TEACHING MATERIALS

Blue ocean pedagogical materials, used in nearly 3,000 universities and in almost every country in the world, go beyond the standard case-based method. Our multimedia cases and interactive exercises are designed to help you build a deeper​ understanding of key blue ocean strategy concepts, developed by world-renowned professors Chan Kim and Renée Mauborgne.

Bring the Shoe Store to Your Home (Part A)

Author(s): KIM, W. Chan, MAUBORGNE, Renée, KOO, Oh Young

Case study trailer

Summary

This is the first part of two case series of Zappos’s blue ocean strategic move as an innovative online shoe retailer. Part A focuses on how Zappos reconstructed the existing boundaries of the online footwear retail industry. It describes Zappos’s distinctive value proposition that is neither an offline nor online shoe store in the conventional sense. The case also introduces how Zappos broke the value-cost trade-off of the conventional online shoe store. The case comes with a theory-based video case, which can be requested below.

Strategy Powered by Culture and People (Part B)

Author(s): KIM, W. Chan, MAUBORGNE, Renée, KOO, Oh Young

The second part of Zappos case focuses on Zappos’s people proposition, which led to high performance and raised barriers to imitation. It demonstrates the importance of Fair Process that builds deep trust and commitment in the company, making it difficult for competitors to imitate Zappos.