Wayne Pollard author of Minds before Market Share has written a nice article over at CMO Magazine about Blue Ocean Strategy: How to Create Uncontested Market Space and Make Competition Irrelevant. Wayne’s point being that authors W.Chan Kim and Renee Mauborgne left out the most important part of the strategy – which is marketing. Without an effective marketing strategy, and its execution, there can be no successful blue ocean strategy. I especially agree with Wayne’s closing thesis:
…when you begin to execute on a blue ocean opportunity, there is one thing you know for sure: Your competitors are coming. However, an effective marketing strategy helps you increase your market share and defend it from your competitors. Without a marketing strategy, sure, you will create a blue ocean, but while you’re out there, all by yourself in that open water, you won’t be the market leader; you’ll be chum.
We have blogged Blue Ocean Strategy several times: Here is a list of recent entries:
ALTERNATIVES TO BLUE OCEAN STRATEGY – OTHER BOOKS AND RESOURCES FOR COMPETITIVE MARKETERS
THE REALITY AND SUSTAINABILITY OF A BLUE OCEAN INITIATIVE
RED OR BLUE? WHAT COLOR IS YOUR MARKETING DEPARTMENT?
THE NEW YORK TIMES AND BLUE OCEAN STRATEGY
BLUE OCEAN: HOW TO CREATE UNCONTESTED MARKET SPACE AND MAKE THE COMPETITION IRRELEVANT
Download vSente’s Free Campaign Planner to learn more about how we help marketing managers battle larger competitors.
¥ The book titled “Blue Ocean Strategy” is not helpful to management – don’t buy it and if you already have it dump it
¥ Management can and should be visionary in formulating strategy. But, contrary to the approach of Ocean Strategy, should do so by thinking about market environment shifts, how these could impact customer sets, and whether those customer sets are the ones you wish to serve
¥ Also contrary to Ocean Strategy, production cost reduction is best seen as an operational or resource issue – a barrier to be overcome not an end in itself as a tool of strategy. Resources are easier to acquire than customers. Production methods should match volume to minimize costs
¥ In your strategizing do not take advice on strategy [or any other mission critical function] from management who are not qualified to give advice and do not treat strategy formulation as an exercise in management team compromise – contrary to the Ocean Strategy method
¥ This book should be at the bottom of the list for reading by strategy professionals for Ocean Strategy, Red or Blue, belongs in the Dead Sea!
¥ Harvard University professors should read it for they should wonder what they were thinking allowing Harvard University Press to publish it.
TRU prepared this review as a service to our clients after a client came to TRU with what they said was a Blue Ocean Strategy with no competitors. On researching the strategy TRU found the client had more than a dozen competitors and was far behind the curve on customer, product and market development. Blue
TRU Group Inc – Activating Your StrategicMindset
This book, Blue Ocean Strategy, is kinda like the authors’ Blue Ocean, isn’t it? I guess they are under a lot of pressure to come up with some new and clever way to look at the market.
The problem with the book is that it is over-hyped and actually deceptive. The primary examples given in the book were people who never set out to create a Blue Ocean.
They were all people just doing what they loved and had a passion for and they wound up in a Blue Ocean. They did not sit down and plan a Blue Ocean Strategy to get rich or dominate the market or whatever.
I wrote to Steve Wozniak about this and he confirmed it. They were doing what they loved.
So that is the key to success.