Creating a Blue Ocean in the B2B Space

Author(s): KIM, W. Chan, MAUBORGNE, Renée, JI, Mi, LEE, Jee-Eun

Summary:

The case describes a series of blue ocean strategic moves made by Salesforce.com in the CRM application market. In particular, the case addresses the concern of business executives over the applicability of blue ocean strategy in the B2B area. B2B managers often find that they are locked into providing products of certain types and specifications to their immediate customers. But in fact, value innovation can take place on the three platforms of a business offering – product, service and delivery. Salesforce’s strategic moves provide an exemplary demonstration of how a company can effectively create and renew its blue ocean in the B2B space by value innovating on the product, service, and delivery platforms.

Pedagogical Objectives:

• To introduce participants to an effective approach to creating blue oceans with B2B offerings
• To review major frameworks and tools of blue ocean strategy in the course of analyzing a series of real-world strategic moves
• To demonstrate how a blue ocean can be sustained and renewed through value innovating on the three platforms of product, service, and delivery