Blue Ocean Strategy

Blue Ocean Strategy talks about a new type of business strategy that doesn’t necessarily rely on gaining a competitive advantage over your rivals, but on innovating your way out of the current market to create your own ocean of opportunities.

The book brings forth two types of markets, namely the Red and Blue Oceans. The first type of market is the battlefield of businesses, the place where they practice their operational activities, look for new sources to gain their competitive advantage, and pull the rug from each other’s feet. 

This market is slightly nerve-wracking, as it implies allocating many resources to fight rivals, find new ground to conquer, and always watching over your shoulder to see if others are doing the same. This is where small, medium, and large enterprises fight their battles and try to win over consumers.

The Blue Ocean is an entirely new, untapped territory where not a lot of companies end up operating. Why? Because ending up in the Blue Ocean implies that executives of the said company spend time innovating and creating new products or services that cannot compete with what’s already on the market. 

In the Red Ocean, it is difficult to look for new sources of revenue and innovate. In the Blue Ocean, this is your primary focus. You take time off from the competition and focus solely on innovation. If you succeed, you’re likely going to win without even having to fight, and consumers will migrate towards the new trend set by you.

Every business will have to fight its battles in the Red Ocean, regardless of its industry. Competition is a natural part of every company’s environment and growth, but it’s up to its executives to come up with ways to tame it while focusing on innovation. In other words, you’ll need to swim in the Red Ocean till you reach the Blue one. One way to do this is by applying the canvas suggested by the authors. This canvas consists of four essential questions to ask yourself before you jump into the Blue Ocean: Which of the factors that the industry takes for granted should be eliminated? Which factors should be reduced well below industry standard? Which factors should you raise above industry standard? Which factors should be created that have never been offered? The first question tries to open up a space for companies to evaluate the services or products they offer that consumers don’t care about and that they should eliminate to grow margins and focus on innovation. For example, low-cost airlines eliminated airport lounges and offered more flights, which in turn grew their figures and increased their support from consumers who wanted more frequent flights instead of…