Blue Ocean Strategy
by W. Chan Kim and Renee Mauborgne
The case for creating uncontested market space rather than competing in bloody red oceans, with tools: the strategy canvas, the four actions framework (eliminate, reduce, raise, create), and cases from Cirque du Soleil to Yellow Tail. It is clear and genuinely useful for product strategy, though the examples are chosen in hindsight.
Read it if…
you are building a product and want a structured way to differentiate.
Skip it if…
you are not making strategy decisions; it is a business tool.
Three things you will actually use
- Compete on different factors, not better ones.
- Eliminate and reduce before you add.
- Look at non-customers for the next market.
Do this first
Draw a strategy canvas for your market and ask what you could eliminate that everyone else assumes.
Our verdict
Clear tools for differentiation.
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