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Samir
Student (MBA), India
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Why is it Called 'Blue' Ocean Strategy?
I would like to know the meaning of 'blue' when we refer to Blue Ocean strategy. Why it is called blue and not yellow, purple or white?
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Jaap de Jonge
Editor, Netherlands
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Why 'Blue' Ocean Strategy? It's always nice to see someone questioning what seems obvious. Or as George Bernard Shaw said: 'The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man'.
I think the meaning of 'blue' in Blue Ocean strategy is firstly 'clear'. I associate blue water with clear water, with nothing in it... - no competitors.
Also we can approach the question by considering what a blue ocean is NOT. Blue water is not red, not bloody, like is the case when a shark is attacking preys.
Blue water is also not opaque, but clear, like a sharp, focused strategy. And not overcrowded, not packed with competitors.
But maybe someone remembers what Kim or Mauborgne themselves have said exactly about this?
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R.F.E. Peters, Netherlands
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Why Blue Ocean Strategy is Called 'Blue'... What Kim or Mauborgne exactly said or thought I don't know. But I'll try to clear this question for you.
Jaap was going in the correct direction. Follow the theory of the Blue Ocean strategy. Imagine that markets with many competitors are "red oceans" where the competitors fight each other as sharks for just that one tiny bit of space. The term "red" then refers to the "ocean" (market) colored red from the blood that flows from these "fights".
When a niche market is found (according to the strategic graph etc. from the theory of the Blue Ocean strategy) and the company who found it starts in this market, then it creates a blue ocean, as Kim and Mauborgne suggest. The term 'blue' here refers to a beautiful, clear and competitor-free ocean where no blood has flown.
Does this clear your question? Feel free to ask further:-).
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aissa Hireche
Professor, Saudi Arabia
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Why an Ocean is Blue... @Jaap de Jonge: Red ocean is called 'red' because of the red 'blood' of the competitors. This refers to battles and wars. Blue Ocean is called 'blue' because an ocean is usually blue, and because "blue" means calmness and serenity.
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Augustine Manyau, Zimbabwe
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The Blue in Blue Ocean Strategy De Jonge, Peters and Aissa have thoroughly explained the colour blue in Blue Ocean strategy. To add on, you can think of creating your own Blue Ocean by making anything that creates a utility that no one has been making before.
Even in your house there could be a tool that could help ease certain processes but no one has made it. You may then feel certain that a lot of people will like it. Then proceed and invent and create a new market (blue ocean) where there is no competition.
So blue means to think of increasing the cake rather than to try and grab the biggest piece of an existing pie.
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Samir
Student (MBA), India
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Meaning of 'blue' as I Feel it.... How about this: blue ocean is an analogy to describe the wider, deeper potential of market space that is not yet explored.
Blue oceans, denote all the industries not in existence today – the unknown market space, uncontested and untainted by competition.
In blue oceans, demand is created rather than fought over.
There is ample opportunity for growth that is both profitable and rapid. In blue oceans, competition is irrelevant, because the rules of the game still need to be set.
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Moses Omondi
Director, Kenya
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What Blue Ocean May Denote To add on to Aissa's view in terms of colour management, BLUE always denotes calmness, stability, certainity and assurance of sorts, whereas RED always denotes ''danger" creating the impression that you must run for dear life, you must fight it out, nothing will come easy, it may blow out on you anytime etc.
Red is therefore an indication of dangerous waters or business grounds to do business, while blue indicates a nice world where it's possible to do good business.
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aissa Hireche
Professor, Saudi Arabia
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What the Blue Color May Mean Also Effectively Blue Ocean strategy is a matter of finding undisputed markets and creating demand. This refers to the industries not yet in existence. But I think that the blue color doesn't mean this. The blue color refers to the freedom we obtain after breaking the rules and, exactly like the boat when it goes away, the firm becomes able to establish new marks for market.
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rafael angel calvo arguedas
Business Consultant
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Blue Ocean Strategy @Augustine Manyau: Analyzing your example a little more, your venture will begin as a "BOS" and in most cases it will migrate to a "ROS", that is if "the business" worked out to be successfull. Then many other firms will like to join in to take a piece of the cake, effectively changing your blue ocean into a competitive, bloody, red one over time.
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aissa Hireche
Professor, Saudi Arabia
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From a Blue to a Red Ocean Market @Rafael angel calvo arguedas: Exactly. For example if we look at the smart phone market we find that it was a new market or a blue ocean at the beginning and now it's a red ocean because there are many strong companies in this profitable sector.
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Anonymous
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Exact Meaning of a BLUE Ocean and BLUE Ocean Strategy The subtitle of their book "Blue Ocean Strategy" (2005) was: "How to Create Uncontested Market Space and Make the Competition Irrelevant".
So a blue ocean is basically uncontested market space.
On page 4, the authors (Kim and Mauborgne) write: "… imagine a market universe composed of two sorts of oceans: oceans and blue oceans. Red oceans represent all the industries in existence today. This is the known market space. Blue oceans denote all the industries not in existence today. This is the unknown market space."
We may conclude Kim and Maubourgne at the time meant with their metaphor of a blue ocean: "uncontested, unknown market space".
And blue ocean strategy is then "the creation of uncontested, unknown market space making the competition irrelevant".
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Tita Beal
Consultant
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Example from the Book I remember the writers focused on ways of seeing the whole ocean of possibilities not getting stuck in one wave… strategies for moving beyond an either/or choice or dispute to a higher vision.
One example was the way Israel's Begin and Egypt's Sadat moved through their conflicts when Sadat visited Israel in 1977, paving the way for their Camp David agreement that earned them both the Noble: despite their nations' war and continued vicious fight over Palestinians, they looked for a way to start with shared values and move their real conflicts to a higher level: what did they want for their grandchildren - continuous killings or life?
By seeing the blue ocean not the crashing waves, they could start talking and seeking ways to move forward.
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Craig Rhinehart
Entrepreneur, United States
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Underlying Premise Great discussion but don't lose sight of main premise (2 parts) and actions to be taken that enable a BOS... and make this concept so useful. You need to have offerings that are valuable, needed and d...
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Isaiah Maisiba
Manager, Kenya
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Blue in the Blue Ocean Strategy Blue as colour has positive connotations including royalty and nobleness. And when you contrast it with Red ocean strategy you get the context of no bloody competitions because of the novelty of the m...
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Maurice Hogarth
Consultant, United Kingdom
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Meaning of Clear Blue Water Historically the term "clear blue water" (mainly used in the UK) originated in the USA and was originally a term from competitive rowing (first cited in the 23rd July 1870 edition of The Boston Advert...
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David Stehlik
Professor, United States
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Peace, Hope, and Spacing Since Kim and Mauborgne were writing in the space of "competitive strategy," it makes sense. Moreover, with so much of strategy being warfare history, violence as imagery also makes sense. And, avoidi...
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Gregory Johnson
Coach, United States
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Blue or Red Strategies and Paths of Presence The BO Strategy is an interesting and very current nemesis of society today. It is present in business, politics, religion and nearly every divisive discipline throughout society. This conversation pr...
6-5-2024
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