See http://wanderlustandwords.blogspot.co... ( )

This book had me for the first part and lost me for the second. The first half of the book explains Blue Ocean Strategies. Go where your competitors aren't sounds impossible. It is not. And being reminded in such a compelling and forceful way was well worth the price of admission. The implementation guide is clearly created by smart academics. It is too ivory tower and not nearly enough throw the computer on the ground and figure it out. Way too complicated, these are Harvard guys after all (LOL). I walked away thinking no way you could go through the exercise without a consultant (which may be the point), but it doesn't matter as there is plenty of useful, actionable stuff in the first half. ( )

How do you take your company to the next level of success? Stop trying to compete in the traditional marketspace and branch out into uncharted waters. This book is a series of examples of companies like Cirque du Soleil that have used this model to great success. A little dry at times this doesn't seem to be the scientific study that I wish it was. Could use more evidence and research to back up the theory. ( )

Interesting and thought-provoking. ( )

This was a good book, but once you understand the concept of a blue ocean strategy, the rest of the book is repetative. ( )

While not terribly robust academically, it illustrates a great framework for thinking about innovation and change in business. This is the best read on that subject that I've seen that really shows what I know to be true in practice. Really explains how to use something old like the Michael Porter structural analysis of industries for inventive creative solutions to transform boring dumb industries. ( )

Starts out criticizing "Built To Last" by saying that companies are not the proper "atom" to evaluate... H-P did well, but didn't even keep up with its market.

The proper "atom" to evaluate is initiatives. Initiatives allow you to see how to really prosper.

I think I agree with the assessment that this book is more of a description of how things *could* be than a how-to manual, but even that's a useful service since it adds another type of story to the "Business Narrative" ( )

This was an interesting overview of how disruptive strategies have helped drive success for companies like Dell, Southwest, etc. The strategy canvas framework was the most valuable part of the discussion, but as the author tried to turn a backward looking analysis of blue ocean strategies that worked into a forward looking strategy for creating your own blue ocean strategy, things became a little less useful. ( )

A little unrealistic from my perspective. This is in the top echelon of business books, no doubt. However, I thought it was a little idealistic in its portrayal that any business can seek and find a blue ocean strategy, that the concept is original, and somewhat trivializes switching out revenue. I thought the concept of competing against substitutes using a new business model was a recast of Michael Porter, with a dash of the Innovator's Solution by Christensen. It seemed to not be written by CEO's but more like consultants or theoreticians who'd found a trend or phenomenon, rather than how -- if you own or run an existing business - can you rip it toward Blue Ocean. This will be a great book if you like Jim Collins or Christensen or generally business books, but moreso if you are aspiring rather than existing CEO. ( )

This book for me basically had three parts. The first part on the concept of the strat canvas which I felt was the most useful. This was followed by a second part on the ways to find blue ocean markets - not as useful but still useful. The third part was more of the same - stuff about getting buy in and strategic alignment. I guess it was included for comprehensive-ness of the book? ( )

This is a fantastic book. There are a couple chapters that are weakened only by the continuing reliance on a single case study. Outside of that though, this book gets straight to the point and is very well written and easy to understand. ( )

http://jwikert.typepad.com/the_averag... ( )