Blue Ocean Strategy Case Study

Virtual World's 'Second Life': INSEAD's New Campus

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Abstract:
The case study titled “Virtual World ‘Second Life’: INSEAD’s New Campus”, deals with the emergence and potential of virtual worlds as an innovative 3D medium providing an immersive experience to users for gaming, education and business. With the change in technology, virtual worlds, earlier used only for online gaming are now being used from socialising, business communication to education, trade, etc. These innovative usages of virtual worlds gave rise to a virtual economy, which is growing at a rapid pace and is creating real money for its users through various means. This rising popularity of the virtual worlds encouraged INSEAD, one of the leading business schools, to set up its virtual campus on the popular virtual world ‘Second Life’. INSEAD’s virtual campus has been offering MBA and other executive programmes along with other activities like discussions, researches, information sessions, etc., similar to its real campus. The case study discusses about given the increasing use and rising popularity of virtual worlds, what impacts do virtual worlds have on individuals, education, business and society at large?

Pedagogical Objectives:

• To understand the business and revenue models of virtual world ‘Second Life’
• To understand the working of INSEAD’s virtual campus and discuss its business and revenue models
• To debate on the rising popularity of the virtual worlds and their impact on the society.

Keywords : Blue Ocean Strategy, Business Models, Operating Model. Virtual Classrooms, Virtual World, Avatar, 3D Virtual Environment, Role Playing Games, Secondlife.com, Virtual Goods, Virtual Economy, Linden Dollars, INSEAD Second Life Campus, Busienss Model of Secon

Contents : 
Virtual World: A Thriving Economy
Internet Users by Geographic Regions in 2008
Second Life: The Largest Virtual World
IBM Virtual Environment in Second Life
INSEAD in Second Life
INSEAD’s Journey of Five Decades