Summary of blue ocean strategy
According to the website Blue Ocean Strategy, the book is based on a study of 150 strategic moves spanning more than 100 years and 30 industries. In the book, the authors argue that leading companies will succeed not by battling competitors, but by systematically creating "blue oceans" of uncontested market space ripe for growth. The strategy represents the simultaneous pursuit of high product differentiation and low cost, thereby making competition irrelevant.
To support their theory, Kim and Mauborgne invite readers to consider the business climate of 20 years ago, and the numerous new business opportunities that have arisen since then.
"How many industries that are unknown today will exist [in the future]?" Kim and Mauborgne wrote in the Harvard Business Review. "If history is any predictor ... the answer is many. Companies have a huge capacity to create new industries and re-create existing ones, a fact that is reflected in the deep changes that have been necessary in the way industries are classified."
The authors say that blue ocean strategy is successful because it simultaneously attracts large numbers of customers while raising the cost of competition