Blue Ocean Strategy by Chan Kim, Renée Mauborgne

In this new book by the world's new gurus on business, Blue Ocean Strategy challenges all that you know about competing in today's crowded marketplace. In the study, which examines 150 strategic moves spanning over a century and thirty industries, authors W. Kim and Renee Mauborgne maintain that the key to long-term success is discovering new, untapped markets. Businesses in every sector around the world have caught on, skipping over the red ocean of rivalry and building their own blue ocean. With over one million copies sold worldwide, Blue Ocean Strategy is quickly reaching "must read" status among smart business readers. 

In search of sustainable, profitable growth, companies have been engaged in the head-to-head competition since the dawn of the industrial age. They have fought over market share, competed for competitive advantage, and struggled to differentiate themselves. These hallmarks of competitive strategy don't create profitable growth, however, as this influential and immensely popular book shows.

Kim and Mauborgne argue in the international bestseller Blue Ocean Strategy that cutthroat competition results in a bloody red ocean of competitors fighting to maximize profits. According to a study based on successful strategy moves from 150 industries (spanning more than a century), lasting success does not come from battles with competitors, but instead from creating "blue oceans" -- untapped new markets ripe for expansion. The authors refer to “value innovation” as a strategy that provides long-lasting improvements in value that often render competitors obsolete.