Hop aboard the ViaUp explorer. We’ve christened her ‘Opportunity‘. She’s fully equipped to help you navigate and explore Blue Ocean Strategy.
We’ve mapped a course to ensure you reach your destination. By the time we get there, you’ll understand what Blue Ocean Strategy is, how it differs from a Red Ocean approach, and how to navigate it to discover exciting new business opportunities.
Table of Contents
Content Summary
Beware the Red Ocean
The Blue Ocean Approach
A Game of Strategy
Set a course for 1908: The Ford Model T
Discover Your Own Blue Ocean
Setting Course on the Blue Ocean
Beating your competition is the only way to succeed in business. FALSE
Beware the Red Ocean
Blue Ocean Strategy shows us that there are two approaches a business can take: the Red Ocean Approach and the Blue Ocean Approach.
Most businesses focus on beating the competition in existing, well-defined industries. The boundaries are defined, and the competitive rules of the game are known. Some win and some fall behind; on and on it goes.
This cutthroat approach, which primarily focuses on decimating the competition within an existing industry and winning the greatest share of existing customers, leaves the waters crowded and bloody. Profits shrink, growth is reduced, and products become faceless commodities. The battleground becomes A Red Ocean.
The Blue Ocean Approach
In contrast, the Blue Ocean Strategy explores what exists beyond the Red Oceans.
The waters of a blue ocean are vast and waiting to be explored; with the potential for treasure troves of rapid and profitable growth once discovered!
Using Blue Ocean Strategy, you can create new, uncontested market space outside of the existing competition
A Game of Strategy
Think of using Blue Ocean Strategy as a total game-changer for the status-quo.
Red Ocean Strategy
- Compete in existing market space.
- Beat the competition.
- Exploit existing demand.
Blue Ocean Strategy
- Create uncontested market space.
- Make the competition irrelevant.
- Create and capture new demand.
Using Blue Ocean strategy, what another company does is irrelevant because you’re playing by your own rules, in completely different waters, on a separate game-board, where there is no competition.
The aim of the Blue Ocean Strategy is NOT to beat your competition but to create new demand; which will make the competition irrelevant.
But what does this strategy look like in action? Throughout history, there have been plenty of smart folks who have used Blue Ocean thinking successfully.
Luckily, the ViaUp explorer can also traverse the oceans of space and time. Let’s take a trip back to 1908 and learn about how Henry Ford revolutionized the auto industry over a century ago…
Set a course for 1908: The Ford Model T
The year is 1908 and cars are made mostly for the wealthy and limited in their use, with the U.S auto industry being composed of more than 500 car makers building custom automobiles.
But Henry Ford has other ideas and proclaims that he will build a motorcar that is affordable and cost-effective.
The Model T is truly the car of a great multitude, appealing beyond the existing industry of wealthy upper-class consumers.
Instead, it targets a new group of buyers; the great masses who use horse-drawn carriages as their means of transportation.
Henry Ford knows what he’s doing. He completely revolutionizes assembly-line production.
The Model T has one model, and comes in black… and only black; which makes it fast-drying and cost-effective.
It is durable, reliable, and travels effortlessly over dirt roads and in any weather condition.
Let’s take a look at how Henry Ford’s ingenuity aligns with the Blue Ocean Strategy.
- Create uncontested market space by building the world’s first mass-produced vehicle.
- Make the competition irrelevant by not producing expensive, custom-built cars for the wealthy.
- Create and capture new demand by targeting the great masses who used horse-drawn carriages as their means of transportation.
And that’s how Henry Ford brought the automobile to the great masses and created a whole new market by doing so.
Now let’s get back to your present Blue Ocean journey!
Discover Your Own Blue Ocean
The choice to pursue a blue ocean is to challenge the status quo. It is a decision to positively shape industry conditions in your favor. Under the Blue Ocean Strategy, hidden treasures can be found in unexplored markets but it requires conscious actions to do so.
Blue Ocean Strategy is a systematic approach to formulating and executing game-changing ideas; it takes creativity and a shift in perspective.
Now it’s time for you to start navigating your own Blue Ocean journey! But first, let’s make sure you understand the core concepts of the Blue Ocean Strategy.
Question: How did Henry Ford challenge the status quo of the automobile industry?
Answer: By building the world’s first mass-produced vehicle, Henry Ford was able to target the great masses who used horse-drawn carriages as their means of transportation; disrupting the status quo of the automobile industry.
Question: Which of the following are core concepts of the Blue Ocean Strategy?
Answer: The core concepts of the Blue Ocean Strategy are to create uncontested market space, make the competition irrelevant, and create and capture new demand.
Question: Which of the following are key ingredients to successfully implementing the Blue Ocean Strategy?
Answer: It takes conscious action, creativity, and a shift in perspective to discover untapped blue oceans of market opportunity.
You’ve completed the Navigating the Blue Ocean course. You should now:
- Understand the difference between Red and Blue Ocean strategies.
- Be able to list the key concepts of the Blue Ocean Strategy.
- Understand how Blue Ocean thinking works in a real-world example.
Setting Course on the Blue Ocean
You should now understand the difference between Red Ocean and Blue Ocean thinking. This gives you an understanding of the direction in which to point your ship. Don’t fret, though! There are important Blue Ocean tools that can help you chart your journey and stay on course!
For an intensive deep-dive into Blue Ocean concepts, methodologies, and access to Blue Ocean Studio, a creative workspace for developing game-changing ideas, head on over to Blue Ocean Academy, the official Blue Ocean learning provider!