Virgin Group Strategy
Introduction With the foundation of Virgin Records in 1970, the first step was taken towards what is today Virgin Group, which in 2007 comprised 215 companies under its structure, in businesses as diverse as space travel, mobile telephony and fitness centers. Ever since the start, the image and culture of the Virgin Group have been so tightly linked to the personal image and personality of its founder, the high-profile entrepreneur and multimillionaire Sir Richard Branson, that it is almost senseless to dissociate one from the other. This paper aims at providing a critical view over the Virgin Group’s corporate strategy , in terms of strategic thinking and diversification, as well as a closer look at the business strategy of one of the Group’s businesses, the Virgin Atlantic airline.
Corporate Strategy
Virgin Group is defined in their corporate website [4] as a “branded venture capital organization”, the Group’s values being “value for money, quality, innovation, fun and a sense of competitive challenge”, and its mission to “deliver a quality service by empowering our employees and we facilitate and monitor customer feedback to continually improve the customer 's experience through innovation”. The essence of Virgin Group’s business is to operate as a venture capital firm based on the Virgin brand. We will analyze the structure of the Group and its corporate strategic variables at a later point in this document. For now, we will focus on the strategic thinking behind the Group’s modus operandi. At the age of 60, Mr. Branson continues to lead the Group as a privately-held enterprise, with the same entrepreneurial and adventurous spirit that has become his personal trademark. As an illustration of how much of the persona of Richard Branson is embodied in the Virgin Group, Mr. Branson has his own page, “About Richard Branson”, side-by-side with the section “About Virgin” on the Group’s website. Despite is personal high
Corporate Strategy
Virgin Group is defined in their corporate website [4] as a “branded venture capital organization”, the Group’s values being “value for money, quality, innovation, fun and a sense of competitive challenge”, and its mission to “deliver a quality service by empowering our employees and we facilitate and monitor customer feedback to continually improve the customer 's experience through innovation”. The essence of Virgin Group’s business is to operate as a venture capital firm based on the Virgin brand. We will analyze the structure of the Group and its corporate strategic variables at a later point in this document. For now, we will focus on the strategic thinking behind the Group’s modus operandi. At the age of 60, Mr. Branson continues to lead the Group as a privately-held enterprise, with the same entrepreneurial and adventurous spirit that has become his personal trademark. As an illustration of how much of the persona of Richard Branson is embodied in the Virgin Group, Mr. Branson has his own page, “About Richard Branson”, side-by-side with the section “About Virgin” on the Group’s website. Despite is personal high
References: 1] Robert M. Grant, “Richard Branson and the Virgin Group of Companies in 2007” 2] Johnson, Scholes and Whittington, “Exploring Corporate Strategy” Eight Edition 3] Chris Blackhurst, “At the court of King Richard”, Management Today, May 1998, http://www.managementtoday.co.uk/search/article/411417/uk-court-king-richard/ 4] http://www.virgin.com/about-us/ 5] http://www.virgin-atlantic.com/en/gb/allaboutus/missionstatement/index.jsp