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 concepts, from blue ocean strategy to nondisruptive creation, developed by world-renowned professors Chan Kim and Renée Mauborgne. Currently, with over 20 Harvard bestselling cases.

Skype in the Voice-over-IP Industry: A Commercially Viable Blue Ocean?

Author(s): KIM, W. Chan, MAUBORGNE, Renée, LING, Katrina, LEE, Jee-Eun

Summary

This case illustrates the experience of an avid Skype user who leverages Skype’s voice and video offerings interchangeably for business and personal communication. This combined voice and video offering gives Skype users much higher value at lower cost than alternatives such as long-distance calling, which is not video-enabled, room-based video conferencing, which has a high set-up cost, and business and leisure travel, which have their own associated costs and hassles.

The case illustrates the disconnect between Skype’s bifurcated pricing strategy, which is based on business versus leisure use, when those boundaries do not necessarily exist in the minds of Skype users.

This paper case and the accompanying case exercises prepare the participants for an engaging class discussion on what constitutes Skype’s unprecedented voice and video offering, addressing the issue of how one could set a strategic price even though there appears to be no seeming precedents for such an offering.

Pedagogical Objectives:

• Identify blocks to utility across the entire buyer experience cycle for customers and noncustomers; identify the overlooked opportunities to unlock exceptional utility; assess whether a company’s strategic move effectively removes these blocks to unlock compelling utility
• De-segment buyer groups and aggregate demand building on powerful commonalities across customers and noncustomers
• Construct a price corridor of the target mass to determine the right strategic price for a blue ocean offering even if there are no seeming precedents in the new market space

Case Study

HBSP | Case Centre | INSEAD

Teaching Note

HBSP | Case Centre | INSEAD

Video English:

 Available to download for free in the Educators’ Space

Lecture Slides

English: Available to download for free in the Educators’ Space