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Product Description Written by the business world's new gurus, Blue Ocean Strategy continues to challenge everything you thought you knew about competing in today's crowded market place. Based on a study of 150 strategic moves spanning more than a hundred years and thirty industries, authors W. Chan Kim and Renee Mauborgne argue that lasting success comes from creating 'blue oceans': untapped new market spaces ripe from growth. And the business world has caught on - companies around the world are skipping the bloody red oceans of rivals and creating their very own blue oceans. With over one million copies sold world wide, Blue Ocean Strategy is quickly reaching "must read" status among smart business readers. Have you caught the wave? From Publishers Weekly Kim and Mauborgne's blue ocean metaphor elegantly summarizes their vision of the kind of expanding, competitor-free markets that innovative companies can navigate. Unlike "red oceans," which are well explored and crowded with competitors, "blue oceans" represent "untapped market space" and the "opportunity for highly profitable growth." The only reason more big companies don't set sail for them, they suggest, is that "the dominant focus of strategy work over the past twenty-five years has been on competition-based red ocean strategies"-i.e., finding new ways to cut costs and grow revenue by taking away market share from the competition. With this groundbreaking book, Kim and Mauborgne-both professors at France's INSEAD, the second largest business school in the world-aim to repair that bias. Using dozens of examples-from Southwest Airlines and the Cirque du Soleil to Curves and Starbucks-they present the tools and frameworks they've developed specifically for the task of analyzing blue oceans. They urge companies to "value innovation" that focuses on "utility, price, and cost positions," to "create and capture new demand" and to "focus on the big picture, not the numbers." And while their heavyweight analytical tools may be of real use only to serious strategy planners, their overall vision will inspire entrepreneurs of all stripes, and most of their ideas are presented in a direct, jargon-free manner. Theirs is not the typical business management book's vague call to action; it is a precise, actionable plan for changing the way companies do business with one resounding piece of advice: swim for open waters. Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. 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 46 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 From the Inside Flap "After reading Blue Ocean Strategy, you will never again see your competition in quite the same light. Kim and Mauborgne present a compelling case for pursuing strategy with a creative, not combative, approach. Their emphases on value innovation and stakeholder engagement alone make this book a must-read for both executives and students of business." -Carlos Ghosn, President and CEO, Nissan Motor Co., Ltd. "This is an extremely valuable book to read. It examines the experience of companies in areas as diverse as watches, wine, cement, computers, automobiles, and even the circus to shed new light on the development of future strategies." -Nicolas G. Hayek, Cofounder and Chairman of the Board, Swatch Group "I recommend Blue Ocean Strategy to