Businesses should take risks and seek new frontiers to stay ahead of the pack.
Kenyan youth are beginning to develop a culture of innovativeness, which if harnessed can really transform the economy. I highly recommend the book Blue Ocean Strategy by W. Chan Kim and Renee Mauborgne for upcoming innovators. The book teaches the advantages of the blue ocean strategy as opposed to the red ocean strategy for businesses.
In a normal set up, businesses focus on thriving in the midst of completion. This is where successful companies have unique ways of eliminating rivals.
Some use underhand tactics to stay afloat. For example, poaching staff, stealing ideas, competition intelligence and unfair trade practices.
A case I recall was filed at the equivalent of the unfair trade practices tribunal in Kenya involved manufacturers in the beverage industry.
The plaintiff complained of unfair trade practices by a competitor who allegedly routinely bought out the rival’s products creating a false shortage. This action caused the consumers to lose confidence in the complainant’s product.
I heard of another case where one organisation would frequently bribe its competitor’s staff in exchange for disclosures on innovations. These examples show how businesses struggle to survive in a highly competitive market.
Strategists recommend that you find your competitive edge and maximise on that. This kind of strategy is known as the red ocean strategy. I would use the slogan some people use to define red ocean strategy as “the hustle is real”.
However, businesses are encouraged to take up the “blue ocean strategy”. The strategy seems to be the polar opposite of the red ocean strategy. With the blue ocean strategy, the businesses cease to focus on survival but instead moves on to a new market segment where there is little or no competition.
It is difficult to find such a market, however, an innovative strategist is able to think outside the box and create a new frontier for is business.
Some blue ocean strategies include iTunes. In Kenya, businesses like Equity Bank and Safaricom make good examples.
A blue ocean strategy forces your business to think outside the box and dare to be a pioneer in the market. It is certainly not for the faint-hearted, especially reflective investors who can only invest if there is previous evidence of success. With blue ocean strategy, you are likely to be a precedent setter. Therefore, you have to be a risk taker and have good business skills.
The strategy is now taught in business schools and there are even tools that can help your business adopt the blue ocean strategy.
When you undertake the blue ocean strategy you need to invest heavily in research and development and chances are you may need to add capital to actualize it.
When it comes to the legalities of adopting a blue ocean strategy, I would first advice you to do a comprehensive legal due diligence. You must make sure that your concept is legally permissible.
Most of the times, you may find that there is no regulation yet for the market sector you desire to get into.
This shouldn’t be a challenge as you can also lobby for the legislation of new laws further creating societal value.
You need to protect any intellectual property and also have some sort of trade secrets and confidentiality.
It is my desire to see more business go Blue Ocean, as it is good for our economic growth and it will lead to job creation.
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