community: Politics in Topeka, basketball in Lawrence, real estate in Naples. This resonates in an industry in which 85% of papers have circulations under 50,000.

Complementary product and service offerings. Curley’s web sites complement his printed papers, and contain provocative content that make them a cross between a library and a museum. For example, the Topeka Capital-Journal's legislative site included texts of every bill and each representative's top campaign contributors.

Viral appeal. Curley states “I want a site to be so cool and important to people that they talk about it the way you talk about having a great park where you live. It's a local amenity."
And it seems that the wind keeping Curley’s sails unfurled isn’t likely to wither away any time soon. For instance, just three years after Curley took over a project to cover the University of Kansas Jayhawks teams in ways the local paper couldn’t, monthly page views soared from around 500,000 to a peak of around 13 million. Not bad for a town with 82,000 residents. And presently Curley serves as vice-president for the interactive subsidiary whose role it is to innovate, and innovate fast, across companies like the Post, Newsweek, and Slate.

Do you know of maverick businessmen and women who are defying conventional wisdom and creating Blue Oceans? Share your success stories with us.

Blue Ocean Strategy - Defying Conventional Wisdom: Six-week sneeze

Blue Ocean Strategy - Defying Conventional Wisdom: Six-week sneeze

Blue Ocean Strategy is all about challenging conventional wisdom – questioning taken-for-granted assumptions, and overstepping industry boundaries. It’s a frame of mind of continuously questioning and searching for a different angle and fresh perspective. You can draw inspiration from everyday life, and train your mind to have a discerning view of the world around you. Consider the following bit of comic insight as examples of challenging conventional wisdom.

Six-week sneeze

There are some fascinating statistics out there that reveal the total time we spend on various repetitive activities in our lifetime. For example, researchers may show that during our life we will spend on average six weeks sneezing, or ten years just watching TV. Even if we could not alter the total time we spend on each activity, just being able to set our own scheduling for them would open up some very exciting possibilities. For example, what if one could opt to shave non-stop for the next two months but then never have to bother with it ever again? Or if you could choose to take an eight-year nap and then stay awake for the next two decades straight?

China prefers Blue to Red Ocean Strategy

China prefers Blue to Red Ocean Strategy

We recently received an exciting press release detailing the Top 10 Management practices in China, and, behold, Blue Ocean Strategy tops the list! While this may not come as a surprise to our community of readers and Blue Ocean Strategy practitioners, it certainly reinforces Blue Ocean Strategy as a dominant, global management strategy preferred by those ready to make the leap from competitive, bloody Red oceans to tranquil Blue Oceans.

The Top 10 Management practices survey was undertaken by China Global Sources' Chief Executive China (Chinese-only), the largest-circulation management magazine in mainland China. As Editor-in-chief of Chief Executive China Magazine, Liu Lan, elaborates:

This year's top 10 management practices highlight vital trends driving mainland China's economy.

Mainland China's executives are more globally competitive. They are adopting international management strategies. For example, mainland China's managers are focusing on a 'blue ocean' strategy, which advocates capturing uncontested market space.

As the accolades and testimonials continue to reach us, we’ll be sure to share them with you. In the meantime, you may obtain a full copy of the Chief Executive China’s press release here. And of course, if you have a Blue Ocean Strategy success story, share it with our Creating Blue Oceans community!

Nintendo Plays with Blue Ocean Strategy and Wins

Nintendo Plays with Blue Ocean Strategy and Wins

Well, the verdict is in and it seems that the newly-released Nintendo Wii gaming console stole the Christmas show. As recently reported by the Times Online the number three player in the games world has beaten its rivals with its must-have console, the Wii. To what may we attribute Nintendo’s success? You guessed it: Blue Ocean Strategy.

In fact, you may recall an article we wrote about the Nintendo Wii back in March of last year. In that article, Perrin Kaplan, vice president of marketing and corporate affairs for Nintendo of America discussed its implementation of Blue Ocean Strategy:

Seeing a Blue Ocean is the notion of creating a market where there initially was none--going out where nobody has yet gone. Red Ocean is what our competitors do--heated competition where sales are finite and the product is fairly predictable. We’re making games that are expanding our base of consumers in Japan and America.

What were the three key elements contributing to Nintendo’s Blue Ocean Strategy success? Its focus on core business, product innovation and, lastly, technological leaps when they matter. As Paul Jackson at Forrester Research said “Nintendo seems to have stolen the high ground in terms of playability and entertainment value.”

We tip our sails to the team at Nintendo for the successful implementation of Blue Ocean Strategy. Perhaps even they were caught off guard with the extent of their success, as evidenced by the endless holiday-time queues of customers wanting to pick up a Nintendo Wii.

Blue Ocean Strategy - Are There Really No Permanently Great Companies?

Blue Ocean Strategy - Are There Really No Permanently Great Companies?

Here at Creating Blue Oceans we continually receive inquiries, from corporate executives to small business owners, asking for advice or confirmation for their pursuit of Blue Oceans Strategy. So today, we thought to open up our heavily guarded vaults and share with you a fundamental nugget of Blue Ocean Strategy Basics.

Are There Really No Permanently Great Companies?

“There’s no such thing as a permanently great company or a permanently great industry. All industries rise and fall as do companies. However, there are permanently smart strategic moves” - W. Chan Kim & Renee Mauborgne, from Chief Executive Magazine article “Flouting Conventional Wisdom” (May 2003).

This claim is a cornerstone of Blue Ocean Strategy. It signals the shift from emphasis on industries or companies to strategic moves as the key unit of measurement and analysis. One of the problems with the quest for permanent greatness is that it draws companies into the trap of wanting to continuously outperform competitors. his creates a myopic view of being too focused on competitors, and hence getting locked into head-to-head competition with accepted industry boundaries.

Instead, a key quality companies should strive for is adaptability, always scanning and acting upon broad market opportunities. All companies face difficult or life-threatening challenges at one point or another, and it is their adaptability and ability to make smart strategic moves which allow them to prosper even in the face of adversity.

Consider the case of Nokia. In 1991 trade with the Soviet Union, Finland’s and Nokia’s largest market, collapsed overnight. At the time the company’s core activities were paper and rubber products. By 1994 Nokia was selling off its industrial divisions and was listed on NYSE as the world’s premier supplier of mobile phones, which was just a small, peripheral division three years earlier.

Or the case of IBM. Between 1991 and 1993 IBM recorded losses of USD 16 Billion and the future was looking grim to say the least. In 1993 Lou Gerstner became CEO, the first company leader who was not from within the company, in fact not even from within the industry. He completely re-oriented the company’s focus from technology driven to customer solution driven, so that by 2001 $35 Billion of $86 Billion total sales were from the newly created Global Services. This radical shift in company culture and orientation is widely accredited with IBM’s exemplary recovery to growth and healthy profitability.

The Greatest Comeback in College Football history - a la Blue Ocean

The Greatest Comeback in College Football history - a la Blue Ocean

There are great parallels between the world of sports and business, be it in strategy, leadership, or personal motivation. What follows is a telling example of Blue Ocean Strategy in action on the football field, with Texas Tech’s recent, incredible 31-point comeback win over Minnesota.

We discussed Texas Tech head coach Leach’s pursuit of Blue Ocean Strategy in a story from March of last year. Just what exactly is he doing to defying conventional wisdom? Coach Leach Leach recruits an average group of players and coaches them to victory using untraditional techniques, rather than focusing on recruiting top talent.

For example on offense, Leach's team passes the ball to many different receivers, almost on every play. This technique throws off the opposing team's defensive strategy by confusing them, as well as forcing them to work more of the field, thus tiring the opponent's defense more quickly. Suddenly, intimidating, 300-pound gorilla-like defensive players become irrelevant.

As Tom Peters points out on his blog, Coach Leach’s Blue Ocean Strategy has paid off, as evidenced by Texas Tech’s recent, history-making 31-point comeback win over Minnesota, the largest comeback in Division I-A bowl history (see full article). By working outside the confines of traditional game strategies and assumptions, Coach Leach joins the ranks of Blue Ocean Strategy practitioners who have successfully redefined the space they compete in. Do you know of other sporting personalities who are actively defying conventional wisdom and creating Blue Oceans along the way? Share your story with us!

Blue Ocean Strategy - Defying Conventional Wisdom: But which war?

Blue Ocean Strategy - Defying Conventional Wisdom: But which war?

Blue Ocean Strategy is all about challenging conventional wisdom – questioning taken-for-granted assumptions, and overstepping industry boundaries. It’s a frame of mind of continuously questioning and searching for a different angle and fresh perspective. You can draw inspiration from everyday life, and train your mind to have a discerning view of the world around you. Consider the following bit of comic insight as examples of challenging conventional wisdom.

But which war?

Whenever someone uses an expression like “since the war,” the generally accepted assumption is that they are talking about World War II. But isn’t it time to move on? Most of us weren’t even alive then, so why not pick a more recent conflict? For example, why not adopt the Granada Invasion as the new temporal reference point for phrases such as “before the war” or “after the war”?

Struck dead at 4 mph - Blue Ocean Strategy

Struck dead at 4 mph - Blue Ocean Strategy

In one of her most recent pop chart hits Madonna sings “Time goes by so slowly,” but we’re not too sure that she had Innovation in mind when she set down the words to this song. We recently researched a story about the first woman to be killed by an automobile, which, in a tragic-comic way illustrates the unimaginable pace of progress, due to Innovation.

The excerpt reads:

On August 17, 1896, in London, Bridget Driscoll, age 45, became an early car accident fatality as crossed the grounds of the Crystal Palace (London), an automobile struck her at a speed witnesses described as "a reckless pace, in fact, like a fire engine.

Ironically, the car which was observed to be speeding out of control was only traveling at 4 Mph, which is no more than a pedestrian’s pace. Yet at that time, this still seemed recklessly fast. And, the official investigation report proclaimed the hope that no such accidents would ever happen again.

As this story poignantly illustrates, we have come a long way indeed. To get a quick overview of the rapid advance of the auto industry from a blue ocean perspective, visit pages 193-197 of the Blue Ocean Strategy book. Do you have a humorous story which exemplifies the rapid pace of progress owing to Innovation? Share it with us for possible inclusion in upcoming entries.

Blue Ocean Strategy - Thumbs up to India’s banking sector

Blue Ocean Strategy - Thumbs up to India’s banking sector

"The main problem is that most farmers are illiterate and only speak local dialects…The farmers couldn't remember their PIN codes and didn't understand the on-screen instructions.” – Sunil Udupa, CEO of AGS Infotech

Stashing cash underneath the mattress or in the freezer may seem like a cartoonish way to keep money safe, but, in many parts of the world, especially where devices such as ATMs aren’t quite understood by the local population, many still continue this practice. But a recent Wired article suggests that this is all about to change in the Indian banking sector.

Using a Blue Ocean-like approach, blue ocean strategy, proponents in India have begun installing ATMs which dispense cash based on reading a thumb print, rather than inserting a PIN code. The thumb print-based ATM clears the path to new market space of millions of potential new users, bypassing one simple obstacle which has, until now, kept ATM banking in a pretty confined territory: the PIN code requirement.

By developing a fingerprint interface with audio and visual instructions that could be easily understood and by eliminating the need for the oftentimes forgotten PIN code, officials believe that this new ATM system will allow billions of rupees currently being held in private hands to flow into the banking mainstream.

This advancement is particularly reflective of Blue Ocean Strategy’s much coveted win-win scenario. For example, the article states that this seemingly trivial innovation will triple the number of ATM in India within a couple of years. And for the poorer segments of society who are the new customers, the thumbprint-based ATMS will help to shelter them from theft and widespread corruption.

We file this story alongside other banking industry success stories we’ve reported on in the past, such as Bank of America’s Keep the Change program and Italy’s highly subscribed Postepay service. Do you see other ways in which the banking sector is applying Blue Ocean Strategy, or perhaps ways in which you wish it would apply Blue Ocean Strategy? Share your thoughts with us!

Crisis hand in hand with opportunity - Blue Ocean Strategy

Crisis hand in hand with opportunity - Blue Ocean Strategy

In the red oceans, industry boundaries are defined and accepted, and the competitive rules of the game are known. Here, companies try to outperform their rivals to grab a greater share of existing demand. As the market space gets crowded, prospects for profits and growth are reduced. Products become commodities, and cutthroat competition turns the red ocean bloody. (Blue Ocean Strategy, p. 4)

Many industry experts agree that 2006 was one of the worst years in decades for the real estate market, and the outlook for 2007 looks just about as gloomy. But as the saying goes “Crisis and opportunity are a couple.” In fact we see the bust of the real-estate bubble giving rise to the creation of Blue Oceans Strategy.

Supporting this claim is an article written by the team at Transparent RE, an outfit focusing on transparency and new business models in real estate. The article draws an enlightening comparison between the resistance of the newspaper publishing industry to the Internet, and the current condition of the real estate industry.

As the article describes, rise of the Internet gave way to new journalistic voices, new sources of information as well as the creation of new business models like Craigslist. Each of these elements gradually began to chip away at traditional newspaper revenues, which in turn forced cost cutting. With profit margins shrinking, and competition becoming more fierce, the Red Oceans just became more and more bloody.

And the same scenario holds true for the real estate industry, where “brokers' initial response to the Internet's transparency threat was to hunker down, reasoning that they controlled the agents and the Multiple Listing Services (MLS).”

The author elaborates:

Here's the book to read: Blue Ocean Strategy - How to Create Uncontested Market Space and Make the Competition Irrelevant - by W. Chan Kim and Renee Mauborgne. The byline says it all... the real estate industry has so many inefficiencies, new market spaces will open up quite quickly.

We certainly second that notion, and, in the meantime, will be paying close attention to the implementation of Blue Ocean Strategy across the real estate industry for discussion in future posts. In the meantime, we invite you to share your stories and thoughts with us about the future of the real estate industry.

Towering Dreams - Blue Ocean Strategy : The sheikh who dared to Defy Conventional Wisdom

Towering Dreams - Blue Ocean Strategy : The sheikh who dared to Defy Conventional Wisdom

“There once was a sheikh who dreamed big. His realm on the shores of the Persian Gulf, was a sleepy sun-scorched village… but where others saw only a brackish creek, Sheikh Rashid bin Saeed al Maktoum saw a highway to the world… One day in 1959 he borrowed many millions of dollars from his oil-rich neighbor Kuwait… He built wharves and warehouses and planned for roads and schools and homes. Some thought he was mad, others just mistaken, but Sheikh Rashid believed in the power of new beginnings… He built it, and they came.” (National Geographic, January 2007, p. 100)

And behold, the Dubai of today is home to over one million people from over 150 countries around the world. A fantasy land of sorts, Dubai now attracts more tourists annually than the whole of India, more shipping vessels than Singapore and more foreign capital than many European countries. Having taken an unprecedented path to prosperity, it stands as a tribute to the power of human achievement, Innovation and daring to dream the seemingly impossible.

No wonder that Dubai was chosen as a host destination for the Blue Ocean Executive Experience series, an exclusive, invitation-only event led by Blue Ocean Strategy Senior Strategist and Concept Architect Gabor George Burt. BOEE is a premier event designed to stimulate the senses and foster an atmosphere of profound learning. The four-day program of adventures, exercises, lectures and discussions fully utilizes Dubai’s inspirational surroundings to enable participants to fully grasp the Blue Ocean Strategy philosophy.

Are you, like Shake Rashid, ready to turn your brackish creek into a highway to the world? Are you ready to defy conventional wisdom and start creating Blue Oceans Strategy? Then we invite you to visit the Blue Ocean Executive Experience official website for more information and to express your interest in attending, or, simply get in touch with us here at Creating Blue Oceans Strategy via the email tab above.

Blue Ocean Strategy Defying Conventional Wisdom

Blue Ocean Strategy Defying Conventional Wisdom: We don’t have a word for that

Blue Ocean Strategy is all about challenging conventional wisdom – questioning taken-for-granted assumptions, and overstepping industry boundaries. It’s a frame of mind of continuously questioning and searching for a different angle and fresh perspective. You can draw inspiration from everyday life, and train your mind to have a discerning view of the world around you. Consider the following bit of comic insight as an example of challenging conventional wisdom.

We don’t have a word for that

We should give a lot of credit to our ancient ancestors for coming up with entire languages. This seems like a tremendous accomplishment. To produce just the right mix of verbs, nouns, and adjectives for effective communication must not have been easy. For example, what if a civilization was only good at formulating verbs, but couldn’t come up with any nouns or adjectives? How well could they communicate? Their language probably wouldn’t evolve very far, putting their society at a great disadvantage. One possible solution would have been to seek out other civilizations which had an overabundance of nouns or adjectives, but were low on verbs themselves. They could then have engaged in some mutually beneficial linguistic bartering.

Blue Ocean Strategy - Platform for Changing the World

Blue Ocean Strategy - Platform for Changing the World

We’ve been keeping track of the thought-provoking content at the WorldChanging website, and for those members of our Blue Ocean Strategy Community who are not already familiar, we thought to provide a quick intro.

The World Changing credo is “that plenty of people are working on tools for change, but the fields in which they work remain unconnected. That the motive, means and opportunity for profound positive change are already present. That another world is not just possible, it's here. We only need to put the pieces together.” The site’s curator, Alex Steffen and his environmentally-friendly colleagues routinely showcase new possibilities, ideas and innovations which have the potential to change the world. Here’s just one such example (via FastCompany).

The brainchild of Danish, Dutch, and Israeli designers, Lifestraw is a fat, blue 12-inch drinking straw lined with a system of four separate filters to zap particulates, bacteria, viruses, and parasites. At a cost of about $3.50, it purifies enough drinking water for one person for six months to a year, without electricity, moving parts, or the material waste or transport costs of plastic bottles. Since premiering last year, the Lifestraw has won design awards around the globe and now awaits its full-blown debut in developing countries, where one in six people lack access to clean drinking water.

We see several commonalities between WorldChanging’s mission and Blue Ocean Strategy thinking. They both question taken-for-granted assumptions and overstep accepted boundaries. They both defy conventional wisdom and advocate a frame of mind which continuously questions and searches for a different angle and fresh perspective. And, WorldChanging as well as Blue Ocean Strategy point to considerable opportunities in the budding space of social entrepreneurism.

Blue Ocean Strategy - One Minute Summaries: 1995 – Emotional Intelligence – Daniel Goleman

Blue Ocean Strategy - One Minute Summaries: 1995 – Emotional Intelligence – Daniel Goleman

Blue Ocean Strategy builds on and fuses together the collective wisdom of some of the greatest ideas, concepts and frameworks throughout history on the topic of business strategy, human motivation, and leadership. Every few days, we present to you a One Minute Summary of a single influential work in chronological order. After a work is featured, it will be posted to the 'One Minute Summaries' section, where you can reference the whole collection of concepts leading up to the present. And now we present our next installment in the OMS series:

One Minute Summaries: 1995 – Emotional Intelligence – Daniel Goleman

Effective leaders are alike in one crucial way: they all have a high degree of emotional intelligence. IQ and technical skills are the entry-level requirements for executive positions, however, it is emotional intelligence that makes the great leader.

The five components of emotional intelligence:

• Self-awareness – ability to recognize your emotions
• Self-regulation – ability to control impulses
• Motivation – passion to work beyond money or status
• Empathy – the ability to understand other’s emotions
• Social skill – proficiency in managing relationships

To what extent do you see this concept reflected in Blue Ocean Strategy and in what way? Voice your opinion, or submit your own One Minute Summary, by getting in touch with us via the email address in the upper left-hand corner.

China Engulfed in Blue Ocean Strategy

China Engulfed in Blue Ocean Strategy

“In the red oceans, industry boundaries are defined and accepted, and the competitive rules of the game are known. Here, companies try to outperform their rivals to grab a greater share of existing demand. As the market space gets crowded, prospects for profits and growth are reduced. Products become commodities, and cutthroat competition turns the red ocean bloody.” (Blue Ocean Strategy, p. 4-5)

Now translated in over 34 languages as well as becoming a global business buzz-word, Blue Ocean Strategy has spread its positive influence to China where it has succeeded in selling an astounding 500,000+ local copies.

In a recent interview (from Korea’s Digital Chosunilbo) in China, Blue Ocean Strategy co-author Professor Chan Kim commented:

Blue Ocean Strategy isn’t a ‘competition strategy’ but a ‘creative strategy.’ What is surprising is that successful innovators often didn’t benchmark their competitors. When management or leaders mention 'strategy', it often means 'competition strategy.’ It only focuses on how to beat one's competitors. What has changed history, however, was 'innovative strategy.' Look at former Singapore prime minister Lee Kuan Yew or India's Mahatma Gandhi and other respected leaders. They all adopted innovative strategies.

As a continuing example of just how powerful of a tool Blue Ocean Strategy is, the Chinese government has signaled that it is particularly interested in Blue Ocean Strategy to promote its national development.

Wow, the fastest growing and most populous economy adopting Blue Ocean Strategy on a national level! This is a serious wake-up call to organizations around the world who are not yet BOS practitioners. As Professor Kim notes “In the 21st century, the world will be led by a nation that has mastered Blue Ocean Strategy.”

Blue Ocean Strategy - Defying Conventional Wisdom: Enterprising Snail

Blue Ocean Strategy - Defying Conventional Wisdom: Enterprising Snail

Blue Ocean Strategy is all about challenging conventional wisdom – questioning taken-for-granted assumptions, and overstepping industry boundaries. It’s a frame of mind of continuously questioning and searching for a different angle and fresh perspective. You can draw inspiration from everyday life, and train your mind to have a discerning view of the world around you. Consider the following bit of comic insight as examples of challenging conventional wisdom.

Blue Ocean Strategy Enterprising snail

As snails grow they abandon their shells and seek bigger empty shells to move into. Going through the process repeatedly, could it ever occur to an enterprising snail that there is a real business opportunity in this? It could collect a selection of various size shells and lease them to fellow snails in exchange for food or protection, thereby creating a primitive barter system.

Kodak: out of the darkroom and into Blue Oceans Strategy

Kodak: out of the darkroom and into Blue Oceans Strategy

Kodak was once known as the premiere film and camera manufacturer. After all, they’re the ones who pioneered the art of ‘point-and-shoot.’ They’re the ones who made it possible to capture the image of that family vacation to Disney World, or that first White Christmas.

However, with the dawn of the digital area, Kodak was left trapped in its own darkroom, a victim of its own core business. And with digital cameras being introduced by ambitious new players, the market quickly reaching critical mass, and Kodak needed to find a new way forward.

A recent BusinessWeek article discusses Kodak’s current pursuit of Blue Oceans Strategy, as well as some of the hick-ups along the way. Realizing that competing head-to-head in the digital camera market led to shrinking profits and bloody Red Oceans, Kodak, led by Chief Executive Antonio M. Perez, came to the harsh realization that it’s core camera business was actually what was strangling the company.

Now, Perez is reinventing the Kodak business model: “He aims to make Kodak do for photos what Apple does for music: help people to organize and manage their personal libraries of images. He's developing a slew of new digital photo services for consumers that he expects to yield higher returns. “

Ditching the old business model, as well as the competition…Now that seems to ring a few bells. What other companies do you see making similar decisions to start their business anew, and to pursue Blue Oceans Strategy? Share your thoughts with us.