The globally renowned Blue Ocean Strategy team is expected to descend on Botswana next month, aiming to resuscitate and revive both the private and public sectors, which are the major driver of Botswana economy.
Ed Bannerman and Associates are bringing back Professor Andy Andrews on the 3rd of September 2013 at the GICC for a full day seminar to provide a deeper exposure of Blue Ocean and how organisations can benefit from it.
Andrews told journalists at a pre-event media briefing that companies today are facing stiff competition and he described the lifestyle of any company through a pictorial he calls the ‘S curve’ which outlined introduction, growth, saturation and decline.
He indicated the importance of the company to react to a point between the growth and saturation points, known as the inflection point. It is at this point that the company should diversify its products and services even if it means reduction in profits due to re-investment into the company.
Andrews said the Blue Ocean Strategy subscribes to scientist Charles Darwin’s concept which suggests that it is not the strongest, not the most intelligent but the most adaptable to change that survives.
At the conference, participants will be engaged on new and more advanced techniques of elimination or reduction of costs and raising value of the product and in turn raising profits steering away from antiquated means of attaining diversity.
Andrews said that entrepreneurs should be able to assess the industry and be able to identify both their direct and adjacent (indirect) competitors, they should also aim for continuous improvement of their products and services through innovations and simulations that will minimize costs and maximize profits.
Andrews cites international brands, like Samsung and Apple, and gives them as an example of those who utilized the strategy. he also states that Malaysia and Korea had successfully implemented strategy impacting not only their countries but their public sectors as well.
“Utilizing Blue Ocean will enable organizations to focus on an uncontested market space and noncustomers while simultaneously providing innovative products and services at lower costs. This departure from competing for a share of the small local market will result in benefits realized by employees, customers, shareholders, taxpayers and donors,” he said.
The Blue Ocean Strategy has been around for more than 15 years and the book on which it is based was the bestselling book from the Harvard Business School and is currently being translated into 42 different languages.
