Blue Ocean Strategy: How to Create Uncontested Market Space and Make Competition Irrelevant
by W. Chan Kim and Renee Mauborgne
Summary: Blue oceans are described as those markets that are untapped and perfect for growth. They are discovered by understanding a business’ “value innovation” that is so distinct, that there is no other competition for the same market space. Once created, this value innovation is then strategically moved from vision to execution.
Key Points:
- There are many untapped niche markets
- Think outside traditional boundaries
- Each business is unique
Why I recommend this book: I like that this concept creates a more sustainable and unique business model and addresses the “competition” problem in a new way.
Business Model Generation: A Handbook for Visionaries, Game Changers, and Challengers
by Alexander Osterwalder and Yves Pigneur
Summary: Visionaries, game changers and challengers are a unique group of business model developers and this book is a collaboration between 470 strategy practitioners from around the world that wanted to create an easy way to bring together the best of business model development into one area. There are a large amount of graphics and easy “canvases” to help stimulate those right-brained juices.
Key Points:
- Large graphics that simply business model development
- The best of all business model pieces in one book
- Easy to digest and fun to use, yet very effective
Why I recommend this book: I almost didn’t get this book because of all of the pictures–I thought it may not have value. But once I dug into the material, I found the simplicity of it to be its most valueable attribute. It effortlessly pieces together all of the things needed to make a complete plan and is every easy to use with clients.