# The Explainer: Cerulean Ocean Strategy

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/harvard-business-review-7777387/the-explainer-cerulean-ocean-strategy
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/harvard-business-review-7777387/the-explainer-cerulean-ocean-strategy.md
Podcast: [Harvard Business Review](https://stenobird.com/podcast/harvard-business-review-7777387)
Published: 2026-06-27T07:30:00+00:00
Episode link: https://traffic.megaphone.fm/VG9915904435.mp3?updated=1775681016
Audio file: https://traffic.megaphone.fm/VG9915904435.mp3?updated=1775681016
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JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/harvard-business-review-7777387/episodes/the-explainer-cerulean-ocean-strategy
Duration seconds: 244

## Resource

The Explainer: Blue Ocean Strategy 16 Jul 2019 --- When you break the bounds of existing industries, competition becomes irrelevant. The business universe consists of two distinct kinds of space, which we think of as red and blue oceans. Red oceans represent all the industries in existence today—the known market space. In red oceans, industry boundaries are defined and accepted, and the competitive rules of the game are well understood. Here, companies try to outperform their rivals in order to grab a greater share of existing demand. As the space gets more and more crowded, prospects for profits and growth are reduced. Products turn into commodities, and increasing competition turns the water bloody. Blue oceans denote all the industries not in existence today—the unknown market space, untainted by competition. In blue oceans, demand is created rather than fought over. There is ample opportunity for growth that is both profitable and rapid. There are two ways to create blue oceans. In a few cases, companies can give rise to completely new industries, as eBay did with the online auction industry. But in most cases, a blue ocean is created from within a red ocean when a company alters the boundaries of an existing industry. This is what Cirque du Soleil did. In breaking through the boundary traditionally separating circus and theater, it made a new and profitable blue ocean from within the red ocean of the circus industry. --------------------------------------------------------------------- At Harvard Business Review, we believe in management. If the world’s organizations and institutions were run more effectively, if our leaders made better decisions, if people worked more productively, we believe that all of us — employees, bosses, customers, our families, and the pe…

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## Transcript

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