Blue Ocean Strategy: FROM THEORY TO PRACTICE

F or twenty-five years, competition has been at the heart of corporate strategy. Today, one can hardly speak of strategy without involving the language of competition: competitive strategy, competitive benchmarking, building competitive advantages, and beating the competition. Such focus on the competition traces back to corporate strategy’s roots in military strategy. The very language of corporate strategy is deeply imbued with military references—chief executive “officers” in “headquarters,” “troops” on the “front lines,” and fighting over a defined battlefield.