A Blue Ocean Strategy
In the last few weeks, by some sort of synchronicity, I've met with many senior and junior members (associate, naturalised, affiliated, and many other kinds) of the College of Wyverns. The news coming out from there is about what seems to be called a 'blue ocean strategy'.
I haven't heard this ancient term for years. In Homer's Odyssey, he sings of the 'wine-dark sea', that complex melange of trading and naval relationships and rivalries that was the Aegean Sea of his time. (There's a great summary article about it here.)
The point about a blue ocean, as opposed to a wine-dark (or 'incarnadine', as Shakespeare puts it) one, is that a blue ocean has no rivalries or contentions and often no complex history. The perspective is that of a navigator and explorer who for the first time chances upon what seems to be a virgin sea.
In a blue ocean strategy, one actively seeks out areas in which one has uncontested supremacy (a famous school song has the line 'to reign supreme in every sphere', and that's a similar idea, but not quite). It is not really like de Bono's idea of surpetition, surpassing and bypassing the opposition by qualitative difference. It's more like a fantasy that doesn't work in a globalised world.
The problem of course is that of the Aegean; if you have many geographical neighbours (or conceptual neighbours), then the ocean is unlikely to be uncontested. You will waste endless resources until you get to something like the Pacific Ocean — only to discover that as you get further away from your civilised roots, you encounter other rivalries, problems and difficulties. You might even be killed and eaten by cannibals on friendly-looking islands.
Meanwhile, your lines of supply run short, and as you head westward (or eastward) for the fabled treasures of the Orient, you find yourself back at your starting place after much hardship. Then people who have learnt from your difficulties come along and do the same thing without the mistakes, thus ensuring larger profits for themselves.
Blue ocean strategising is a fairy-tale. Ask the Portuguese about the Treaty of Tordesillas, and who got a better deal. That treaty has had great relevance to the history of Asia, Africa and South America. But consider the long-term fate of Portuguese and Spanish sea-power. Heh.
I haven't heard this ancient term for years. In Homer's Odyssey, he sings of the 'wine-dark sea', that complex melange of trading and naval relationships and rivalries that was the Aegean Sea of his time. (There's a great summary article about it here.)
The point about a blue ocean, as opposed to a wine-dark (or 'incarnadine', as Shakespeare puts it) one, is that a blue ocean has no rivalries or contentions and often no complex history. The perspective is that of a navigator and explorer who for the first time chances upon what seems to be a virgin sea.
In a blue ocean strategy, one actively seeks out areas in which one has uncontested supremacy (a famous school song has the line 'to reign supreme in every sphere', and that's a similar idea, but not quite). It is not really like de Bono's idea of surpetition, surpassing and bypassing the opposition by qualitative difference. It's more like a fantasy that doesn't work in a globalised world.
The problem of course is that of the Aegean; if you have many geographical neighbours (or conceptual neighbours), then the ocean is unlikely to be uncontested. You will waste endless resources until you get to something like the Pacific Ocean — only to discover that as you get further away from your civilised roots, you encounter other rivalries, problems and difficulties. You might even be killed and eaten by cannibals on friendly-looking islands.
Meanwhile, your lines of supply run short, and as you head westward (or eastward) for the fabled treasures of the Orient, you find yourself back at your starting place after much hardship. Then people who have learnt from your difficulties come along and do the same thing without the mistakes, thus ensuring larger profits for themselves.
Blue ocean strategising is a fairy-tale. Ask the Portuguese about the Treaty of Tordesillas, and who got a better deal. That treaty has had great relevance to the history of Asia, Africa and South America. But consider the long-term fate of Portuguese and Spanish sea-power. Heh.
Labels: Fantasy, Globalism, History, Ideas, Strategic Thinking
etched with acid at 12:14:00 pm
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