Virgin
The fundamental issue of forming any strategy for any firm is to decide what business it should be in. Richard Branson’s continuous endeavor to create exceptional brand equity has facilitated Virgin’s presence in the vast number of businesses it is in. The flamboyance and the lavishness of the “Virgin” brand together with Richard Branson’s gallant and outlandish acts has somehow managed to create certain amount of competitive advantage over others.
Richard Branson’s peculiar manner to approach a business has to some extent worked for Virgin whether the decision to enter the Air Cargo business or to open bridal boutiques in Europe all have been created on the basic premise of the Brand Value of Virgin. Brand equity may in fact be the most difficult element of business to establish and Branson, through his team of core strategists, has done this successfully. When compared to other global brands, few if any have experienced the success of Virgin Group with a single brand. (Think how well McFinance or Sony Water would be received).
While the brand of Virgin is one of the major resources that Mr. Branson has been able to leverage he with his own persona has managed to create an enormous network with Private as well as public/ Government bodies. Through this resource Virgin has demonstrated extra ordinary capability of forming successful Joint ventures and acquiring businesses.
The financial strategy of Virgin was backed by the premise that accounting profits were irrelevant for private businesses. Long term growth and brand value were more important for the business. Each Virgin company was financed on a standalone basis and Richard Branson argued that consolidation of income and assets was unrelated. Avoiding short term taxable profits and seeking long ...