#pm_library: “Blue Ocean Strategy”
Dear Product Manager, do you want to develop your strategic impact and business outcome ownership skills? If yes, I recommend “Blue Ocean Strategy” by W. Chan Kim and Renee Mauborgne. Why? Find out below.
Let’s start with what “Blue Ocean” is. It is a new market in which there is no competition yet, thanks to which the company (in the initial period) has almost unlimited growth opportunities. Typically, such a market is created by introducing a new product, changing an existing product, and/or reaching a new customer segment.
A great example (from which the authors also begin) is Cirque du Solei. The circus services market had been declining at a surprising pace. Many viewers gave up this form of entertainment because of the tortured animals performed in circuses. At the same time, keeping the animals was one of the most expensive costs of such an undertaking. Therefore, the creators of Cirque de Solei made a revolutionary (although completely logical) move: they gave up animals’ performances in the circus. They focused on the artistic layer of the arrangements. They opened up a whole new market in entertainment, and set sail on the “Blue ocean”.
The book will find many more examples of such transformations from various industries: technology, automotive, and services. Everything is very well described, and the content is as captivating as in the case of the best historical books.
In addition to the anecdotic part, there are also many practical tips about bringing your product out to the “Blue ocean.” One of the most important tips is to switch your focus from existing customers to users who are not our customers. The authors know that introducing such changes in large, mature companies is not easy. But here, too, they rush to a handful of advice.
Can the book be helpful in the work of a Product Manager? I think so. In well-managed (appropriately empowered) product teams, we focus on goals formulated in outcomes (not outputs). In start-ups or fast-growing scale-ups, these goals are very ambitious. Finding a blue ocean might often be the only way to meet such goals.
