Blue Ocean Strategy vs Red Ocean Strategy

Understanding the differences in both concepts…

The analogy of red and blue oceans describes the market universe. Red oceans are all the industries in existence today or the known market space. In the red oceans, industry boundaries are defined and accepted, and the competitive rules of the game are known. Here companies try to outperform each other to achieve a greater share of product or service demand in a world where growth is increasingly limited. As the 'ocean' gets crowded, prospects for profits and growth are reduced. Products become commodities and cut-throat competition turns the red ocean bloody. Hence, the term red oceans.

Blue oceans, on the other hand, denote all the industries not in existence today or what we called the unknown market space, untainted by competition. In blue oceans, demand is expanded or created rather than fought over. There is ample opportunity for growth that is both profitable and rapid. Here, in blue oceans, competition is irrelevant because the rules of the game are waiting to be set. Blue ocean is an analogy to describe the wider, deeper potential of market space that is not yet explored.

Blue Ocean Strategy is a business strategy book that promotes a systematic approach "for making the competition irrelevant." The authors, W.Chan Kim and Renée Mauborgne, are professors of Strategy and Management at INSEAD. A core idea is to create a leap in value for both the company and its buyers by breaking the differentiation/low cost trade-off and to align product value and profit propositions.

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Bachelor vs Master

What are these qualifications?

"Bachelor" and "Master" are the names of the first and second academic degrees awarded to university students. As part of the "Bologna process", almost all study courses and qualifications are being converted to bachelor and master courses in 45 European countries. It is aimed to complete the process by 2010.

The first study course is for a bachelor's degree; it usually lasts three years and provides students with in-depth knowledge of their subject. Depending on the subject studied, students are awarded a Bachelor of Arts (B.A) or a Bachelor of Science (B.Sc.) – regardless of the type of university.

This degree qualifies graduates for a career and they are encouraged to look for suitable positions. Graduates wishing to go on to a master's degree can do this immediately after obtaining their bachelor's degree. The master's course usually lasts two years, either in the same subject or in a related one. Graduates can also start a master’s course after working for awhile. They collect credit points in a system uniform throughout Europe. The aim is to make study courses comparable and to make it easier for students to change universities on an international level.

Some two-thirds of university courses in Germany will have changed to the new system by winter term 2006/2007. The aim of the educational reformers is that in Germany, as in Anglo-Saxon countries, the majority of graduates will start work after obtaining a bachelor's degree. Read more ...