Blue ocean strategy
Blue Ocean Strategy is a private education and IP company founded in 2004 by INSEAD professors Chan Kim and Renée Mauborgne that commercializes a strategic methodology for creating uncontested market space. It serves executives, corporate teams, educators, consultants, and students globally through books, online courses, certification programs, and academic licensing.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2004
- HeadquartersNew York, United States
- Headcount1–10
- GTM typeB2B and B2C
- OfferingServices
What Blue ocean strategy does
Blue Ocean Strategy is a private intellectual property and education company founded in 2004 by INSEAD professors Chan Kim and Renée Mauborgne, operating through Blue Ocean Global Network Pte. Ltd. (Singapore) with R&D ties to the INSEAD Blue Ocean Strategy Institute in Fontainebleau, France. The company commercializes a strategic methodology for creating uncontested market space rather than competing in existing 'red ocean' markets, grounded in 30+ years of research across 150+ strategic moves spanning 100+ years and 30 industries. The portfolio includes three foundational books (Blue Ocean Strategy, 4M+ copies in 49 languages; Blue Ocean Shift, NYT bestseller; Beyond Disruption, 2023), practical tools (Strategy Canvas, Buyer Utility Map, Six Paths, Three Tiers of Noncustomers, Blue Ocean Leadership Canvas), and structured frameworks like the Five-Step Blue Ocean Shift Process.
Products span five revenue streams: book sales through major retailers and digital platforms (one-time), online courses with the newly launched AI Blue Ocean Navigator delivered via learn.blueoceanstrategy.com (annual subscription with auto-renewal), a 6-week live virtual Practitioner Program for senior leaders and consultants (multi-year contracts), Blue Ocean Sprint for Teams corporate training (enterprise services), and academic licensing of teaching materials and 20+ Harvard bestselling cases to nearly 3,000 universities globally. The 2025 launches of the AI Blue Ocean Navigator and Blue Ocean Leadership Course, plus the annual Student Entrepreneur Competition reaching 23,000+ participants from 165 countries, represent the active growth surfaces.
Customer segments include senior executives and business owners seeking growth strategy, corporate HR/L&D teams building innovation capability, educators and universities teaching strategy and innovation courses, strategy consultants differentiating their practices, and high school students through the competition platform. Distribution combines self-serve e-commerce, direct enterprise sales, academic channels, and event-driven community building around the founders' personal brand as globally recognized management thinkers.
Blue ocean strategy firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Blue ocean strategy
- Legal name
- Blue Ocean Global Network Pte. Ltd.
- Website
- https://blueoceanstrategy.com
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2004
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 1–10 employees
- Short description
- Blue Ocean Strategy is a private education and IP company founded in 2004 by INSEAD professors Chan Kim and Renée Mauborgne that commercializes a strategic methodology for creating uncontested market space. It serves executives, corporate teams, educators, consultants, and students globally through books, online courses, certification programs, and academic licensing.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Where Blue ocean strategy is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- New York
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Offices2 records
Markets served
Blue ocean strategy business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B and B2C
- Offering type
- Services
- Cost components
- Personnel, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Operations, Others
Revenue model
- Book Sales: Sale of bestselling books including Blue Ocean Strategy (4+ million copies sold), Blue Ocean Shift, and Beyond Disruption through major retail and digital platforms in 49+ languages.
- Online Courses: Blue Ocean Strategy Online Course with AI Navigator offered through learn.blueoceanstrategy.com. One-year access with automatic renewal subscriptions.
- Practitioner Program: 6-week live virtual certification program for business owners, senior leaders, and consultants. Transformative strategic perspective and tool mastery for unlocking growth opportunities.
- Corporate Team Training: Blue Ocean Sprint for Teams delivering high-impact innovation training to organizations. Standardized, scalable training for workforce capability building.
- Academic Licensing: Teaching materials including Harvard cases, multimedia cases, and interactive exercises licensed to nearly 3,000 universities globally.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Freemium | Annual | Free tier for educators with teaching materials access |
| Subscription | Annual | Blue Ocean Online Course with AI Navigator |
| Subscription | Multi-year contract | Practitioner Program for senior leaders and consultants |
Go-to-market motion3 records
Distribution channels5 records
Marketing channels7 records
Blue ocean strategy product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Blue Ocean Strategy sells a market-creation methodology developed by Professors Chan Kim and Renée Mauborgne through three global bestselling books, online courses featuring an AI Navigator, a 6-week live Practitioner Program for senior leaders, AI-powered Blue Ocean Sprint for Teams corporate training, university teaching materials, and an annual high school student entrepreneur competition. The offering is designed to teach organizations and individuals how to create uncontested market space and shift from competitive red oceans to blue oceans.
Product overview
Blue Ocean Strategy is a strategic methodology and brand built around creating uncontested market space. The portfolio includes the foundational Blue Ocean Strategy book (2005, 4M+ copies), Blue Ocean Shift book (2017), and Beyond Disruption book (2023). Educational offerings comprise the Blue Ocean Online Course with AI Navigator, the 6-week Practitioner Program, Blue Ocean Sprint for Teams (AI-powered), and the upcoming Blue Ocean Leadership Course. Additional offerings include teaching materials used in nearly 3,000 universities, the annual Blue Ocean Student Entrepreneur Competition (23,000+ participants), Blue Ocean Academy for training and consulting, plus tools/frameworks and a thought leadership blog.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Brands
- Blue Ocean Strategy: The seminal business strategy framework and global bestseller that introduces the concept of creating uncontested market space rather than competing in existing 'red ocean' markets.
- Blue Ocean Shift
- Beyond Disruption
- Blue Ocean Academy
- Blue Ocean Sprint
- Blue Ocean Leadership
- Blue Ocean Global Network
Products and services
- Blue Ocean Online Course with AI Navigator An interactive self-paced online course teaching blue ocean strategy fundamentals, featuring AI-powered navigation through the AI Blue Ocean Navigator assistant. Delivered via learn.blueoceanstrategy.com with one-year subscription access.
- Blue Ocean Strategy Practitioner Program A 6-week live virtual certification program for business owners, senior leaders, and consultants, providing expert feedback on real business problems using the blue ocean process. Application-based enrollment through apply.blueoceanstrategy.com.
- Blue Ocean Sprint for Teams High-impact AI-powered corporate team training program for organizational innovation, designed to drive strategic objectives across companies. Standardized, scalable curriculum for workforce innovation capability building.
- Blue Ocean Strategy Book The foundational 2005 bestseller that introduced the blue ocean strategy methodology for creating uncontested market space. Updated and expanded in 2015. Over 4 million copies sold in 47 languages.
- Blue Ocean Shift Book The 2017 follow-up book providing a step-by-step five-step process for shifting from red to blue oceans; New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestseller.
- Beyond Disruption Book The 2023 USA Today bestseller introducing nondisruptive creation as an alternative path to innovation without displacing industries, companies, or jobs.
- Teaching Materials Academic resources including multimedia cases, interactive exercises, teaching modules, and lecture slides licensed to nearly 3,000 universities globally. Includes over 20 Harvard bestselling cases.
- Blue Ocean Leadership Course Leadership transformation program based on the Blue Ocean Leadership framework for unlocking unrealized talent and energy in organizations.
Quantifiable outcome
- Blue Ocean Shift book: New York Times and #1 Wall Street Journal bestseller
- +2 more outcomes
Companies that use Blue ocean strategy
Customer profileNamed customers2 records
Segments5 records
Ideal customer profiles5 records
Blue ocean strategy technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed No
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Feature5 records
Blue ocean strategy partnerships and signals
Strategic signalScale indicators10 records
Recent moves6 records
Expansion highlights6 records
Blue ocean strategy competitors and assessment
Company assessmentBroad incumbents
- LinkedIn Learning: Subscription-based online learning platform with thousands of business, leadership, and strategy courses from recognized practitioners. Comparable as a competitor for self-paced online learners and a complementary channel for some Blue Ocean-style methodology content.
- INSEAD Executive Education: The founders' home institution, INSEAD runs a global executive education business selling open-enrollment and custom programs to senior leaders. Overlaps directly on the Practitioner Program and Blue Ocean Sprint for Teams use cases, though INSEAD offers broader curricula rather than specializing in one methodology.
- BCG Henderson Institute: The thought leadership and research arm of Boston Consulting Group, publishing proprietary strategy frameworks and serving corporate clients globally. Comparable as a generator of strategy frameworks with strong corporate training and consulting distribution, though backed by BCG's massive consulting practice.
- Strategy& (PwC): Global strategy consulting firm (part of PwC) that originated many widely-adopted strategy frameworks and provides corporate training through its methodology. Overlaps with Blue Ocean on strategy methodology and corporate training delivery at the executive level.
Emerging players
- Coursera: Global online learning platform partnering with top universities and business schools to deliver courses and specializations to individual learners and enterprises (Coursera for Business). Comparable as a channel for business strategy content and a competitor for self-paced online course revenue.
Direct peers
- Gallup: Research-based consulting and training company built around proprietary assessment methodologies (CliftonStrengths, Q12, etc.), monetized through books, courses, certification, and enterprise training. Comparable as a research-anchored methodology business with strong enterprise L&D distribution.
- Dale Carnegie & Associates: Iconic training company built around a proprietary methodology (Dale Carnegie training), delivering courses, certification, and enterprise training globally for 100+ years. Comparable as a methodology-based training and certification business with strong brand recognition.
- Harvard Business Publishing: The education and content arm of Harvard Business School, selling cases, books, and corporate learning to a similar global audience of executives, educators, and students. Most directly comparable as a business methodology publisher and licensor of academic cases to thousands of universities.
- FranklinCovey: Global training and consulting company built around Stephen Covey's proprietary methodologies (7 Habits, etc.), selling books, courses, certification programs, and enterprise training. Closely mirrors Blue Ocean's business model of monetizing a thought leader's framework across books, courses, and corporate L&D.
- The Arbinger Institute: Training and consulting firm built around a proprietary methodology (Arbinger's 'outward' mindset approach), delivering books, courses, certification, and enterprise training to organizations globally. Closely mirrors the methodology-IP-plus-training business model at smaller scale.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat6 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
Blue ocean strategy social profiles
Digital presenceBlue ocean strategy financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Blue ocean strategy leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles2 records
Blue ocean strategy funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Blue ocean strategy M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Blue ocean strategy
What does Blue ocean strategy do?
Blue Ocean Strategy sells a market-creation methodology developed by Professors Chan Kim and Renée Mauborgne through three global bestselling books, online courses featuring an AI Navigator, a 6-week live Practitioner Program for senior leaders, AI-powered Blue Ocean Sprint for Teams corporate training, university teaching materials, and an annual high school student entrepreneur competition. The offering is designed to teach organizations and individuals how to create uncontested market space and shift from competitive red oceans to blue oceans.
Is Blue ocean strategy a public or private company?
Blue ocean strategy is a private company. It is classified as founder individual operated bootstrapped and is currently operating.
When was Blue ocean strategy founded?
Blue ocean strategy was founded in 2004. It employs 1 to 10 people.
Where is Blue ocean strategy based?
Blue ocean strategy is headquartered in New York, United States, in the North America region.
How does Blue ocean strategy make money?
Five revenue lines are on record. Book Sales are the primary driver. The others are online Courses, practitioner Program, corporate Team Training and academic Licensing.
Who are Blue ocean strategy's main competitors?
Broad incumbents on record are LinkedIn Learning, INSEAD Executive Education, BCG Henderson Institute and Strategy& (PwC). Coursera is listed as an emerging player. Direct peers are Gallup, Dale Carnegie & Associates, Harvard Business Publishing, FranklinCovey and The Arbinger Institute.
Does Blue ocean strategy have an API?
No public API is recorded for Blue ocean strategy.