Sublime

only if it offers something that is both unique and valuable to its customers.

Their insight was framed in the language of business strategy: identify your strengths and weaknesses, assess the opportunities and risks (your opponent’s strengths and weaknesses), and build on your strengths. But the power of that strategy derived from their discovery of a different way of viewing competitive advantage—a shift from thinking about

Managers should think of: (1) what their customers’ needs and priorities are; (2) what channels can satisfy those needs and priorities; (3) the service and products best suited to flow through those channels; (4) the inputs and raw materials required to create the products and services; and, (5) the assets and core competencies essential to the inp

Successful companies differentiate themselves by adding real value for their customers. Helping customers see the real value you bring marks the difference between high and low profits. The question is “What is real value from the customer's perspective?”

The big idea here is this: strategy choices aim to shift relative price or relative cost in a company’s favor. Ultimately, of course, it’s the spread between the two that matters: any strategy must result in a favorable relationship between relative price and relative cost.

the two major elements of competition: 1. How easy it is for new competitors to jump in the game? 2. How easy it is for customers to switch out your product with another?

Blue ocean strategists simultaneously pursue differentiation and low cost. They aim to break, not make, the value-cost trade-off.

What matters is winning. Great organizations—whether companies, not-for-profits, political organizations, agencies, what have you—choose to win rather than simply play. What is the difference between the Mayo Clinic and the average research hospital in your neighborhood? Your local hospital is, most likely, focused on providing a service and on doi