Blue Ocean Strategy

I just finished reading Blue Ocean Strategy by W. Chan Kim and Renee Mauborgne. The book is an excellent read for aspiring entrepreneurs or managers looking to create differentiation in an existing marketplace that may appear to be saturated or already "well known" (called a "red ocean"). Creating "blue oceans" requires companies to think beyond their existing customers and locate non-customers, a process that may sounds impossible or incredibly difficult without the appropriate analytical tools.

Perhaps the greatest takeaway from Blue Ocean Strategy is the strategy canvas introduced in the beginning of the book. A strategy canvas, though a bit ubiquitous, is excellent for visually and analytically determining how a company can locate new pools of customers or look beyond the competition for alternatives. My favorite example in the book discusses how Callaway Golf used the Big Bertha golf club to bring in country club guests who did not regularly play golf and claimed they found it difficult to hit the ball. Callaway was able to ascertain a new market opportunity for these non-customers by introducing a driver that had a bigger head, making it easier to hit the ball. Using a strategy canvas, they were able to see that Callaway competitors did not have a product that targeted such a demographic, thus simultaneously creating alternatives in the segment.

Below is a sample strategy canvas I found on the web for Yellow Tail wine. Check it out; you can see how new opportunities can be engineered when companies "go against the grain".

See also: The Strategy Canvas @ blueoceanstrategy.com