About

Michael Bolden, Senior Principal, Waterside Consulting

This blog is dedicated to helping companies and organizations win, dominate and monopolize markets and areas.  It will concentrate its efforts on providing insights into cutting edge marketing strategies and best practice innovation initiatives.  This blog will actively seek to bridge the gap between strategic marketing and innovation practices.  This gap is a huge disconnect in strategy for many companies and organizations which makes them less profitable and/or effective.  It will have a strong emphasis on Blue Ocean Strategy, and its use to bridge this gap.  Our readers will be able to use these postings to generate more revenue for their respective companies and organizations, and have a place for discussing their ideas.

Our postings will focus on owning a marketspace through Blue Ocean and other strategic best practices.  This blog is a forum for cutting edge marketing strategy and innovation practices to help executives, managers and business owners become the dominant player in their space or niche.  We want to foster an online community where people share and advance the ideas of Blue Ocean Strategies, world-class marketing and best innovation practices.  Equally as important, we want to discuss translating these strategies into actionable steps for companies and organizations.  We want this blog to be a place where an executive, manager or business owner can learn something new every week to advance their business or organization.  Our postings will inform, inspire, and be highly actionable.

Mike Bolden Bio

I am an experienced management consultant who is an expert in marketing and Blue Oceans Strategy and innovation.  I am interested in serving our readers who want to advance their knowledge in these areas, and who may have issues which they are facing in their business or organization.  I have over 15 years of industry experience with Accenture, Ernst & Young, the 3M Company and the Computer Science Corporation (CSC).  I have worked or partnered with Costco Warehouse Stores, Hilton Hotels & Resorts, DuPont, ACCO, Anheuser-Busch, Chase, Enterprise Car Rental, Ameritech, Owens Corning, Discover Card, British Petroleum and a variety of mid-sized companies.

In 2007, I partnered with a national big box retail chain to create a new, Blue Ocean retail concept in the consumer services space.  It is estimated to generate over $200 million annual revenue.  I also helped a Fortune 100 hospitality chain define and tap into multi-cultural, Blue Ocean marketspaces by providing a marketing assessment and action plan for their C-level executives.  This kind of work experience has given me insight into marketing and innovation practices that work and don’t work.  I will share these insights and related ideas in this blog’s postings.  I want you to take these ideas and internalize them for use in your business – so that they help you with top line, revenue growth and your overall organization’s effectiveness.

My ideas and strategies are furthered by continually digesting of books and articles within marketing and innovation – and based on a solid academic background.  I graduated from Stanford University’s School of Engineering in 1988.  And, I earned four concentrations at The University of Chicago Business School (1993): marketing, policy (strategy), finance and production management as a Dean’s List Honor Student.  I am currently authoring the forthcoming book; “Owning Marketspace” of which I will be posting advanced excerpts on this blog periodically.  It is due out in January ’09.  In this blog and in the book – I offer ground-breaking strategy in advance Blue Ocean initiatives and tapping into latent customer demand.

I am willing to talk with blog participants live via phone for free consultations.  I am also available to companies, businesses and organizations for consulting engagements and speaking opportunities.  For any of these request, E-mail me.  I will help my readers in any way possible – I want to share my knowledge and expertise.

Mike Bolden is Senior Principal at Waterside Consulting.  He is a marketing expert and blue ocean strategist – writing to inform, enlighten, and inspire.  Visit www.WatersideConsulting.net for more information or to schedule a consultation.