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Book Review: Blue Ocean Strategy

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Blue Ocean StrategyIt’s been a while since the last review I posted and I must admit that the pace at which I’m going through The Personal MBA reading list is not as brisk as I would like. The good news, though, is that I just finished reading Blue Ocean Strategy by W. Chan Kim and Renée Mauborgne.
The book has quickly garnered a laundry list of awards and is endorsed by one of my business-world idols, Carlos Ghosn. My curiosity was piqued so I hopped over to Amazon and ordered it.

The book promises to teach the reader “how to create uncontested market space and make the competition irrelevant”. That’s a pretty bold promise. So, does the book deliver? I think so. Or about as well as a book can.

So “What’s this ‘Blue Ocean’ thing??”, you might ask. Well, to define what a Blue Ocean is, it’s easier to first define what it’s counterpart, the “Red Ocean”, is.

Red Oceans represent all the industries in existence today or, in other words, the known market space. The boundaries in such industries are well-defined and the competitive rules of the game are known. Companies in Red Ocean industries try to outperform their rivals to snag a greater share of existing demand. Because of such factors as accelerating advances in technology, trend towards globalization, and stagnant worldwide demand, industries have witnessed accelerated commoditization of products and services. This commoditization means that buyers increasingly select based on price which leads to price wars which leads to shrinking profit margins. Every industry is or will eventually become a Red Ocean and companies regularly employ traditional competitive-stategy techniques to survive in bloody Red Ocean environments.

However, for a company to sustain high performance, it must look beyond it’s current environments and grab new profit and growth opportunities. This is precisely what a Blue Ocean offers. Blue Oceans represent all the industries that don’t exist today or, in other words, the unknown market space. (If you raised the BS flag after reading that sentence, think about this: Many multi-billion dollar industries of today did not even exist 30 years ago e.g. bio-tech, personal computers, mutual funds, cell phones, express package delivery, coffee bars, and the list goes on… )

The underlying process of creating a Blue Ocean is something the authors call value innovation. Instead of focusing on beating the competition, focus on making the competition irrelevant by creating a leap in value for buyers. Value innovation is contradictory to the commonly accepted competition-based strategy concept of a “value-cost trade-off” which says that there must be a compromise between product differentiation (added value) and low cost. Blue Oceans achieve differentiation and low cost simultaneously.

The authors cover the basic analytical frameworks of the Blue Ocean strategy: the strategy canvas (the value curve), the four actions framework, and the eliminate-reduce-raise-create grid. In later chapters, the authors go into further detail about the formulation and execution principles (there are 6 in total) of the strategy.

One thing I really liked about the book was that the authorss unit of analysis is a single strategic move of a company, not the entire company or industry. In the first chapter, the authors find fault in books such as In Search of Excellence and Built to Last which had put several companies on a pedestal as “model” firms, yet, today, many of these firms are far from being industry leaders. The authors reasoned that if the same company can be brilliant and lame at different points in its history, then it doesn’t make sense to make the company the unit of analysis for studying strategy.

Another aspect of the book that I really liked was the extensive use of case studies. They helped to solidify the concepts being explained as well as making the text more enjoyable to read.

Overall, I would highly recommend this book. This shouldn’t be the only book you read about competitive strategy, but I think it should be on your reading list if you want a more complete perspective of the subject. At the very least, find a copy of the book and read the first section as it does a nice job of covering the key points of the strategy.

Note: As I did before, I made fairly detailed notes while reading the book. If you would like a copy of the notes, shoot me an e-mail and I’ll be happy to send you a copy.

Written by Rishi

July 11th, 2006 at 4:03 am

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60 Responses to 'Book Review: Blue Ocean Strategy'

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  1. I looked over the Personal MBA reading list. I’ve only read three of them, Blue Ocean Strategy, The Art of the Start, and Influence. I found all three to be pretty informative.
    Good book review though. If you’ve read more from that list I would be interested to hear your thoughts.
    I’ve decided to link to you as well. I’m a 21 year old college student and I just started a blog focused on my entrepreneurial venture and my thoughts on other business related issues. I’d really appreciate it if you checked it out and considered linking to me as well.

    http://runcothinksbig.blogspot.com/

    Thanks

    Greg

    19 Jul 06 at 2:20 am

  2. Hi,

    Kindly send me your notes on Blue ocean strategy

    Mohammed Hersi

    20 Jul 06 at 1:43 am

  3. Hi,

    I’d appreciate a copy of your notes. :) Thanks thanks

    dar

    24 Jul 06 at 3:49 pm

  4. Hi,

    I’d really appreciate to be able to read your notes when you’ll finished the book!
    Thanks

    Typhaine

    1 Aug 06 at 7:21 am

  5. I love your book review, currently I have project to construct Blue Ocean Strategy based on my work area. Your details note might be and idea for me to get one step closer to the project.

    Please kindly send me copy of your details note.

    Best regards,

    Monthai L.

    Monthai

    14 Aug 06 at 7:44 pm

  6. Hi
    Great review of the book Blue Ocean Strategy. I would be grateful if you could send me your notes on the book. Thank you.

    Axl

    10 Sep 06 at 7:20 am

  7. Hi

    I’d appreciate of copy of your note on the blue ocean strategy!!
    Thanks lots

    Hendrik

    14 Sep 06 at 3:58 am

  8. Hi

    Nice review of the book, i was thinking put in practice all the knowledge in my new project, i’d appreciate a copy of your notes thanx a lot.

    Gus

    17 Sep 06 at 2:47 pm

  9. Thanks for the review,

    Appreciate very much if you can send me a copy of the notes made.
    Thanks

    ANJU

    18 Sep 06 at 11:08 pm

  10. I’m interested to read your notes on this book.
    Thanks

    kristy ruiz

    19 Sep 06 at 9:27 pm

  11. Hi,

    I just started reading the book and I am planning to take up some project work on it as well. Your notes will be highly useful. Can you please send it across to me please.

    Thanks and Regards
    Sundar

    Meenakshi Sundaram

    29 Sep 06 at 4:26 am

  12. Thanks for the review and would appreciate a copy of your notes.

    Rob

    20 Oct 06 at 1:49 am

  13. Hey, great review, please send me a copy of your notes.

    Chris Hill

    16 Nov 06 at 1:57 am

  14. Thanks for the good review and I would appreciate a copy of your notes on the blue ocean strategy.

    Nina

    29 Nov 06 at 4:39 am

  15. Thanks for the review and would appreciate a copy of your notes.

    Sandy

    11 Dec 06 at 8:52 pm

  16. Great review!

    I’ll be glad if you send me a copy of your notes asap.

    Doruk

    15 Dec 06 at 7:08 am

  17. Pls send me a copy of your detailed notes…. Btw, you did great work in here… thanks

    Rahman

    5 Feb 07 at 1:42 am

  18. I enjoyed your review. If you could send me your notes, I would really appreciate it.

    Thanks,

    Ed

    21 Feb 07 at 12:26 pm

  19. Dear Mr.Rishi,

    I read a lot of comments about the Blue Ocean Strategy on the net. Each with different views ..bad and good. The way i see it , it is all about opportunities and you have to be an opportunist. Anyway, i really couldn’t make up which is right or wrong.

    I would be very grateful if you could kindly send me a copy of your detailed review on blue ocean strategy book.

    Regards,

    MUNIRA

    Ms. Munira

    8 Mar 07 at 4:49 am

  20. Good Day,

    May I read your notes please !

    Thank you

    Elie Ghosn

    12 Mar 07 at 12:56 pm

  21. Please mail me the notes – Blue Occean Strategy

    Krishnan K

    1 Apr 07 at 10:15 pm

  22. Your review of book is critical and succinct. Your review reminded of marketing professor lecture in which she stated that
    “The future is not ahead of us. It has already happened. Unfortunately, it is unequally distributed among companies, industries and nations.”
    I will read this book. I greatly appreciate your notes as well.

    Thanks,
    Ramu

    Ramu Adusumilli

    28 Apr 07 at 1:58 pm

  23. Great review.Pls. send me the notes.
    thks

    ASHISH

    7 Jun 07 at 1:22 am

  24. Hi,

    Great review, and I agree in the main points.

    PLZ also send me the detailed notes.

    Thks

    Philip

    17 Jul 07 at 11:24 am

  25. Please send me a copy of your notes on Blue Ocean Strategy. Thanks.

    JG

    23 Jul 07 at 2:55 pm

  26. Hi Rishi,

    Great review. I’m a fan of Jim Collins, would love to have your notes to further my read.

    Thanks!

    Jasmin

    1 Aug 07 at 7:27 pm

  27. hey rishi

    Loved the review!Would really appreciate a copy of your notes asap!

    Thanks

    Malvika Jamwal

    2 Aug 07 at 2:21 am

  28. Nice review, very objective. I would like a copy of your notes, if you would be so kind.

    thank you again;

    Bob Richards

    Robert Richards

    4 Aug 07 at 1:24 pm

  29. Please send me a copy of your notes

    terry krstinich

    13 Aug 07 at 2:36 pm

  30. Hi Rishi, Could you please send me a copy of your notes on the Blue Ocean Strategy book? Thanks in advance. I enjoyed your review above.

    Carolina Zingg

    10 Sep 07 at 8:32 pm

  31. Hi Rishi,

    I have just finished reading the book. Your review is an interesting one. Could you send me a copy of your note? I’ll really appreciate it.

    Thanks in advance.

    Vinh

    15 Sep 07 at 7:37 am

  32. hi, i also reading the book, mind send me your notes? it will be useful to me..thanks

    lwl

    18 Sep 07 at 10:38 pm

  33. Hi Rishi,

    Great review of an interesting book. Could you please send me a copy of your notes as well? Thanks in advance.

    Karina

    20 Sep 07 at 10:53 am

  34. Hi Rishi and thanks for your review. I too, would really love a copy of your notes. Thanks in advance.

    Debbie

    25 Sep 07 at 5:22 am

  35. While exploring new avenues to an age old industry I would appreciate your notes to the book since I found that the stategies of this book to be outside the box.

    Bob

    9 Oct 07 at 7:35 am

  36. Great review. I’d really appreciate a copy of your notes. Thanks a lot.

    Beamer

    22 Oct 07 at 6:47 am

  37. hey rishi

    i’d also appreciate your notes on BOS. thanks!

    Earl

    26 Oct 07 at 5:20 am

  38. Hey Rishi,

    I’d like to get a copy of your notes as well! Thanks! :)

    Kim

    26 Oct 07 at 5:29 am

  39. I haven’t read the book yet but, I am interested in it and I am considering buying it. However, it appears that it is only a collection of success stories analyzed by (although not the result of) these alleged “new” principles.

    It seems that the real success has been to enable the sales of workshops for middle managers – but, that is hardly a “Blue Ocean”.

    I would be very interested in reading your notes before spending my hard earned cash .

    Alan

    8 Nov 07 at 1:12 pm

  40. Please send me a copy of your notes on Blue Ocean Strategy. Thanks

    Chen, Tse-Pin

    25 Nov 07 at 7:05 pm

  41. Can u pls send me a copy of the notes.

    Alok

    31 Jan 08 at 7:23 am

  42. Hi Rishi ,
    Can you share your thoughts(notes) about the blue ocean book
    Thanking in anticipation
    Garry

    garry

    1 Feb 08 at 8:21 pm

  43. Hi Rishi
    Can you please share your thoughts on Blue ocean Strategy
    Garry

    garry

    7 Feb 08 at 9:53 pm

  44. great job, keep up the good work. Please send me your notes too!

    Thanks

    e tee

    21 Feb 08 at 12:33 pm

  45. Hi,
    I will really appreciate a copy from your notes.
    Regards,
    Mina

    MINA

    16 Mar 08 at 9:38 pm

  46. Hello, I would love to have a copy of your notes on “Blue Ocean Strategy”. Thank you so much,
    Kim Tollett – Carl Albert State College

    Kim Tollett

    29 Apr 08 at 11:41 am

  47. Hey Rishi!!
    Thanks for your review.Please send me a copy of your notes on Blue Ocean Strategy. Thanks.

    Paridhi Sharma

    27 Jan 09 at 10:43 pm

  48. Hi Rishi,
    It so enlightening. Wondering if you still have the notes on this Blue Ocean Strategy? Send me a copy can or not? (in Singlish)

    Muji

    11 Feb 09 at 9:40 pm

  49. hi Rishi

    Please send me the copies of your notes

    thanks

    Royston

    5 Mar 09 at 9:06 pm

  50. hi Rishi,

    I would like to have copies of your notes on blu ocean strategy. I request you to send me the same.

    Ashwin

    13 Mar 09 at 10:22 pm

  51. Rishi –

    Great review of Blue Ocean Strategy – far more actionable and detailed than the typical “I didn’t actually read the book but here are some hyperbolic generic statements” reviews we usually see online. Please send me a copy of your notes!

    Cheers

    Peter

    18 Mar 09 at 4:06 pm

  52. Hi,

    Thanks for the review. appreciate if you could send me a copy of your notes.

    KK

    3 Apr 09 at 11:54 pm

  53. I enjoyed your article and would appreciate a copy of your notes. Thank you.

    Denise

    27 Apr 09 at 6:50 pm

  54. Good day Sir,
    I will like to have copy of your notes on this book as i have it and would love to see your notes and understand it more deeply as it helps me in planning and organizing my strategic planning and market advantage as it affects we developing country.

    regards
    Jimmy Osauwagboe
    Business Development Officer

    Jimmy Osauwagboe

    23 Jun 09 at 7:39 am

  55. hey nice work..i ve a presentation on this book nxt week..can u plz send me the detail notes..

    thanks

    Gaurav Patel

    3 Sep 09 at 1:05 am

  56. pls send me a copy of your notes. the book is quite very good and informative

    adewumi faniyan

    3 Sep 09 at 9:42 am

  57. Hey, I agree on your overall review of the book. I am currently preparing for a test on the book, so I would appreciate a copy of your notes to get different perspectives.

    Thanks

    Anders Damm

    28 Sep 09 at 2:17 pm

  58. Dear Sir,
    I am currently studying MBA course and I just finished reading the Blue Ocean Strategy and find it interesting and effective. I would appreciate if you could send me a copy of your notes to get a deeper insight about this books
    Regards

    Ngoc Mai

    11 Oct 09 at 8:53 am

  59. pls send me a copy of your notes. this book is very good & ur note will also be helpful for me..

    nur

    26 Oct 09 at 9:36 pm

  60. Would appreciate if you email me a copy of your notes.

    Ali Sanaei

    11 Jan 10 at 10:32 am

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