Episode 19 - The Flaws in "Blue Ocean Strategy"

Chan Kim and Renée Mauborgne's Blue Ocean Strategy makes the compelling case for creating new market space, but is this strategy as repeatable and risk-free as the book suggests? In this Critique episode, we analyze this popular framework. Our hosts praise the book for its powerful and inspiring challenge to the conventional wisdom of head-to-head competition. We explore its useful analytical tools, like the strategy canvas. However, we also offer a critique. We question whether many of the book's famous examples, like Cirque du Soleil, were truly the result of a systematic strategic process or were simply unique creative breakthroughs. We also analyze the immense risks and uncertainties of trying to create a market that doesn't yet exist.