Boil the Ocean - Definition
Written by Jason Gordon
Updated at December 16th, 2020
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What is Boil The Ocean?
Boiling the ocean refers to an attempt to perform a seemingly impossible task. Also, it is used to refer to when the scope of a task or project is unnecessarily increased so as to become difficult to achieve.
In strategy, it refers to situations in which a company takes on a bigger project or assumes a goal that is impossible to accomplish.
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Academic Research on Boil the Ocean
- Harnessing Diversity through Open Innovation Platforms: You Can't Boil the Ocean... Or Can You?, Levina, N., & Malone, T. W. In Academy of Management Proceedings. Academy of ManagementBriarcliff Manor, NY 10510.
- How to Scale Improvement: Beyond Bottlenecks and Boiling the Ocean, Prager, D. (2018). Available at SSRN 3245685.
- Tackling risk-based compliance, Ludwick, K. (2006). Journal of Investment Compliance, 7(4), 61-64.
- A systems approach for human capital management, Jackson, P. (2007). VINE, 37(4), 399-403.
- How to scope DMAIC projects, Lynch, D. P., Bertolino, S., & Cloutier, E. (2003). Quality progress, 36(1), 37-41.
- How to avoid use-case pitfalls, Lilly, S. (2000). How to avoid use-case pitfalls. SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT-SAN FRANCISCO-, 8, 40-45.
- Engineering the sustainable business: An enterprise architecture approach, Noran, O. V. I. D. I. U. (2009). Coherency management: Architecting the enterprise for alignment, agility, and assurance, 179-210.
- Inter-and intra-organisational barriers to sharing knowledge in the extended supply-chain, Barson, R. J., Foster, G., Struck, T., Ratchev, S., Pawar, K., Weber, F., & Wunram, M. (2000, October). In Proceedings of the eBusiness and eWork (pp. 18-20).
- Consumer activism means big business, McCune, J. C. (1990). Management Review, 79(12), 16.
- Enhancing IT support with knowledge management, Gilbert, P., Morse, R., & Lee, M. (2007). CA Transforming IT Management, December, 1-8.