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ABSTRACT
According to the well-known authors and management thinkers, W. Chan Kim and Renee Mauborgne, 'the only way to beat the competition is to stop trying to beat the competition'. According to them, the entire market universe can be divided into two oceans: Red Ocean and Blue Ocean. Red Ocean is representative of all such industries/products, which already exist and are thus representative of the known market space. Blue Oceans denote the industries/products not in existence today. Blue Oceans thus represent the unknown market space. In the Red Ocean industry boundaries are defined and well accepted. This means the existing competition is well known in the market space and the players in the market try to outperform their rivals to get greater share of the existing market demand. As existing market space gets crowded prospects for good profit and growth in future are reduced. Products then lose their distinctiveness and become regular commodities resulting in cut throat market competition thus turning Red Ocean more red or bloodier. Blue Ocean in contrast is defined by untapped market space, opportunities for highly profitable growth and possibility for new demand creation. The Bottom of the Pyramid (BOP) has emerged as a dominant concept in business, propelled by C.K Prahalad's (2005) The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid. Given the enormous attention the concept has attracted, it has the potential to impact the world's billions of poor people-as well as the managerial practices of multinational corporations. This double potential makes it important to analyze how large corporations can serve low-income customers profitably.
Keywords: Red Ocean, Blue Ocean, Bottom of the Pyramid, market, competition, demand.
INTRODUCTION
According to the well-known authors and management thinkers, W. Chan Kim and Renee Mauborgne, 'the only way to beat the competition is to stop trying to beat the competition". According to them, the entire market universe can be divided into two oceans: Red Ocean and Blue Ocean. Red Ocean is representative of all such industries/products, which already exist and are thus representative of the known market space. Blue Oceans denote the industries/products not in existence today. Blue Oceans thus represent the unknown market space. In the Red Ocean industry boundaries are defined and well accepted. This means the existing competition is well...