ASEAN countries have been sluggish to change domestic legislation to support integration efforts across the region. Governments are reluctant to abandon protectionist barriers for less competitive industries largely due to fear of alienating key constituents. The author suggests one way of helping less competitive industries is to encourage companies to take advantage of an emerging middle class. ASEAN countries can pursue either red ocean strategies and compete in the same markets, trying to beat competitors, or they can turn to blue ocean strategies, creating markets for themselves and making the competition irrelevant. The latter could bring more compatibility to ASEAN economies and strengthen integration. Read more

The panel of medical industry practitioners at the Becker’s Hospital Review Annual Meeting in Chicago on May 10th discussed the challenges and trends facing academic medical centers. Dr. Bryan Becker, CEO of the University of Illinois Hospital in Chicago, discussed how the hospital redefined their strategy to focus on creating blue oceans and providing a unique offering to current and future patient base. Read more

Having once enjoyed a blue ocean of uncontested market space in the video game console industry, Nintendo is now facing increased competition from Ouya, an up-start company showing a lot of promise. To repeat the success of Nintendo Wii, the company will need to drastically change its strategy and offer something the market has not yet seen. Otherwise, Nintendo could fall from grace quickly. Read more

Panasonic Corporation President, Kazuhiro Tsuga, intends for the company to move away from traditional in-house manufacturing and partner with industries that range from automobiles and aviation, to logistics, retail, housing, and healthcare. He comments on Panasonic’s future strategy: “Future growth will [be] in B2B. Our objective is now to provide a better life to consumers through their cars, their businesses, and their home construction. This is a classic blue ocean strategy, where the company moves out of hyper-competitive waters to uncontested markets.” Read more

How do you stand out online now that there are over 200 million blogs and a billion Facebook accounts? Dan Zarrella, social media scientist and marketer, does not put much stock into “early adoption” as a business tactic. It is possible to get some good play early on if marketers can identify which sites, platforms, or memes are going to catch on. However, in the long run, it is all about blue ocean strategy. Read more

“Most, if not all of us, will find ourselves in a red ocean industry. You can only win if someone else loses,” says Majjits ten Brink, SVP sales for KLM-Air France-Martinair at Cargo 2000. Indicating that the air cargo industry suffers from low reliability for airlines and forwarders, low asset usage, and a lack of industry standards, he suggests that Cargo 2000 is planning to implement blue ocean strategy and become a catalyst for fundamental change in the industry. Read more

Failure or success in retail is the consequence of the strategic decisions every retailer adopts. The article suggests that in the era of increased internet ecommerce, blue ocean strategy is the “salvation” for physical book, DVD, music, and furniture retailers which are in danger of becoming obsolete. Blue ocean strategy helps firms maintain relevance by emphasizing the simultaneous pursuit of differentiation and low cost. Richer Sounds, a British home entertainment retailer, is presented as a case of a retailer that successfully adopted blue ocean strategy. Read more

A continuation of the previous post on how to devise a strategy to successfully swim in the information and communications technology industry. Blue ocean strategy’s ERRC grid (Eliminate-Reduce-Raise-Create) is used to analyze a telecom operator’s strategy. This post focuses on what an operator should create to find blue ocean. Read more