Blue Ocean Strategy

Do you have a "Blue Ocean Strategy"? If you are involved in a cut-throat/competitive business envrionment (in a sea full of blood and cost-cutting), your mind may be lifted up by this book by two professors in France. They introduced a concept called "value innovation" - which I had called "creative win-win" is the key to it. It's not about incremental value-adds but innovative value creation where all parties gain value from a new hereto untouched front (the blue ocean). Thus renders competition in red ocean meaningless. It's a good read. The challenge for a startup though is the tough VC questions of "what's your market size? is it a proven market? who are your competitors". If you say yes, you are entering the Red Ocean. If you answer no you have no competitions, many VCs will worry about market risk and lack of reality check on the side of entrepreneur's ego. But of course, successful entrepreneurs thrive in the pardox and bootstrapping. In any case, ask yourself this question after reading the book: what value innovation are you introducing to your company? Why is it an innvoation? Why does your strategy create significant value in your ecosystem?