Blue Ocean Strategy

The global phenomenon that has sold over 4 million copies, is published in a record-breaking 49 languages and is a bestseller across five continents—now updated and expanded with new content. Named by Fast Company as one of the most influential leadership books in its Leadership Hall of Fame. A strategy classic.

In this perennial bestseller, embraced by organizations and industries worldwide, globally preeminent management thinkers W. Chan Kim and Renée Mauborgne challenge everything you thought you knew about the requirements for strategic success. Recognized as one of the most iconic and impactful strategy books ever written, BLUE OCEAN STRATEGY, now updated with fresh content from the authors, argues that cutthroat competition results in nothing but a bloody red ocean of rivals fighting over a shrinking profit pool. Based on a study of 150 strategic moves (spanning more than 100 years across 30 industries), the authors argue that lasting success comes not from battling competitors but from creating “blue oceans”—untapped new market spaces ripe for growth.

BLUE OCEAN STRATEGY presents a systematic approach to making the competition irrelevant and outlines principles and tools any organization can use to create and capture their own blue oceans.

This expanded edition includes:

• A new preface by the authors: Help! My Ocean Is Turning Red
• Updates on all cases and examples in the book, bringing their stories up to the present time
• Two new chapters and an expanded third one—Alignment, Renewal, and Red Ocean Traps—that address the most pressing questions readers have asked over the past 10 years

A landmark work that upends traditional thinking about strategy, this bestselling book charts a bold new path to winning the future. Consider this your guide to creating uncontested market space—and making the competition irrelevant.

To learn more about the power of BLUE OCEAN STRATEGY, visit blueoceanstrategy.com. There you’ll find all the resources you need—from ideas in practice and cases from government and private industry, to teaching materials, mobile apps, real-time updates, and tips and tools to help you make your blue ocean journey a success.

Table of Contents

Part One: Blue Ocean Strategy

1 Creating Blue Oceans

2 Analytical Tools and Frameworks

Part Two: Formulating Blue Ocean Strategy

3 Reconstruct Market Boundaries

4 Focus on the Big Picture, Not the Numbers

5 Reach Beyond Existing Demand

6 Get the Strategic Sequence Right

Part Three: Executing Blue Ocean Strategy

7 Overcome Key Organizational Hurdles

8 Build Execution into Strategy

9 Align Value, Profit, and People Propositions

10 Renew Blue Oceans

11 Avoid Red Ocean Traps

Review

“one of the bestselling business books of the century” — Financial Times

“Blue Ocean Strategy is the most successful book on business master-planning” — The Economist

“A great read for any leader looking to get a real edge in business and establish a real competitive advantage in the market.” — Qantas The Australian Way

Praise for Blue Ocean Strategy:

• A bestseller across 5 continents
• More than 4 million copies sold worldwide
• Translated into 49 languages
• A Wall Street Journal, BusinessWeek, and Fast Company bestseller
• Thinkers50 Strategy Award for Best Business Book of the decade
• The Fast Company Leadership Hall of Fame
• Winner of the Carl S. Sloane Award for Excellence in Management Consulting

About the Authors

W. Chan Kim and Renée Mauborgne are Professors of Strategy at INSEAD and Codirectors of the INSEAD Blue Ocean Strategy Institute. They are the authors of the recently released USA Today bestseller, Beyond Disruption: Innovate and Achieve Growth without Displacing Industries, Companies, or Jobs; the over 4-million copy global bestseller Blue Ocean Strategy, which is recognized as one of the most iconic and impactful strategy books ever written; and The New York Times and #1 Wall Street Journal bestseller, Blue Ocean Shift. Blue Ocean Strategy is being published in a record-breaking 49 languages and is a bestseller across five continents. In 2023, on its 100th anniversary, HBR honored Kim and Mauborgne as two of its four most influential authors for their contribution to management research and ideas. In 2019 they were also named the most influential management thinkers in the world by Thinkers50. They are the founders of the Blue Ocean Global Network. For more on these authors and their new book, BEYOND DISRUPTION, see blueoceanstrategy.com.