Creation of a Blue Ocean Strategy- NovoPen by Novo Nordisk

Insulin is a medicine used by diabetics’ patient under the prescription of a doctor. The administration of the same to the patient was either done by the doctor or done with the supervision of the doctor. Insulin was supplied to patients in ‘vials’ with its syringes, needles, medicine and with the required administering doses. This made administration of the medicine to the patient very complex, and to be done by a trained person, each time. Novo Nordisk, one of the leading pharmaceutical company manufacturing this medicine, found that the main way of differentiating the product was by improving the purity of the medicine, which has reached a plateau among all competing manufacturers.

Novo Nordisk hence looked at a different approach to innovate ie. a Blue ocean way. Can we (the company) move away from this traditional way of competing against competitors? Why not instead of doing better in the market by looking at the medicine, look at the administration of the medicine? Can we shift the focus from the doctor as decision maker to the patient? Combining both these possibilities, the company created a Blue ocean Strategy, through its ‘Path of looking across Chain of Buyers’.

Novo NorDisk developed the NovoPen, which resembled a fountain pen, by which the patient himself/herself can administer/inject the medicine. It contained an insulin cartridge that the patient can carry as a self-contained unit, with roughly week’s dosage. The pen had a click mechanism, by which any one can control the dosage while administering. It provided ease and convenience to the patent without the complexity of syringes and needles (to have been used by a trained medical person). By NovoPen, Novo Nordisk created Blue Ocean Strategy through its product and delivery.

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