Is blue ocean strategy new?

Is blue ocean strategy new?

Although the term blue oceans is new, their existence is not. They are a feature of business life, past and present. Look back one hundred years and ask yourself, How many of today’s industries were then unknown? The answer: Many industries as basic as automobiles, music recording, aviation, petrochemicals, health care, and management consulting were unheard of or had just begun to emerge at the time. Now turn the clock back only thirty years. Again, a plethora of multibillion-dollar industries jumps out – mutual funds, cell phones, gas-fired electricity plants, biotechnology, discount retail, express delivery, minivans, snowboards, coffee bars, and home videos to name a few. Just three decades ago, none of these industries existed in a meaningful way.

Now put the clock forward twenty years – or perhaps fifty years – and ask yourself how many now unknown industries will likely exist then. If history is any predictor of the future, the answer is many of them. Again, blue oceans have and always will exist. The reality is that industries never stand still. They continuously evolve. Operations improve, markets expand, and players come and go. Yet, as history teaches us we have a hugely underestimated capacity to create new industries and re-create existing ones. This book not only articulates the existence and importance of blue oceans. Equally, if not more importantly, it provides analytical frameworks and tools that allow companies to create and capture blue oceans in an opportunity maximizing, risk minimizing way.