Marvel Inc Strategy
Marvel Enterprises, Inc. evolved from bankruptcy in 1997 to the best performing stock on The Wall Street Journal. This marvelous shift in Marvel Enterprises, Inc. is due to its strategic decisions in acquiring creative talent, a wide portfolio of super heroes and characters, synergetic acquisitions, strong control over the characters created by Marvel, very profitable value chain, and successful business model.
Marvel History
Marvel Comics started as an exclusive comic book company and was acquired by Perelman in 1989. Perelman tried to foster the growth of the company through acquisitions and diversification. He increased the number of titles under Marvel name and resulted in a reduction of overall quality of the comics. He led the company to a bankruptcy in 1997. Marvel was then acquired by Toy Biz and got saved from closure. Toy Biz purchase of Marvel was strategically very good move. Toys and comics have a lot of synergies because success of a character in comics can be translated to success of that character in toys. And Toy Biz emphasized on the core industry of Marvel comics. It’s under Toy Biz that Marvel created most successful characters and changed the course of Marvel.
Strategies of Marvel Enterprises, Inc.:
1. Monetize the content library via licensing characters for use with media products and other consumer products.
Marvel licensed the characters for movies, television, video games, toys, apparel, collectibles, advertisements etc. and earned royalties from the respective licensees. This was a very successful strategic move because:
Create: This move created value for Marvel and Marvel’s customers (the licensees). Marvel earned royalties and the licensees promoted their business using the characters licensed from Marvel.
Capture: Marvel captured the value in terms of further promoting its characters and further increasing its comic book sales. Marvel’s most successful super hero Spider-Man created a sensation through movies by Sony Pictures.
Marvel History
Marvel Comics started as an exclusive comic book company and was acquired by Perelman in 1989. Perelman tried to foster the growth of the company through acquisitions and diversification. He increased the number of titles under Marvel name and resulted in a reduction of overall quality of the comics. He led the company to a bankruptcy in 1997. Marvel was then acquired by Toy Biz and got saved from closure. Toy Biz purchase of Marvel was strategically very good move. Toys and comics have a lot of synergies because success of a character in comics can be translated to success of that character in toys. And Toy Biz emphasized on the core industry of Marvel comics. It’s under Toy Biz that Marvel created most successful characters and changed the course of Marvel.
Strategies of Marvel Enterprises, Inc.:
1. Monetize the content library via licensing characters for use with media products and other consumer products.
Marvel licensed the characters for movies, television, video games, toys, apparel, collectibles, advertisements etc. and earned royalties from the respective licensees. This was a very successful strategic move because:
Create: This move created value for Marvel and Marvel’s customers (the licensees). Marvel earned royalties and the licensees promoted their business using the characters licensed from Marvel.
Capture: Marvel captured the value in terms of further promoting its characters and further increasing its comic book sales. Marvel’s most successful super hero Spider-Man created a sensation through movies by Sony Pictures.