Blue Ocean Strategy
by W. Chan Kim
The only way to beat the competition is to stop trying to beat the competition.
Why read it
Most companies fight bloody battles for share in crowded markets, driving down profits for everyone. What if, instead, you could create an uncontested new market where the competition becomes irrelevant?
Blue Ocean Strategy argues that lasting success comes not from beating rivals in existing markets, red oceans, but from creating new market space, blue oceans, where there is no competition yet. Kim and Mauborgne offer analytical tools to break the trade-off between low cost and differentiation. It reframes strategy as an act of market creation rather than competition.
W. Chan Kim and Renee Mauborgne, professors at INSEAD, published Blue Ocean Strategy in 2005, based on a study of over 150 strategic moves across more than a century and thirty industries. It became a global bestseller translated into dozens of languages. They followed it with an expanded edition and a sequel, Blue Ocean Shift.
- 01
Red versus blue oceans
Stop fighting in saturated markets and instead create uncontested new market space.
- 02
Value innovation
Break the assumed trade-off between low cost and differentiation by pursuing both at once.
- 03
The Four Actions Framework
Systematically eliminate, reduce, raise, and create factors to reshape an industry's value curve.
- 04
The Strategy Canvas
A visual tool reveals where you compete and where you can break away from rivals.
The case of Cirque du Soleil, which stopped competing with traditional circuses and created a new market blending circus and theater for adults.
The example of Yellow Tail wine, which won new drinkers by stripping away wine's intimidating complexity and creating an approachable, fun product.
