Blue Ocean Blues?

Finally finished reading Blue Ocean Strategy by W. Chan Kim and Renee Mauborgne.  I've read other reviews and they seem to be generally very positive.  Sorry, but I can't help but feel this book's premise is a metaphor in search of an idea.  I found it to be a forced analogy (red oceans for the bloodied battlefield of current competition, blue oceans for uncontested market space that makes the competition irrelevant) without a lot of new strategic thinking.

It's an over-simplification on the authors' parts to call traditional competitive analysis outdated because it drives a focus on fighting head-to-head on existing terms.  Many authors and experts (Prahalad, Christensen, Hamel) have long called for competitive strategies that create new market space based upon changing the basis of competition and/or satisfying the needs of previously unserved customer segments.

I do like the authors' focus on "value innovation"... focusing on finding opportunities to drive down costs, while driving up value for consumers.  Again, sounds a bit simplistic... but the idea of defining and measuring value across the company as a system, rather than just the ROI of a new product is a concept that too few companies think about today.

Maybe it's me, but I didn't get that 'I can change the world" feeling (however short-lived it may be) I get from reading other innovation visionaries I respect and read.  So don't just take my word for it, but I wouldn't recommend this one.

Comments

[Alvin Narsey]

just when i almost went out to purchase this too!
so then i take it the books on the left of the blog would be your reccomendations?
Alvin Narsey

Yes, I would recommend the books I list on my booklist.
Mike Docherty

[steve]

aha! i knew it! when i read their article in hbr it seemed like the same old stuff regurgitated (duh! go where there is no competition). it's lackluste ideas like this that is making me want to write for hbr myself with a new groundbreaking paradigm (apologies for the overused stephen covey phrase).