Blue Ocean Strategy

Author: Daniel A. Frische
twitter: @DFrische5151

In 2005 W. Chan Kim and Reneé Mauborgne published the book “Blue Ocean Strategy”. They argue that whilst companies must fight for their share of existing market with traditional competition based strategies (Red Ocean Strategies), their performance will be limited by sticking to these strategies.

The Blue Ocean Strategy is based on the concept of creating a new market space with no (or little) competition. The book studied over 150 strategic moves made by various companies to move or create a business in the “Blue Ocean”. Companies did this by creating a new markets (Starbucks) or by innovating to make the competition irrelevant (MacIntosh Graphic User Interface).

In 1971 Starbucks charge $3 for a coffee in a touristy market place in Seattle. Considering the number of coffee you could make at home for $3 (£1.86) the idea of spend it on just one cup of coffee seemed absurd, but customers didn’t just come for the coffee. What Starbucks offered was a relaxing and sociable coffee bar where they could meet friends, buy a coffee and sit down to talk. Starbuck created a market for coffee shop focusing on a social and relaxed atmosphere that didn’t exist at the time.

Using Command-Line Interface (CPI) took lots of training and practise to perfect, so when MacIntosh created the first Graphic User Interface (GUI) it was set to obsolete it predecessor. MacIntosh released the first commercially computers using a GUI meaning most people could use a personal computer without being formally trained making it far more appealing than other systems, which later disappeared from the market.

Of course “Blue Oceans” attract many people to have a look and take a swim. Now, Starbucks is just one of a long list of successful coffee shop chains and the MacIntosh GUI is not alone either. An attractive market will always interest others to seek a stake in it, but it is necessary for firms to differentiated themselves from others and seek the blue oceans of new market if they want to sustain a high performance and competitive edge.

Property Price Analysis

Author: Rositsa Georgieva

Property Price Analysis

Cambridge property values have rebounded stronger when compared to the rest of the major cities in Britain according to property analyst Hometrack. Prices in Cambridge have risen by 32.5% higher compared to their peak in 2007 to reach £348,300 on average. These figures beat even London, where values sit at 29% above their peak at £398,700. The other cities that have surpassed their pre-crisis peak are Oxford, Aberdeen, Bristol, Portsmouth, Southampton and Bournemouth.

Cambridge is world-famous with its university and a booming biometrical industry, with AstraZeneca opening a £330 million research facility by the end of 2016 in the city. It is moving its London corporate offices with it. Also, the university is currently working on a massive £1 billion development which includes new research facilities, 3000 homes, new schools, shops and surgeries.

During last summer, property website Rightmove stated that Cambridge had the ''hottest'' market, with houses taking an average of 27 days to sell, compared to 39 days during the previous year.

Over the last year, London, Cambridge and Bristol have seen the strongest uplifts in values out of the cities looked at, while Glasgow and Leicester have seen the lowest increases, according to the findings.

Fourteen out of the 20 cities looked at recorded year-on-year house price inflation which was below the average seen across the whole of the UK. Across the country generally, the typical house price has lifted by nine per cent or £15,300 over the last year to reach £184,580.

The average London house price has increased by 18.1 per cent, or £61,000 in cash terms, over the year to September, while a home buyer in Cambridge would need to find 17.9 per cent or £53,000 more than they would a year ago.

Peter Day

Author: Isabelle-Caroline Kardos                                                                         

 

Peter Day is a Global Business Correspondent at BBC World Service, born in 1947 in England, Norfolk.

His father was the manager at HSBC, known as Midland Bank before 1999 in Lincolnshire. Peter Day studied at Oxford, English Language. Trained by the International Publishing Corporation in South Devon, he starts work at the Daily Record from 1970-1974 in Glasgow. He joined the BBC Radio News in 1974 in London, joining Business News in 1975.He left BBC to join TV A.M. as their economics and industrial correspondent. Later, he rejoined BBC to become a producer and presenter for the Financial World Tonight. He is a great broadcaster and he demonstrated this three times. He won the Harold Wincott Award in 1989, 2000 and 2002 and many other awards like The Work Foundation Lifetime Achievement in 2006.

He is a very open minded person, with great interpersonal skills; he still does interactive sessions with different leaders around the world and discussing about leaders power, socialization, nonprofits and activism. All his life was surrounded by news and media. He has also Global Business Audio Clips.

You can find here the link to his podcasts 

Vertical and horizontal integration

Author: Amanda Biernat

I will try to briefly explain the difference between vertical integration and horizontal integration.

Vertical integration – this type of integration occurs when a company is producing a certain product without any help of external businesses.

Following vertical integration rules can help a business to build a stronger, more valuable position in a market.

Example: Company producing pastries is responsible for creating recipe, pastry itself but also a packaging.

Packaging from different company (focusing mainly on providing boxes, bags etc.) could be easily provided but pastry company is trying to develop the whole product themselves, starting from the actual recipe finishing on packaging, labeling etc.

Horizontal integration- is a strategy that helps to increase a market share of certain company by buying or gradually taking over a similar business selling similar goods.

Example: Facebook and WhatsApp are both providing messaging services.

Facebook buying a WhatsApp is a great example of horizontal integration when one company buys another one that is strongly focusing on the same product/service.