A Blue Ocean revolution in finance

Challenging an industry’s conventional wisdom about which buyer group to target can lead to the discovery of new blue oceans. By looking across buyer groups, companies can gain new insights into how to redesign their value curves to focus on a previously overlooked set of buyers (Blue Ocean Strategy, page 61).

We recently received an article contribution entitled "Islamic Finance in the Blue Ocean," which describes the need not only for change and reform in finance, but to address the banking needs of a previously overlooked set of buyers.  That set of buyers is, in fact, a rather large one — potentially consisting of the entire global Islamic population. 

As Ng Boon Ka writes:

Blue Ocean Strategy advocates a better strategy by exploring “blue oceans,” or untapped and untargeted markets that hold tremendous growth potential — rather than going against rivals for a share of existing markets.

The development of BOS revolves around preference for risk minimization by reconstructing market boundaries; focusing on the big picture, not numbers; reaching beyond existing demand; getting the right strategic sequences, overcoming organizational hurdles and embedding execution into strategy.

The present economic crisis sparks “creative destruction” whereby “out of destruction a new spirit of creativity arises” for Islamic finance to be the agent of change.

In fact, the revolution is likely to happen sooner than anticipated, with the recent announcement by Shaikh Saleh Kamel, chairman of Al Baraka Banking Group, of the imminent launch of a new mega Islamic Bank.

Download the entire article Islamic Finance in the Blue Ocean, by Ng Boon Ka, Oxford law graduate and PhD candidate at Centre for Education on Islamic Finance, INCEIF, here.

[Image via Reuters.]