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Best Business Books Like Blue Ocean Strategy

Best Business Books Like Blue Ocean Strategy

Looking for the best business books like Blue Ocean Strategy?

Reading books that are similar to the ones you love definitely helps in finding impactful books. To reach the next level in your career, it is helpful to learn from those who have proven it can be done. And if you want to develop business skills books are one of the cheapest ways to obtain a crash course on a particular skill or area of expertise today. For the cost of a cheap dinner, you can get a business book that can transform your life. It’s a bargain.

Best Business Books Like Blue Ocean Strategy

Below are our handpicked recommendations, if you are looking for the best business books like the Blue Ocean Strategy. These business books are great for those of you looking to do anything from joining a management consulting firm, to advancing your career, learning or strengthening skills, building or growing a business, becoming more productive, making a bigger impact, preparing for a recession, increasing your earning potential and the value of your work, and everything in between.

Hundreds of great business books come out every year. For most people, it is not possible to read them all. Also, not everyone has the resources, especially time, to go back to school to do an MBA or a similar degree to help develop a strong skill-set. We compiled this list of best business books like Blue Ocean Strategy specifically for business professionals with little free time, who are interested in developing strong strategy and other business skills. We try to carefully curate all of our reading lists and are confident that any business book on this page is worth your time. Each of these books will help boost your business acumen and, possibly, change your life.

The Blue Ocean Strategy

The first time I heard about this book was from my friend Ravi. He was one of the smartest people I have ever, EVER, met so I knew this book will be worthwhile checking out. As you probably know, this book is about how to make the competition irrelevant. The authors, W. Chan Kim and Renee Mauborgne, argue that tomorrow’s leading organizations will succeed by creating “blue oceans” of unserved new market spaces with significant growth potential. If you can’t point out competitors to your product or service but there is a growing demand for what you have to offer, you are onto something.

Handpicked best business books like Blue Ocean Strategy

Below we will list some books like Blue Ocean Strategy. We will separate them into two sections, older classics, and more recent publications.

Best Business Books Like Blue Ocean Strategy: Great Older Books

Best Business Books Like Blue Ocean Strategy The Innovator's DilemmaThe Innovator’s Dilemma, When New Technologies Cause Great Firms to Fail, by Clayton M. Christensen

One of the best business books of all time. If you are looking for Books Like Blue Ocean Strategy you will likely enjoy The Innovator’s Dilemma. The Innovator’s Dilemma – “By the nineties, most books on management were just rhetoric, but this book is the real deal. A well-researched classic,” says Bill Matassoni. Named one of 100 Leadership & Success Books to Read in a Lifetime by Amazon Editors. In his book, Clayton Christensen showcases how even the most outstanding organizations can do everything right and still lose market leadership.

Best Business Books Like Blue Ocean Strategy strategy

Best Business Books Like Blue Ocean StrategyThe Mind of The Strategist

Another book you will likely like if you are looking for books Like Blue Ocean Strategy is The Mind of The Strategist, by Kenichi Ohmae. Bill Matassoni speaks highly of Kenichi Ohmae in his memoir Marketing Saves the World. He is one of a few people Bill calls “brilliant.” The Mind of The Strategist remains one of a few strategy books we recommend to understand how to think critically. Now you can read Bill’s memoir, a book about Bill’s mentor (Marvin Bower), and a book by one of Bill’s close colleagues at McKinsey (Kenichi Ohmae). Definitely, one of the best business books, especially if you are interested in management consulting and strategy.

Best Business Books Like Blue Ocean Strategy The GoalThe Goal by Eliyahu Goldratt

The Goal is a great book to read if you want to understand operations and interested in books Like Blue Ocean Strategy. It was recommended by Michael multiple times, including in this popular episode from our Youtube channel which explains how to solve Operations cases. A factory may be an unlikely setting for a novel but this book is very effective in helping you understand operations. It is also quite entertaining to read. In fact, I had it as prescribed reading for my Operations course during an MBA and it is probably the most memorable book, case or article I have read during my MBA, so highly recommended. One of the best business books, especially if you are interested in operations management.

Best Business Books Like Blue Ocean Strategy competitive strategyCompetitive Strategy: Techniques for Analyzing Industries and Competitors

Another book you should check out if you are interested in books Like Blue Ocean Strategy is Competitive Strategy: Techniques for Analyzing Industries and Competitors, by Michael E. Porter. This book is nearing its sixtieth printing in English and was translated into 19 languages. It has transformed the theory, practice, and teaching of business strategy. The ideas in this book address “the underlying fundamentals of competition in a way that is independent of the specifics of the ways companies go about competing.”

Best Business booksHow Countries Compete, Strategy, Structure, And Government in the Global Economy, by Richard H.K.Vietor

In How Countries Compete the author addresses what does it really mean for a country to compete, and how to do so successfully. “As the world has globalized, countries develop strategies to compete for the markets, technologies, and skills that will raise their standards of living. These government strategies can make – or break – a nation’s efforts to drive and sustain growth.” We highly recommend this book to clients in government, state-owned-enterprises and emerging markets. You will likely enjoy this book if you are looking for books Like Blue Ocean Strategy.

business booksMade in Japan: Akio Morita and Sony

Michael says this biography of Akio Morita, along with “The New GE”, are 2 books that convinced him to leave the sciences for a career in management consulting and initiated his interest in business strategy. In this book, the chairman of the Sony Corp. talks about the rise of Sony, his views on Japan, the US and the global economy, as well as his career as a business person. If you are looking for books Like Blue Ocean Strategy you will likely enjoy this book.

business books good to greatGood to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap… and Others Don’t

Good to Great, by Jim Collins, is another classic book you should take a look at if you are interested in books Like Blue Ocean Strategy. What about companies that are not born with great DNA (when long-term sustained performance engineered into the DNA of an organization from the beginning)? The findings of the Good to Great study surprised many readers. It discusses the type of leadership required to achieve greatness, transcending the curse of competence, combining a culture of discipline with an ethic of entrepreneurship, thinking differently about the role of technology, how those who launch radical change programs almost certainly will fail to make the leap. “Some of the key concepts discerned in the study,” comments Jim Collins, “fly in the face of our modern business culture and will, quite frankly, upset some people.”

Best Business books house of cardsHouse of Cards, How Wall Street’s Gamblers Broke Capitalism, by William D. Cohan

House of Cards is another book on Michael’s bookshelf. “It was Wall Street’s toughest investment bank, taking risks where others feared to tread, run by fueled gamblers who hung a sign saying ‘let’s make nothing but money’ over the trading floor. Yet in March 2008 the 85-year-old firm, Bear Stearns, was brought to its knees, and the global economic meltdown began. With unprecedented access to the people at the eye of the financial storm, William Cohan tells the outrageous story of how Wall Street’s entire house of cards came crashing down. ‘Gripping …high drama …riveting, edge-of-the-seat reading’ – Michio Kakutani, “The New York Times”.”

Best Business Books Like Blue Ocean Strategy: More Recent

Best Business Books Like Blue Ocean StrategySucceeding as a Management Consultant

When people think about the business strategy we often think about the field of strategy consulting/management consulting and firms like McKinsey, BCG, et al. If you are interested in learning how to conduct a management consulting engagement, you will likely enjoy this book. Succeeding as a Management Consultant is a book set in the Brazilian interior. This book follows an engagement team as they assist Goldy, a large Brazilian gold miner, in diagnosing and fixing deep and persistent organizational issues. This book follows an engagement team over an 8-week assignment and explains how they successfully navigate a challenging client environment, develop hypotheses, build the analyses and provide the final recommendations. It is written so the reader may understand, follow and replicate the process. It is the only book laying out a consulting assignment step-by-step. (Published by FIRMSconsulting.) One of the best business books if you are interested in management consulting and strategy.

Best Business Books Like Blue Ocean Strategy zero to oneZero to One: Notes on Startups, or How to Build the Future

Here is one of the most recent books that you may enjoy if you are looking for books Like Blue Ocean Strategy. Zero to One: Notes on Startups, or How to Build the Future, by Peter Thiel and Blake Masters, is a #1 New York Times Bestseller. The book begins with the premise that we live in an age of technological stagnation, despite the fact that we are too distracted by shiny mobile devices to notice this. However, there are still “uncharted frontiers to explore and new inventions to create.” If we are doing what people already know how to do it takes the world from 1 to n, as we are adding more of something similar. However, when we do something new, we go from 0 to 1. One of the best business books.

Best Business Books Like Blue Ocean Strategy marketing saves the world strategicMarketing Saves the World, Bill Matassoni’s Memoir 

Bill Matassoni’s (Ex-McKinsey and Ex-BCG Senior Partner) Marketing Saves The World is a truly unique book. Never before has a McKinsey partner published his memoir publicly. This book is a rare opportunity – a true exclusive – to see what shapes the thought process of a partner and learn about marketing and strategy. The memoir essentially lays out McKinsey’s competitive advantage and explains how it can be neutralized. (Published by FIRMSconsulting.) If you enjoy reading books Like Blue Ocean Strategy, you will likely enjoy this book. One of the best business books if you are interested in marketing, strategy, how McKinsey and BCG operate, and overall in management consulting.

THE NUMBER OF CHOICES AND OPTIONS YOU HAVE TO LEARN STRATEGY

Reading the best strategy books and critical thinking books above is a fantastic start. Yet, what if you want to take it to the next level. What can you do next?

Strategy thinking is not linear and we want you to understand and appreciate how messy it can be. At the end of the day, you want to think like a consulting partner or a talented business leader in another field, versus simply having a box of tools to use.

And this is what we dedicated our lives to. By working through the programs on StrategyTV.com/apps, and especially through the programs on StrategyTraining.com/apps, you will be able to significantly strengthen your business skills, including strategy skills. Business books can take you only so far. They are a great start but often too theoretical, high level and do not give you practical steps to follow.

When I started my career there was no website I could go to to learn strategy. I personally cannot think of any website anywhere in the world even today, apart from the FIRMSconsulting platforms (FirmsConsulting.com, StrategyTV.com/apps, StrategyTraining.com/apps), that teach strategy in this step-by-step approach.

Developing a strategy that works and getting it implemented requires many skills. I know, it seems that is all about the analysis, but it is much more than that. Think of these problems you will likely encounter, and we will teach you to handle.

  • What is the real problem I need/must/should solve?
  • And what is the scope of the problem?
  • How do I solve the problem?
  • What I need to do to find the data?
  • How do I collect the data?
  • What I need to do to change my approach if the data is not available?
  • How do I present my findings in a convincing way?
  • What is required to convince people to follow me?

There are many more steps to getting things to work. Our goal is to give you the skills and confidence to fully succeed and get measurable results. That is why we have such a comprehensive and in-depth range of training programs within Premium membership, and especially within FC Insider. So don’t be intimidated by the bounty of choice. Embrace it. Follow the guides and you will master this.

You have to put in the work. You have to make the decision this is worth learning.

I believe you want to and we want to help you achieve that goal. Just follow the guidance we provide and if you do not know where to start, the 21 Day programs are probably the easiest place to start, finish and begin seeing some results if you are an FC Insider.

We hope you enjoyed our list of books like Blue Ocean Strategy. If you would like to receive sample episodes from our programs sign up here. If you have any questions about the recommended books Like Blue Ocean Strategy above or our membership level training programs do not hesitate to reach out to us at support @ firmsconsulting.com.

Cheers, Kris

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