MKT/421 - Marketing
Blue Ocean Strategy
Description of Blue Ocean strategy and its Importance
The Blue Ocean Strategy is derived from the book “Blue Ocean Strategy” by W. Chan Kim and Renee Mauborgne. The book is based on a study of 150 strategic moves made by companies in 30 industries over 100 plus years. Per the book, the term blue ocean means untouched market space that makes competition none existent in a known industry. The term describes how ideal conditions a business should work instead of working in the conditions known as the Red Ocean where many businesses are today. A red ocean is a dog eat dog world where companies are viciously fighting against one another for their share of the pie, and to be top dog in their specific marketplace ("Kim, W. C. & Mauborgne, R. (2014).
In today’s world of business, where companies are looking for ways to better equip themselves to be able to deal with their competition, one theory in the book suggests that companies would be better off competing against no one, and it encourages business to try and find a way to work in a marketplace where the waters are not bloodied by the competition, and find new waters that are free of competition, the “blue oceans”. In addition, the authors of the book argue success will not be possible for leading companies by battling competitors, but by creating “blue oceans” where there is no competition in the marketplace, allowing the company to simultaneously pursue differentiation and low, cost to grow and ripe the benefit of a competitive free market ("Kim, W. C. & Mauborgne, R. (2014).
The blue ocean strategy gives a company a systematic approach to making the competition irrelevant by outlining the principles and tools they can use to create and obtain their own blue oceans. The ultimate goal for a company is to drive the cost down but to increase the value for the consumer. The author argues that the milestone of blue ocean
References: Kim, W. C. & Mauborgne, R. (2014). Blue Ocean Strategy. Harvard Business Review, 82(10), 76-84. McGrath, M. (2014). Amazon and Hulu could slow Netflix growth in 2014, Morgan Stanley says. Retrieved from http://www.forbes.com/sites/maggiemcgrath/2014/01/07/amazon-and-hulu-could-slow-netflix-growth-in-2014-morgan-stanley-says/ What is Blue Ocean Strategy. (2010). Retrieved from http://bluestrategy.livejournal.com/