Dr Vijay Kumar Shrotryia
September, 2014

Kim and Renee brought out the concept of Blue Ocean Strategy in 2004 through their research and writings and popularised it. That was related to the organizations that were trying to compete and were finding it difficult to sustain in the market full of related products and services and the pressures of the market in improving quality, reducing prices, designing well defended promotional schemes etc. This is where BOS proposed to create a new market, develop a new product, convert noncustomers to customers, convey a new message, so that one does not feel the pressure of competition. It was to kill competition and create a blue ocean where there is no competition. And when in this blue ocean, competitors take birth, participate and compete and start hitting and eating your share it converts the blue ocean into red ocean. This is the time one needs to come out of it and create another blue ocean. This strategy helped many companies to learn lessons and create blue oceans.
Now, Kim and Renee expand BOS towards focusing on individuals as they propose Blue Ocean Leadership for attention and practice which opens new way of looking at the problem of leadership at different levels. Traditionally most of the leadership development programs have been focusing on the values, qualities, and behavioural styles, generic practices in isolation of market/customer requirements, and the impact of executive's potential on organizational performance. BOL questions it and suggests to concentrate on the acts and activities, developing different ways to face market realities, and to engage and empower employees to lead and take appropriate decisions at their level.
I think we need to concentrate on developing Blue Ocean Entrepreneurship (BOE) in India which could be conceptualized and practiced through the learning of BOS and BOL. The primary learning of BOS is to develop new products and services and make competition irrelevant; however it has many other facets as well. It is not merely developing new and innovative products and services but also to create and follow new modes of delivery to reach out to the customers and to explore new markets and play role in this 'uncontested market space'. The whole focus is on creating, adding and delivering value to the customer. This opens new kind of thinking in the minds of entrepreneurs who toil hard to sustain themselves in the competitive market. The untapped customers have to be studied and accordingly products and services have to be innovated and served in order to create a new market segment.
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