Blue Ocean Strategy® Consultants

We have been Blue Ocean Strategists since 2005, when Andi met Renée Mauborgne at the Harvard Club.

Andi Simon: She was going to speak on her new book, Blue Ocean Strategy^®, and I was in the elevator with her. I had read her book, loved the research, the theory, and the methodology. I said, “I love your book. It is so anthropological.” Her response: “You should become a Blue Ocean Strategist.” My question: “What is that?” And Renee quietly said: “I don’t know, so let’s make it up!” And that is how I became a fan of Blue Ocean Strategy.

I like to share the story with our clients and the reader because Blue Ocean Strategy is as much about listening and showing up as it is about a strategic theory or methodology. What is essential today, perhaps permanently, has been our ability to step back, like an anthropologist, and “see, feel and think” in new ways.

What is a Blue Ocean Strategy?

Think about your own business or even your profession and career. Do you compete with others to capture a client, or are you competing with other firms to hire employees? Maybe you are facing increased competition for your position and your career? You meet a “red ocean” when you see a world where the competition is keen and your ability to differentiate yourself is a challenge.

It can be for staff or customers, suppliers, products, or services.

If you could find ways to add value innovatively instead of competing and being another, could you create a new market space? You can apply this approach to finding the right employees and retaining them as you can to new markets for your products.

Think about it from these perspectives:

Don’t be an imitator or an incremental improver. Be an innovator.

When you find your new market, create demand for your solution.

Think less about your current customers or employees and more about those you want to have as clients and staff.

Consider the unmet needs of your current clients. What do they ask you for that you say: “We don’t do that.” Maybe that is what you should do.

Whatever you do, make your competition irrelevant. Stop benchmarking yourself. Open a new market.

Don’t waste this moment. The time is right for you to embrace a Blue Ocean Strategic approach.

Innovation Games^®

As clients begin to search for their Blue Ocean Strategy, we encourage them to use Innovation Games. The tools open their minds to what is possible. They also allow us to engage clients and potential clients in the creative process to find those unmet needs and capture new markets. Read here to learn more about the tools and how you can try them.

Learn More About Innovation Games

Innovation Games

Webinar

When working with our clients, we have watched their mindsets shift from what they don’t do to what they can do.

Contact Us

The SAMC Book Collection

We can share with you so many of our stories. Our books are designed to help you re-think your story for today and imagine what it could be for the future.

Learn More

Women Mean Business: Over 500 Insights from Extraordinary Women to Spark your Success

If you are interested in testing the Blue Ocean methodology, look at these pages and draw your Strategic Canvas.

We have white papers, videos, blogs, and podcasts to help you on your way. We have conducted over 500 workshops on the topic since 2007 and book up annually to help CEOs and their key leaders realize that, as John Seely Brown once said: “The way forward is all around you, if only you can see it.”