In their 2004 article, “Blue Ocean Strategy”, W. Chan Kim and Reneé Mauborgne explain a new strategy they developed named “Blue Ocean”, meant as a metaphor from moving away from “red oceans” – traditional, current market competition – onto new, uncontested markets. In brief, a blue ocean strategy, as defined by Kim and Mauborgne, generates an environment where a company creates new products or services, sets the pace, and profits from the lack of traditional competition.(5) The authors are quick to point out “blue oceans were seldom the result of technological innovation per se; the underlying technology was often already in existence.” (5) Another key point Kim and Mauborgne make is that creating blue oceans build brands that can last decades. …show more content…
IT has provided the tools that have enabled companies to simplify their processes, and when done right, allowing them to greatly improve customer experience, which is part of what should lead to profitability. But, as the tools become more accessible and affordable, small businesses and start-ups are able to compete with bigger, established corporations. This, in my opinion, leads to too many players in the field. So companies, big and small, have to find ways to differentiate themselves from the competition. This is where the challenge of innovation comes in. As companies research and develop their products and services, the innovations that arise from that will either be sustaining or disruptive. When a disruptive innovation comes along, it creates a new market, and although profits will most likely be low in the beginning, once it’s adopted by the mainstream, it will overtake the existing market. In the same manner, established (old) business models can be infused with new life, even becoming disruptive, with the application of new innovative technologies. Uber is a perfect example of how a company applied the innovations in information technology to create a disruptive strategy that is redefining an old business model. Apple has become the model company for how to successfully employ disruption in a business strategy in the long-term. Not only did Apple disrupt the music industry with iTunes and the iPod, but they self-disrupted with the iPhone, and how its sales have overtaken the
Christiansen defines a disruptive innovation as a process by which a product or service takes root initially in simple applications at the bottom of a market and then relentlessly moves up market. An example of a disruptive innovation would be community colleges. Community Colleges offer students the opportunity to earn college credits while saving money on tuition compared to rates at a four-year institution. Christiansen argues that Uber is not a disruptive innovation by definition for a couple of reasons. The first is that Uber did not appeal to low-end markets initially like typical disruptor
Arthur, A., Thompson, Margaret, A., Peteraf, John, E. Gamble, A., J., Strickland III. (2014). Crafting & Executing Strategy: The Quest for Competitive Advantage 19e: Concepts & Cases. C6-C25.
Blue Ocean Strategy is based on 150 strategic moves spanning more than 100 years that have been studied in over 30 industries. The authors’ objective was to compare successful companies to their less successful competitors to analyse for a trend and common strategy. The result was the blue ocean strategy, which emphasises creating uncontested markets. The book is divided into three parts. The first part of the book explains the “cornerstone” of Blue Ocean Strategy which is value innovation. Kim and Mauborgne say “[w]e call it value innovation because instead of focusing on beating the competition, you focus on making the competition irrelevant by creating a leap in value for buyers and your company, thereby opening up new and uncontested market space” (Kim and Mauborgne, 2005, 1...
Netflix is a classic example of ‘Disruptive Innovation’ as it illustrates how a technological vision transformed the industry (Halal 2012). As characterised by Christensen (2008), disruptive innovation disrupts the trajectory by initially providing an inferior performance to existing product and serving a market segment that was not or could not be attended before. The uprising of Netflix disrupted and exerted tremendous pressure on Blockbuster Inc. which eventually filed for bankruptcy (Zalewski 2013). Netflix primarily falls under Radical Change in the Trajectories of Industry changes since core assets and core activities of the business are constantly under challenge (McGahan 2004).
“Today we’re seeing industries competing with industries, different arenas where competition manifests itself. Strategy, entrepreneurship, and innovation are all bleeding into each other” (cited in Crainer and Dearlove, 2014, chapter 1, last para.).
Thompson, A.A., Strickland, A.J., & Gamble, J. E. (2010). Crafting and executing strategy: The quest for competitive advantage: Concepts and cases: 2009 custom edition (17th ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill-Irwin
Companies are constantly reinventing themselves in the name of profit. There are a number of different strategies companies implore to create success. Whether it is the expansion into international markets, new technologies, or sustainability the goal is to create a strategy that allows the business to successfully compete. There are numerous strategies capable of generating abnormal profits or can take a company into bankruptcy. The spectrum holds no magic formula as a variety of resources and capabilities are necessary to successfully compete. What works or is frowned upon in one market can become a cash cow in another. The constant is embracing strategic management and business
A key part of an organizational strategy is to identify market opportunities by finding a niche or a gap in the marketplace that they can pursue to take their company ahead of all their competitors. An organiz...
Porter, M. E. (2008). The five competitive forces that shape strategy. Harvard business review, 25-40.
Oceans are such so vast that people underestimate the impact their actions —seeming so insignificant— have on them. Humans have by and large taken the oceans for granted; not considering how important a healthy ocean is to our survival. A popular mind-set is that the oceans are a bottomless supply of fish, natural resources, and an infinite waste dump. There are myriad reasons why the oceans should be saved and the most obvious one is marine life. With 71% of the Earth being covered by water, it is obvious that sea creatures are predominant form of life, making up 80% of the species of life on Earth. However, as important as marine life is, that is not the only reason why saving the oceans is crucial. The ocean floor provides natural resources such as, oil, natural gas, petroleum, minerals, medications, and ingredients for foods and products. The economic benefits of the oceans are huge and significant, as well. Fishing and fish products have provided employment to 38 million people and have generated about $124 billion in economic benefits. However, oceans are on the verge of crisis, marine life, natural resources, transportation, the economy, and important ingredients are at risk due to overfishing, pollution, and acidification. Thus, in this essay I will argue that, oceans are not impervious to human activity and threatening the health of the ocean threatens the health of humanity, since oceans key to our survival.
Information technology is infiltrating all aspects of business, both large and small. Without it, a company will not be able to keep up with their competition. On the flip side of this theory however is the fact that information technology is cheap, therefore everyone had access to it. This in turn allows all the competition to have the same edge. This may work for a smaller company that has a good marketing campaign. Larger companies have always been able to succeed in the competitive market due to their ability to gain a foothold in the stock market and obtain funding that a smaller company may not be able to do. The ability to advertise allows these smaller organizations to become more lucrative simply by being recognized. A retail company that is willing to ship their products globally is in a position to increase their sales exponentially.
Coyne, Kevin P., Patricia G. Clifford, and Renée Dye. Breakthrough Thinking from Inside the Box. Harvard Business Review (2007): 71-78. Print. The.
At one of our quarterly All Hands meetings, the president of our division discussed how growing the market share was critically important in the digital banking space. The key goal is to continue to lead this space in the future, but doing so becomes increasingly more challenging as new market competitors try to steal share. To keep ahead, we need to always bring our “A” game to the market. To create blue ocean strategies would require innovation, customer engagement, and out of the box thinking. We have to consider buyer utility, pricing, cost, and adoption. To do this would require us to be strategic about how we design, build and price our products. Even the way the business manages the different consumer segments is important. There is differentiation of the needs of different types of financial institutions. The customer centered brand management strategy we discussed in class is very useful to this type of organization. How we market to large national banks should be different than how we market to small town banks. Generally, small banks do not have the technology budget to invest in large scale digital channel solutions. Many companies decided to have different brands for their different customer segments. We discussed how this works successfully for car companies. For Digital Channels,
Markides, C. C. (2008) «Game-Changing Strategies: How to create new market space in established industries by breaking the rules», San Francisco, John Wiley and Sons.
The oceans need to be protected because it is where life began and if not taken care of, life as we know it will end. When dangerous substances go into the ocean, ecosystems are suffer and become endangered along with lives of people and of marine life. Surfrider Foundation recognizes the importance of protecting and preserving the quality and biodiversity of the world's coasts because they are truly irreplaceable. There is also historical evidence of ocean pollution being present in the past, but the problem still lingers today. Heal the Bay discovered that,“Did you know there is a DDT and PCB hot spot off the coast of Palos Verdes? This superfund site (which indicates it's one of the most polluted places in the United States), is left over from a 1930's era chemical plant. Because DDT takes so long to break down in the marine environment, it persists to this day, contaminating certain species of fish. There are also highly polluted sediments in the Long Beach area, a sign of the heavy shipping in the port. Heal the Bay works on developing effective capping and removal plans to keep those toxins from spreading” (Heal the Bay). DDT is still highly concentrated in the South Bay area and still contaminating different species of fish. Even after more than 80 years DDT, a toxic insecticide, is still very concentrated and during upwellings, DDT particles come back up and continue to harm marine life. If humans are careless about what is thrown on the floor or sprayed on lawns, it can lead to disastrous affects when it comes to the condition of the ocean's ecosystems, and can endanger life itself leading to a problem that only we can mend.