TEACHING MATERIALS
Blue ocean pedagogical materials, used in nearly 3,000 universities and in almost every country in the world, go beyond the standard case-based method. Our multimedia cases and interactive exercises are designed to help you build a deeper understanding of key blue ocean concepts, from blue ocean strategy to nondisruptive creation, developed by world-renowned professors Chan Kim and Renée Mauborgne. Currently, with over 20 Harvard bestselling cases. Chan Kim and Renée Mauborgne are the top three bestselling case authors globally.
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BTS
How a K-pop Group Created a Blue Ocean in Global Music and Beyond
Author(s): KIM, W. Chan, MAUBORGNE, KOO, Oh Young
Case study trailer
Summary
Fragmented by region, culture, and language, the global music market has long been seen as nearly impenetrable for non-English artists seeking mainstream recognition. For K-pop agencies in the early 2010s, markets beyond Asia were largely closed off—until BTS broke through in 2016. The seven-member all-Korean boy group BTS rose to global prominence with songs performed primarily in Korean. It was not just a fleeting hit but had a steadily expanding influence across music and broader entertainment. Most recently, in March 2026, following a more than 3-year hiatus from their members’ mandatory military service, BTS staged a powerful comeback, drawing 18.4 million near-immediate views for a Netflix live concert and debuting No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 upon the release of their new album, ARIRANG. How did an unknown Korean boy band break out of the niche K-pop market and create a blue ocean in the global music and beyond?
The case “BTS: How a K-pop Group Created a Blue Ocean in Global Music and Beyond” illustrates how a relatively unknown K-pop group became a global phenomenon by redefining the relationship between artists and fans through authentic, relatable content. Rather than competing for existing K-pop fans, BTS attracted noncustomers of K-pop worldwide by reconstructing what popular music could offer emotionally, socially, and commercially. The case further explores how BTS scaled its blue ocean by integrating music, content, and fan engagement into a self-reinforcing ecosystem.
The case adopts the lens of blue ocean strategy to understand the strategic logic behind the creation and expansion of BTS, including value innovation, market reconstruction, and new demand creation. It also opens a forward-looking discussion around a critical strategic question: Following the success of BTS’s blue ocean, what should HYBE, BTS’s agency, do next? Double down on the lucrative BTS ecosystem or diversify?
Teaching Objectives:
- Geographic expansion alone does not create a blue ocean. A blue ocean requires a distinct strategic logic that attract noncustomers. BTS achieved global appeal through emotional resonance, visual performance, and participatory fandom.
- Market boundaries can be reconstructed by shifting strategic focus from competition to alternatives. By reframing BTS as intellectual property like Marvel, HYBE expanded BTS as a pop idol and built a self-reinforcing ecosystem around BTS’s characters, stories, and brands.
- Value lies beyond the existing market. By looking across complementary products and services that occur before, during, and after music consumption, HYBE deepened fan engagement and diversified revenue streams through Weverse, a proprietary social and e-commerce platform that integrates community, content, and commerce.
- Blue oceans invite imitation over time, thus requiring renewal. HYBE deepened and widened BTS’s blue ocean across media and entertainment at the business-level. At the same time, a company faces a key strategic choice for long-term growth—whether to deepen its existing blue ocean or diversify into new growth areas.
Case Study
HBSP | INSEAD | Case Centre
Teaching Note
HBSP | INSEAD | Case Centre
Lecture Slides:
English: Available to download for free in the Educators’ Space