Blue Ocean Strategy
www.hbr.org
Competing in overcrowded industries is no way to sustain high performance. The real opportunity is to create blue oceans of uncontested market space.
Blue Ocean Strategy by W. Chan Kim and Renée Mauborgne
Included with this full-text Harvard Business Review article: 70 Article Summary The Idea in Brief—the core idea The Idea in Practice—putting the idea to work 71 Blue Ocean Strategy 80 Further Reading A list of related materials, with annotations to guide further exploration of the article’s ideas and applications
Reprint R0410D
Blue Ocean Strategy
The Idea in Brief
The best way to drive profitable growth? Stop competing in overcrowded industries. In those red oceans, companies try to outperform rivals to grab bigger slices of existing demand. As the space gets increasingly crowded, profit and growth prospects shrink. Products become commoditized. Ever-more-intense competition turns the water bloody. How to avoid the fray? Kim and Mauborgne recommend creating blue oceans— uncontested market spaces where the competition is irrelevant. In blue oceans, you invent and capture new demand, and you offer customers a leap in value while also streamlining your costs. Results? Handsome profits, speedy growth—and brand equity that lasts for decades while rivals scramble to catch up. Consider Cirque du Soleil—which invented a new industry that combined elements from traditional circus with elements drawn from sophisticated theater. In just 20 years, Cirque raked in revenues that Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey—the world’s leading circus—needed more than a century to attain.
The Idea in Practice
How to begin creating blue oceans? Kim and Mauborgne offer these suggestions: UNDERSTAND THE LOGIC BEHIND BLUE OCEAN STRATEGY The logic behind blue ocean strategy is counterintuitive: • It’s not about technology innovation. Blue oceans seldom result from technological innovation. Often, the underlying technology already exists—and blue ocean
Competing in overcrowded industries is no way to sustain high performance. The real opportunity is to create blue oceans of uncontested market space.
Blue Ocean Strategy by W. Chan Kim and Renée Mauborgne
Included with this full-text Harvard Business Review article: 70 Article Summary The Idea in Brief—the core idea The Idea in Practice—putting the idea to work 71 Blue Ocean Strategy 80 Further Reading A list of related materials, with annotations to guide further exploration of the article’s ideas and applications
Reprint R0410D
Blue Ocean Strategy
The Idea in Brief
The best way to drive profitable growth? Stop competing in overcrowded industries. In those red oceans, companies try to outperform rivals to grab bigger slices of existing demand. As the space gets increasingly crowded, profit and growth prospects shrink. Products become commoditized. Ever-more-intense competition turns the water bloody. How to avoid the fray? Kim and Mauborgne recommend creating blue oceans— uncontested market spaces where the competition is irrelevant. In blue oceans, you invent and capture new demand, and you offer customers a leap in value while also streamlining your costs. Results? Handsome profits, speedy growth—and brand equity that lasts for decades while rivals scramble to catch up. Consider Cirque du Soleil—which invented a new industry that combined elements from traditional circus with elements drawn from sophisticated theater. In just 20 years, Cirque raked in revenues that Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey—the world’s leading circus—needed more than a century to attain.
The Idea in Practice
How to begin creating blue oceans? Kim and Mauborgne offer these suggestions: UNDERSTAND THE LOGIC BEHIND BLUE OCEAN STRATEGY The logic behind blue ocean strategy is counterintuitive: • It’s not about technology innovation. Blue oceans seldom result from technological innovation. Often, the underlying technology already exists—and blue ocean