How to Actually Use This Book
Don’t Read It Cover to Cover
Start with chapters 1-3 to grasp the core concepts. Then jump to the chapters most relevant to where you’re stuck:
- Unclear strategy? → Chapters 2-4 (Tools and frameworks)
- Can’t find opportunities? → Chapter 3 (Six paths)
- Strategy exists but execution fails? → Chapters 7-8 (Hurdles and fair process)
- Success but now stagnating? → Chapter 10 (Renewal)
Apply the Tools Iteratively, Not Sequentially
Don’t try to complete every framework perfectly before moving to the next. Sketch a rough strategy canvas, test it with six paths thinking, refine it, repeat. Strategy development is messy; embrace that.
Start Small
Don’t try to create a company-wide blue ocean immediately. Pick one product line, one market, or one customer segment. Experiment, learn, scale what works.
Expect Resistance
The book undersells how much pushback you’ll face. Blue ocean thinking challenges everything organizations typically do. Build your coalition carefully using the fair process principles from the start, not just during execution.
Combine With Other Frameworks
Blue ocean strategy doesn’t replace customer research, competitive intelligence, or financial analysis. It complements them. Use traditional tools to validate your blue ocean ideas.
The Bigger Picture: Where Blue Ocean Strategy Fits in Strategy Literature
It Challenges Porter’s Five Forces
Michael Porter’s framework analyzes industry attractiveness based on structural factors. Blue ocean strategy argues you can reshape those structures. Both perspectives have merit. Porter helps you understand existing markets; Kim and Mauborgne help you create new ones.
It Builds on Christensen’s Disruption Theory
Clayton Christensen’s Innovator’s Dilemma explains how new entrants disrupt incumbents. Blue ocean strategy goes further by showing how both incumbents and entrants can create new markets through “nondestructive creation” (expanding the pie rather than displacing existing products).
It Differs From Competitive Advantage Frameworks
Traditional competitive advantage theory (differentiation vs. cost leadership) assumes a trade-off. Blue ocean strategy breaks that trade-off through value innovation. This is its core intellectual contribution.
It Complements Jobs-to-be-Done Theory
The noncustomer focus aligns with understanding what “jobs” people are trying to accomplish. Blue ocean strategy’s buyer utility map essentially maps jobs across the customer journey.