Blue Ocean Strategy Paper
Marcia C. Falls
MKT/421 Marketing
March 5, 2015
Instructor: Jan Peterson
Blue Ocean Strategy Paper
The blue ocean strategy in marketing is a unique approach to building a customer base. Rather than try to compete in a crowded marketplace with existing companies, a blue ocean strategy looks to build an entirely new market segment that has no other existing firms. With the rapid growth of technology and globalization, the importance of a blue ocean strategy has grown in recent years. The following essay will analyze the blue ocean strategy and offer suggestions on how it can be employed in the modern business environment.
What is a Blue Ocean Strategy in Marketing?
Companies must consider the four Ps of marketing when developing a new offering, which include product, placement, price, and promotion. In order to compete successfully, it is necessary to give consumers a certain value proposition. For example, a firm can offer a product at a lower price or at a higher quality than what is presently offered by other firms. But what if a firm could avoid having to deal with competition altogether?
This is exactly what the blue ocean strategy attempts to do – create a new marketplace that is free of competitors. Marketers build an entirely new product or service that is currently unknown to consumers. It is necessary to thoroughly educate the public about the new product in order to gain interest and confidence. Once this has been completed, the new product will be positioned in point that provides no alternatives and allows much more effective branding tactics to be utilized.
Modern Examples of Blue Ocean Moves
There have been several notable blue ocean moves in modern business recently, particularly in the technology realm. The Nintendo Wii product shook up the gaming world when it was released nearly 10 years ago. Rather than compete with the Sony PlayStation and Microsoft Xbox, Nintendo decided to create a whole new gaming concept that used motion detectors instead of button controls. The company had far fewer resources than its rivals, but managed to build a large market share because it took a risk on releasing an unproven technology. The gaming system was received very well by gamers and built a whole new market with no direct competition. I would require years of technology development for the company’s main rivals to offer similar products.
Another notable blue market strategy occurred with the launch of Tom’s shoes. Instead of just selling shoes, TOMs created a unique business model that is essentially a hybrid of a charity and a shoe manufacturer. It became the only