Businesses are classically designed to fight it out in heated competition. The consequence of this competition is a diminishment in profitability in overcrowded markets. While once the hallmark of capitalism, competition has now become a poison, forcing firms to plough in ever-increasing resources for ever-diminishing returns. In these red oceans saturated with the blood of exhausted competitors, there are very few winners. Rather, winners are created in market spaces where there are no competitors. These uncontested spaces are the so-called blue-oceans, areas of monopoly, with rules of engagement as yet to be set.
The purpose of this course is to introduce you to innovative blue ocean thinking. In this course you will learn why innovation is so important and how to think through a process that will enable blue-ocean innovation. This strategic process is based on a ground breaking book published in 2005 by W. Chan Kim and Reneé Mauborgne entitled “Blue Ocean Strategy: How to Create Uncontested Market Space and Make the Competition Irrelevant.” It is taught across a number of top-line universities in Europe, the USA and here in South Africa: it is the most important strategic development of the 21st century.
On a week-by-week basis you will taken into the Blue Ocean thinking and shown how to apply it. This is a step-by-step approach to strategic innovation; a must-have in today’s relentless competitive world.
