1. The Sustainability and Renewal of Blue Ocean Strategy

2. Barriers to Imitation
A value innovation move does not make sense based on conventional strategic logic.
Brand image conflict prevents companies from imitating a blue ocean strategy.
Natural monopoly blocks imitation when the size of the market cannot support another player.
Patents or legal permits block imitation.
The high volume generated by a value innovations leads to rapid cost advantages, placing potential imitators at an ongoing cost disadvantage.
Network externalities also block companies from easily and credibly imitating a blue ocean strategy.

3. Barriers to Imitation Continued
Because imitation often requires companies to make substantial changes to their existing business practices, politics often kick in, delaying for years a company’s commitment to imitate a blue ocean strategy.
When a company offers a leap in value, it rapidly earns brand buzz and a loyal following in the marketplace.

4. Barriers to Imitation Example
In the sportswear industry, the two main barriers of imitation are the brand and the economic barriers.
Due to large scale production, high cost on research and development and extremely large investment on innovation, the two giants Nike and Adidas had created economic barriers.
Because of the economies of scale, Nike was able to buy exponentially more cotton for T-shirts than, for example, Under Armour and negotiate lower prices.
To get past this, Under Armour was extremely innovative in the materials it used by creating various proprietary fabric blends, which differentiated them from the competition, and also avoided barriers in this industry.
Under Armour’s flagship stretchy base-layer shirt has largely replaced the normal cotton T-shirts previously worn by athletes. UA was able to get around the barriers of this industry, and use this early success and brand recognition to create other products to fully compete with both Adidas and Nike, but it took time and investment.

5. Renewal at the Individual Business Level
Monitor value curves on the strategy canvas level to avoid the trap of competing at the individual business level.
Main goal: to dominate the blue ocean over imitators for as long as possible.
Too much competition can turn a blue ocean red.
Chart company’s value curves on strategy canvases to see degree of imitation and points where blue oceans are turning red.
-value curve: “a tool for strategic managers to see visually how their strategy works in relation to close competitors. So to draw your own value curve you should brainstorm the factors of competition and list them along the horizontal axis.”

6. Renewal at the Individual Business Level Example
Nike was able to dominate the sports shoe market for a significant amount of time. However, as many companies such as Under Armour, Adidas, and New Balance entered the footwear industry, Nike struggled to keep their competitive edge.
Their initial reaction/renewal was to incorporate technology into their footwear, like NikeID. This step held them at an advantage for a time.
Eventually, like most sportswear the shoe market turned into a red ocean due to imitability.

7. Renewal at the Corporate Level for a Multibusiness Firm
A dynamic extension of the PMS map is needed for companies with a portfolio of diverse business offerings.
Executives responsible for corporate strategy should monitor and plan the renewal of their business portfolios from the corporate perspective.
Portfolios being different branches of the business
By plotting the different portfolios, a corporation can see where there is need for a new blue ocean, where the gravity of the current businesses is, and the shifts in gravity over time.

8. Renewal at the Corporate Level for a Multibusiness Firm
Just like the on the PMS map used for benchmarking, Settlers are the cash generators, Migrators are value improvements of settlers, and Pioneers are value innovations.
A company should have a healthy balance of all three
Executives need to ensure that as current pioneers become migrators, they are set to launch new blue oceans.

9. Renewal at the Corporate Level for a Multibusiness Firm
Corporations have to swim in both red and blue oceans in order to be successful
You need to be innovative but you have to remain competitive; meaning you you have to be innovative but if you are too far ahead of the market you won’t succeed.

10. Renewal at the Corporate Level for a Multibusiness Firm EXAMPLE