The Blue Ocean that disappeared – the case of Nintendo Wii Svend Hollensen Introduction Kim and Mauborgne (2005a, b, c) use the ocean as a metaphor to describe the competitive space in which an organization chooses to swim. Red Oceans refer to the frequently accessed market spaces where the products are well-defined, competitors are known and competition is ‘‘bloody’’ and based on price, product quality and service. In other words, Red Oceans are an old paradigm that represents all the industries in existence today. Michael Porter (1980, 1985) believes that companies are fighting for competitive advantage, battling for market share and struggling for differentiation. Blue Ocean strategists argue that cut-throat competition results in nothing but a bloody Red Ocean of rivals fighting over a shrinking profit pool. Blue Oceans denotes an environment where products are not yet well-defined, competitors are not structured and the market is relatively unknown. Companies that sail in the Blue Oceans are those beating the competition by focusing on developing compelling value innovations that create uncontested market space (Kim and Mauborgne, 2005a). This is done by reconfiguring the company’s offerings to better balance customer needs with the economic costs of doing so. The outcome of this process is a new value proposition. Kim and Mauborgne (2005a) argue that tomorrow’s leading companies will succeed not by battling competitors, but by making strategic moves, which they call value innovations: new offerings that deliver more value to customers while at the same time driving down costs. However, the important questions still persist: How can a value innovation-based strategy be defined and how can a set of new value propositions be created? To answer these questions Kim and Mauborgne (1997) introduce another research tool to identify a company’s strategy, the ‘‘strategy canvas’’. The strategy canvas framework can be used to map the focal company’s current value proposition and then compare it to the industry average and some of the mainstream competitors. The value factors are the components of the total product/service offer that are perceived as important by customers. The value factors can then be evaluated by the customer as high or low on a performance scale. This article analyzes the ‘‘Blue Ocean’’ phenomenon in depth through a single case study of Nintendo ‘‘Wii’’. The goal is to better understand the underlying dynamic strategies in the form of interactions between theory and management practices. We evaluate the ‘‘turning points’’ and the timing of the strategies in transforming a Red Ocean to a Blue Ocean, and back again. Although there are inherent limitations to a single case study, we formulate managerial implications and discuss Nintendo’s remaining challenges and further perspectives. DOI 10.1108/JBS-02-2013-0012 VOL. 34 NO. 5 2013, pp. 25-35, Q Emerald Group Publishing Limited, ISSN 0275-6668 j JOURNAL OF BUSINESS STRATEGY j PAGE 25 Svend Hollensen is based at University of Southern Denmark, Sønderborg, Denmark.