Book excerpt: Private banking faces increasing pressure from various sources, resulting in consistently diminishing margins. Continuing to follow conventional strategies will not solve these problems and therefore calls for different approaches. This is where the blue ocean strategy (BOS) approach comes into play. Developed by two INSEAD professors, this concept aims at creating an uncontested market space without competition, where new client groups are served through high-value offerings. In this book, Dr. Marc Strauss, a former top management consultant and private banking expert, with considerable experience in strategy creation and implementation, comprehensively applies the BOS approach to the field of private banking. Through his book, Dr. Strauss offers various benefits to both academics and practitioners by: - Conducting a complete and consistent run-through of the entire BOS formulation process - Creating a tailored framework to evaluate and build an actionable BOS blueprint - Developing a concrete BOS for an exemplary private bank, including the formulation of a distinct (operating) business model - Creating a business case to describe the commercial viability of the new BOS private banking unit and the combined Entity - Providing practitioners with "food for thought"