W. Chan Kim

W. Chan Kim is a renowned professor of strategy and international management and co-author of the best-selling book, Blue Ocean Strategy. He holds a degree from the University of Illinois, a Master’s degree from Harvard, and a Ph.D. from MIT. Along with his co-author Renée Mauborgne, he has advanced the field of business strategy, introducing the Blue Ocean Strategy model, to help companies create and sustain their own unique competitive advantages in the market.

Kim began his career teaching at Insead, where he played an influential role in developing its strategy curriculum. In addition to his work at Insead, Kim also serves as professor at Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. His work has taken him around the world, speaking and teaching at corporate executives, universities, and business schools, spanning multiple countries and cultures in Asia, North America, and Europe.

Kim is widely acclaimed for introducing the Blue Ocean Strategy into the business world. This strategy proposes that success is not a function of competition, but of carving out a unique market space for a company that sets it apart from competitors. In Blue Ocean Strategy, Kim and Mauborgne point out four key principles of creating successful blue ocean strategies. These principles include “(1) Reach beyond existing demand, (2) Get the strategic sequence right, (3) Overcome key organizational hurdles, and (4) Build execution into strategy”. Kim and Mauborgne also provide clear and comprehensive tools and frameworks to help businesses accomplish these tasks.

Beyond Kim’s fame for Blue Ocean Strategy, he is also renowned for his research in international management, which has been published in the Harvard Business Review and other major academic journals. His research focuses on the interplay of strategy, innovation, and globalization with particular consideration to the field of knowledge economics.

Kim’s work and impact in business strategy are reflected in the numerous awards he has won in the field. These include the John LinHoyer Distinguished Research Scholar Award, from the International Association for Asian Management Research, and the International Grand Prize, from the Thinkers50 (which is a twice-yearly award for outstanding business thinkers). In addition, Insead and Kim co-founded the World Economic Forum’s Global Agenda Council on Strategy and Competitiveness, a network of eminent experts worldwide.

Kim has also written 11 books that are acknowledged as classics. Among these are The Kim and Mauborgne Bestseller, Blue Ocean Strategy, Value Innovation: The Strategic Logic of High Growth and the Global Ideas Bank, a book outlining a unique model of successful innovation.

W. Chan Kim's work has made a massive impact on modern business strategy, thanks to his groundbreaking research in creating and sustaining competitive advantage, and introducing the Blue Ocean Strategy model. His writing and teaching continue to influence the corporate world around the world and his research will serve as an invaluable reference for future generations of business strategists.