Creating Blue Oceans Cirque Du Soleil Created By Guy Laliberte in 1984 Attained levels of revenue that took the Ringling Brothers and Barnum&Bailey more than 100 years to achieve Revamped the dying circus industry Industry with little room for growth Incorporated many different types of entertainment Very unattractive industry from a strategic standpoint

New Market Space Cirque Du Soleil’s Success Realized that to beat the competition they had to quit trying to beat the competition Blue Oceans Vs. Red Oceans Red Oceans Represent the industries in existence today Industry boundaries competitive rules of the game are known and accepted Companies try to outperform their rivals to attain a larger share of the market Blue Oceans Defined by untapped market space with room for very profitable growth Most are created within red oceans and then expanding boundaries Competition is irrelevant because rules are waiting to be set

Term Blue Oceans is new, but existence is not Look back 100 years and ask how many of todays industries were unknown then? Automobiles Aviation Music recording Many current multibillion dollar industries today did not exist just thirty years ago. Cell phones Coffee bars Snowboards This trend can be expected to continue, as industries are constantly evolving. 20 years from now what unknown industries will appear? A century old Standard Industrial Classification system published by US census was replaced in 1997 by North American Industry Classification Standard.

Red Ocean Principles Red Ocean Strategy was heavily influenced by Military Strategy Military strategy is about confronting an opponent and fighting over a given “piece of land” To focus on Red Ocean is constraining yourself to the “factors of war”, it is limited Unlike war, the history of the industry shows that the market universe has never been constant; blue oceans have been continuously created over time Red Ocean focus denies distinctive strength of the business world and denies your capacity to created new market space

Profit and Growth Consequences of Creating Blue Oceans

Rising Imperative of Creating Blue Oceans Accelerated technological advances Globalization Brands becoming increasingly similar

Accelerated Technological Advances Substantially improved industrial productivity In many industries, the result is that supply exceeds demand.

Globalization Information on products and prices becoming instantly and globally available. Niche markets and havens for monopoly continue to disappear. Supply is on the rise, but there is no evidence of an increase in demand worldwide.

Globalization Results The result has been accelerated commoditization of products and services, increasing price wars, and shrinking profit margins.

Recent Studies on American Brands Reveal that for major product and service categories, brands are generally becoming more similar. People selecting more based on Price Sales price becoming more important than brand recognition

From Company and Industry to Strategic Move How can a company break out of the red ocean of bloody competition? How can it create a blue ocean? Is there a systematic approach to achieve this and thereby sustain high performance?

What do companies have to do with creating blue oceans? Q: Are there lasting “excellent” or “visionary” companies that continuously outperform the market and repeatedly create blue oceans? A: In short, no. Example: Industry sector performance and success

Industry role in the development of blue oceans Companies do NOT need to compete head on in a given industry space Industries are constantly being created and expanded Ex. Cirque du Soleil and Under Armour

Strategic Move and its affect on blue ocean development Strategic move, NOT the company or industry is the correct unit of analysis for explaining blue oceans A set of managerial actions and decisions involved in making a major market-creating business offers. Ex. Hewlett-Packard acquiring Compaq

Strategic Moves Cont. The book analyzed 150 strategic moves in over 30 industries in 12 years. What they found? Industry and company had no distinction between organizations in the red/blue ocean. Myths: Public/Private companies play role in which ocean you live in High tech industries have better chance of creating blue oceans New companies can avoid red oceans Unattractive industries lead companies to live in the red oceans

Value Innovation: The Cornerstone of Blue Ocean Strategy The defining characteristic of the strategic move that separates successful BOS’s from unsuccessful ones. Creates value for the buyers in a manner that is innovative. Both qualities must be present for value innovation to occur. Value- Meets previously unmet needs for consumers Innovation- Creates utility and/or secures a strong price position Clashes with the traditional thinking that a business strategy must be a choice between differentiation and low-cost. Value innovation provides for both.

Value Innovation in Practice Cirque du Soleil- Their methodology Created value by combining the sophistication of theater with the fun and thrills of the circus. Provided consumers with a product that no one else in the world did. Innovated by doing away with traditional but cost-inefficient offerings typically given by the circus. They identified that it came down to the tent, the clowns, and the stunts. No animals Eliminated the three-ring presentation No star performers Under Armour & Kevin Plank Created value by offering a new kind of sports apparel with underutilized fabrics.

Contrasting Red and Blue Ocean Strategies Red Ocean Structuralist- Assumes that an industry’s structure cannot be altered and that companies are forced to compete within them. Also known as Environmental Determinism. Beat competition, exploit existing demand, choose between differentiation and low cost. Blue Ocean Reconstructuralist- Considers industry boundaries as things that can be torn down, expanded, and reconstructed. It’s within this created space that the Blue Ocean exists. Render competition irrelevant, create new demand, choose both differentiation and low cost

Book Outline Chapter 2: Analytic Tools and Frameworks Chapters 3-6: Formulation Principles Reconstruct Market Boundaries- Search Risk Focus on the big picture- Planning Risk Reach beyond existing demand- Scale Risk Get strategic sequencing right- Business Model Risk Chapters 7-8: Execution principles Overcome key organization hurdles- Organizational Risk Build execution into strategy- Management Risk Chapter 9: Sustainability and Renewal

Key Points Value Innovation- Form of strategic thinking that allows for successful Blue Ocean strategies. Value- tapping into latent demand (differentiation) Innovation- reconfiguring industry standard business processes to provide superior utility and cost positioning (cost) Red Ocean vs. Blue Ocean- Structuralism(Environmental Determinism) vs Reconstructionlism The notion of Blue Ocean strategy being a systematic and scientific process.