The case describes a series of blue ocean strategic moves made by Salesforce.com in the CRM application market. In particular, the case addresses the concern of business executives over the applicability of blue ocean strategy in the B2B area. B2B managers often find that they are locked into providing products of certain types and specifications to their immediate customers.

This case focuses on Skype in the voice-over-IP (VoIP) industry. Its offering created such exceptional utility for users around the world that Skype has become a verb – to “skype” someone means to call someone using the Skype application. Yet despite explosive growth in demand, the company was not profitable in four out of the five years prior to its acquisition by Microsoft in 2011.

The case describes a series of blue ocean strategic moves made by Salesforce.com in the CRM application market. In particular, the case addresses the concern of business executives over the applicability of blue ocean strategy in the B2B area. B2B managers often find that they are locked into providing products of certain types and specifications to their immediate customers.