Blue Ocean Strategy

Today we are talking about Blue Ocean Strategy (Стратегия голубого океана).

Blue Ocean Strategy is a marketing theory from a book published in 2004 which was written by W. Chan Kim and Renée Mauborgne, professors at INSEAD.

Based on a study of 150 strategic moves spanning more than a hundred years and thirty industries, Kim and Mauborgne argue that companies can succeed by creating “blue oceans” (“голубой океан”) of uncontested market space, as opposed to “red oceans” (“алый океан”) where competitors fight for dominance, the analogy being that an ocean full of vicious competition turns red with blood. Some examples of companies that may have created new market spaces in the opinion of Kim and Mauborgne include: Cirque du Soleil: Blending of opera and ballet with circus format while eliminating star performer and animals; Southwest Airlines: offering flexibility of bus travel at the speed of air travel using secondary airports; Curves: redefining market boundaries between health clubs and home exercise programs for women; Dyson: Cyclonic Vacuum Cleaners.