The Indian Premier League: Innovation Without Disruption

The background notes accompany the free online case “Indian Premier League: Innovation Without Disruption”, a self-paced, interactive case that lets readers analyze the strategic logic behind the launch of Indian Premier League (IPL) using blue ocean analytical tools and frameworks. With visual aids and interactive exercises, the case explores how the IPL transformed traditional days-long cricket matches into a thrilling three-hour sports drama with Bollywood music and cheerleaders, and opened up a new market space - “cricketainment” on the pitch and on primetime TV for families to enjoy. Students and executives come to understand the IPL and cricketainment market as an example of nondisruptive creation, i.e., they did not displace or disrupt the existing sector (players, products or services). They were creative but not destructive of what went before, i.e., the domestic cricket league and other forms of entertainment. Applying Chan Kim and Renée Mauborgne’s three-step process, readers discover how the IPL unlocked a new market that was beneficial to both the domestic cricket league and the entertainment industry.

The teaching objectives of the online case and background notes are: 1) To explore how the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) reinvented the way cricket was played and enjoyed; 2) Apply Blue Ocean concepts, tools and frameworks to the BCCI’s strategic move to create the IPL; 3) Understand that innovation and growth can be driven by “nondisruptive creation”; 4) Illustrate that concept/process using the BCCI’s success in creating a new market and exponential growth without displacing or disrupting the existing order.