Workshop to help instil business confidence

| Danial Norjidi |

THE Local Business Development (LBD) Workshop taking place on September 20 at the Radisson Hotel, is set to feature a Blue Ocean strategy expert and veteran consultant from the Blue Ocean Strategy Institute who will engage in dialogue with Brunei business owners, managers and corporate executives on the subject, ‘Blue Ocean Shift: Beyond Competing, Toward Creating.’

According to a press release from event organisers Asia Inc Forum, the workshop aims to help local businesses instil confidence in their teams and seize new growth by breaking out of competition in the pursuit of new markets.

It will benefit those who are directly involved in the development of products and services by providing in-depth training and instruction on the proven five-step process of achieving a ‘blue ocean shift.’

It was shared that a business is said to be in a ‘blue ocean’ when it thrives with uncontested market demand for its products and services in a market space where competition is essentially non-existent or of no consequence.

“Blue oceans denote the wider and deeper potential of a market untainted by competition. In blue oceans, there is abundant opportunity for rapid and profitable growth, as demand is created rather than fought over. Competition is irrelevant because the rules of the game are waiting to be defined,” states the press release.

Raj Kumar

It explained that the cornerstone of blue ocean strategy is “value innovation”, the simultaneous pursuit of differentiation and low cost. The aim is not to compete, but to create value for buyers, the company, and its employees, while reducing or eliminating “pain points” – features that are inessential to the current or future market.

By contrast, in a traditional “red ocean”, businesses operate under intense competition. To sustain themselves, businesses focus on building advantages over competitors, usually by assessing what they do and striving to better. In a red ocean, capturing a share of the market is seen as a zero-sum game in which one company’s gain is achieved at another company’s loss. As new players emerge, the market gets overcrowded, profits start to decline, and growth opportunities diminish. Consequently, businesses could come under threat.

The LBD Workshop will be led by an expert on the subject and CEO of UCSI Blue Ocean Strategy Consulting at the Blue Ocean Strategy Institute based in Kuala Lumpur Raj Kumar.

Raj is a certified Consultant and Practitioner from the Blue Ocean Strategy-Initiative Centre of Professors Kim and Mauborgne, co-creators of Blue Ocean Strategy. He has conducted programmes on Blue Ocean Strategy across North America, the Middle East, Africa and Asia Pacific, and has helped hundreds of small and medium enterprises (SMEs), large companies, conglomerates and government-linked corporations successfully deploy and implement Blue Ocean Strategy.

The workshop is limited to only 30 business attendees to optimise training.

It is part of a two-day LBD Programme which also includes an LBD Forum on September 19, which is open to 150 delegates.

The LBD Programme 2018 is organised by Asia Inc Forum in partnership with Baiduri Bank as Major Partner, Borneo Bulletin as Print and Digital Media Partner and MMW as Creative Partner.

Information on the LBD Programme and how to register can be found online at asiaincforum.com or through Huda Sulaiman at 2226555 ext 12, email conference@asiaincforum.com.

Source: https://borneobulletin.com.bn/workshop-to-help-instil-business-confidence/