What does BLUE OCEAN STRATEGY mean?

Well, I recently read an article written by W.Chan Kim and Renee Mauborgne in the Harvard Business Review (Oct’2004 issue) which mentions that rather than competing within the existing industry (which is over-crowded) or stealing customers from rivals, an organization can develop an uncontested market space that makes the competition irrelevant. WOW! Radical Thinking!?

The authors say that competition is indeed very important but by merely focusing on competition & competitive advantage, leading authorities, experts, scholars, consultants have ignored TWO major points:-

1) To find and develop BLUE OCEANS and;
2) To exploit and protect BLUE OCEANS

They conclude by mentioning that in blue oceans, demand is created rather than fought over and there is ample opportunity for growth that is both lucrative & rapid. Interesting indeed...