Richard Branson and the Virgin Group Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Richard Branson and the Virgin radical - Coursework ExampleThe groups activities span such disparate lines of business as music, airlines, rail transport, celluloid industry, financial services, telecommunications, soft drinks, space travel, tourism, health services and much more. As can be expected, some of the ventures did not live up to the expectations, inviting criticism of the limits to which a brands power can be stretched by reckless and unrelated diversification. At the same time, the unique leadership that Branson provides with commonsense approach, changing unified and functional strategies continuously, laying focus on corporate governance, customer satisfaction and employee-motivation belie the flamboyant extrovert who exploits every opportunity to enhance Virgins brand power for success of the various ventures under its umbrella. The case study explores the story of an entrepreneur who dares to challenge established notions of limits of brand dilution, diversification into unrelated areas, note value of commonsense in business, and informality in organizational/communication matters. Talking to the Forbes magazine on 1 February 1997, Branson said, If you can conduct one connection, you can run any company. You can learn the nuances of a particular industry in two months. And it is so great being in so many distinguishable businesses. That is the fun of it (Anon., n.d., coursework.info). The last part is a give away (the fun and enjoyment of being in business) for the Branson persona. Occasional failure or short-on-performance does not skip Bransons vision for making Virgin as one of the worlds leading brands. Failures While the Virgin Record Company and related businesses were highly successful, Bransons move into the highly competitive airlines industry and challenging the major established players with cheap travel plans was not so successful. In fact, in the advance(prenominal) 1990s, Branson had to sell off his first love, the music co mpany, in order to support the faltering Virgin Atlantic Airways, which faced intense competition from the British Airways, the ascendent player. Although Virgin Atlantic Airways started off well since its inception in 1984 and went public in 1986, the stock market crash of 1987 led to crash of its share prices forcing Branson to misdirect back the public stock and turn it into a private firm once again (Anon., n.d., coursework.info). The Virgin Groups cable company NTL think acquisition of a stake in the media and entertainment business which was dominated by Rupert Murdoch, by acquiring nearly 20% stake in the company ITV (Barr, 2006 Clothier, CNN, 2006). These plans were thwarted by Rupert Murdochs BSkyB, who outbid NTL. This episode exposed Bransons inability to accept defeat in grace. Another criticism of the Virgin Group has been its inability to fully integrate local cultural nuances into its management policies and branded products. In order to overcome this situation, Br anson brought in a well-known marketing specialiser Ashley Stockwell, as Virgins Brand Marketing Director (Anon., n.d., coursework.info). Bransons foray into the movie industry with the acquisition of MGM in 1995 was again a failure, which he readily accepted and described it as a premature decision (Anon., n.d., coursework.info). Reasons for success Branson