Marvel Enterprises, Inc: Case Study Help
Introduction
Marvel filed for bankruptcy on October 1, 1998, after losing $105 million in the year 2000 (Elberse, 2004). However, it recovered miraculously in just three and a half years, and by June 2004, it was debt-free. Comic book sales were the company's major source of revenue when it was started in the 1930s. Marvel had made a name for itself with characters like The Human Torch, The Sub-Mariner, and Captain America, but the comic book business collapsed in the following years as parents worried they were dangerous to their children. Marvel could resurrect itself by inventing the Marvel universe and introducing new characters such as The Fantastic Four and The Amazing Spider-Man, allowing Marvel to compete with DC Comics' lineup of Superman, Batman, and other superheroes.
Ronald Perelman bought Marvel in 1989 and renamed it Marvel Entertainment Group after launching it on the stock exchange. Ronald restructured the company, deleting underperforming lineups and working his way up the ranks by acquiring other comic-book publishers. The technique had initially yielded profits, but Ronald decreased the quality of the comics and raised the pricing in search of profit, leaving the collection with worthless sheets and little value. As a result, sales of the company's comics dropped dramatically in the mid-1990s, forcing the company to declare for bankruptcy in the late 1990s. Marvel was reborn on October 1, 1998, when Toy Biz Inc. purchased the company and renamed it Marvel Enterprises Inc.
Former owners of Toy Biz Inc., Perlmutter and Arad, formed the Marvel board of directors by recruiting a new CEO and executives. The company had already lost $105 million in 2000, therefore the turnaround would be difficult.
This corporation was responsible for generating and licensing Marvel characters, which will appear in movies, motion pictures, video games, and television shows, as well as toys, apparel, collectibles, and food. The focus was on the premise that if people had seen the movie, they would buy our goods and play the game.
Managing these characteristics in order to maintain their worth in the future was the next step in this strategy. It was as though the firm was in charge of superstars' bookings, timetables, and negotiations, with the exception that the superstars were Spider-Man and Captain America, not Brad Pitt.
The plan was yielding the expected results for the board; by mid-June 2004, the company had paid off all of its debt and was debt-free.
Problem Statement
With all the success, the board had to ask itself a hard question: was this success a fluke? Or will the business be able to keep going? Was Marvel limited to a few well-known characters, such as Spider-Man, the company's most well-known character? What about the 4000 other characters in its library? The dilemma was whether Marvel should continue to milk these Cash Cows or whether it was time to build the entire brand and offer fresh new characters to the market, and if so, how. What marketing initiatives will Marvel need to implement in order to achieve this? These were the issues that Marvel had to deal with, and they had to be considered.
Situation Analysis
Marvel Enterprises' management team must rethink its marketing strategy, which is known for its superhero universe, which includes Spider-Man, the Hulk, and the X-Men. Marvel had a market value of more than $2 billion in June 2004, barely six years after the firm had emerged from bankruptcy. Originally a comic book publisher, the corporation today has lucrative toy, motion picture, and consumer product licensing operations. However, there are still some reservations regarding Marvel's business model and growth prospects. Was Marvel's winning run a onetime occurrence? Was Marvel's success predicated on a few blockbuster characters, most notably Spider-Man, and should Marvel continue to rely on them? Or was it time to look for progress in a bigger cast of characters? Was it prudent for Marvel to branch out from its current business model and pursue more capital-intensive operations when looking for growth opportunities? What marketing strategy would help Marvel maintain its current level of success in the future? Color exhibitions are included.
SWOT Analysis:
Swot analysis is a very useful analysis for understanding the external and internal environment of the company by identifying their strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats.
Strengths:
- The Marvel Enterprises has a strong financial position. The company has strong brand equity. The company has about over four thousands of characters. Company has good positioning in the market with high differentiation. The movie of Marvel enterprise Spider man which is loved by today to the viewers has a large of credit to build strong brand recognition of the company.
Weaknesses:
- The major weakness of the company was to face the losses in year 2000 which affect all the financial statements of the company. The market shares of the company are weak. The internal management of the company is also weak, with lower job satisfaction, which refracts the performance of employees.
Opportunity:
- By analyzing the case, the current opportunities for the company are to introduce new type of products in the same market or expand the market with similar products. Operate through online is also an excellent opportunity for Marvel Enterprises. Increase the innovation with latest technology by gaining the competitive advantage in market.
Threats:
- The major threat for the Marvel is Disney and Pixar Animation enterprises. These firms operate internationally and having strong brand image with brand equity. Besides them, new competitors are also entering the market and target the customers through sound marketing strategies. The economy of the United States directly shows impact on this industry because a downturn in the economy affects the purchasing power of customers.
PESTEL Analysis:
Pestel analysis is a good analytical tool used to measure the 06 important factors which affect every industry. Those factors are political, environmental, social, technological, economic and legal.
Political Factors:
The political changes like elections strike new governments. These all things effect on Marvel enterprise negatively. New rules, laws and policies regarding property and products also effect on the industry. Change in politics also changes the rules and rates of taxation which is also connected with property and the Marvel Enterprises can suffer from these factors.
Environmental Factors:
The changes in environment also affect the business of Film industry. The global climate changes also affect the Marvel Enterprises.
Social Factors:
Social factors also affect the film industry in United States. Age, culture, population change. These all factors affect the company. Change in perception, attitude of viewers also affect the film industry.
Technological Factors:
The existing technology which company use and the new introducing technology both create vital role in film industry to gain market share and competitive edge. If the competitor has advanced technology than the Marvel should update the technology according to tend because technology in film industries speaks a lot.
Economic Factors:
Economic factors like growth or decline in economy, taxes, inflation rate, interest rate and changes in level of employment these all economic factors effect on Marvel Enterprises. Increase in inflation and decrease in economy gives negative impact on Marvel Enterprises as in 2008 face by company.
Legal Factors:
Legal factors are the factors which are strictly followed in United States by any of the industry. The Marvel is also bounded by legal factors like license, health and safety of characters, laws related to shoot the movie and launch the movie. All these legal things are to take on much more consideration by Marvel Enterprises.....
Marvel Enterprises, Inc Case Study Help
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