Virgin Group: Finding New Avenues for Growth
Virgin Group: Finding New Avenues for Growth
Virgin is a leading international investment group and one of the most respected and recognized brands in the world. It has been one of the fastest growing companies in the world since its inception. Conceived in 1970 by Sir Richard Branson as a music mail-in service, the company has gone to grow as one of the largest companies in UK. Today, Virgin group has more than 400 companies worldwide in 34 different countries and with global revenues of $21 billion, as of 2011. How the group grew so fast has intrigued many analysts. While there are many factors that contributed to the rapid growth of the Virgin group, it is its company structure and company culture that has powered and sustained its growth.
The company started as a mail order service which sold records to customers who placed orders through Virgin Magazine. The business was so successful that it quickly expanded into Virgin Megastore (Corsi, pg. 1). Although there were already many established record stores during the founding of Virgin Megastores, the company differentiated themselves by focusing on the customers’ need which was delivered through low prices, friendly staff and welcoming environment (Corsi, pg. 2). The profits of the stores went back to the company for reinvestment. This later led to the creation of Virgin Records. Just like the record store industry, there were also a lot of established recording companies during the creation of Virgin Records. Despite that, Virgin was able to thrive in the saturated industry because of its willingness to commit to unique and sometimes controversial artists who included Sex Pistols and Phil Collins, who catapulted the Virgin, records to becoming a major player in the music production business (Corsi, pg. 2). The success of Virgin records opened a lot of doors for Richard Branson as he started receiving invitations to fund start-ups which he took advantage of and made several investments in
Virgin is a leading international investment group and one of the most respected and recognized brands in the world. It has been one of the fastest growing companies in the world since its inception. Conceived in 1970 by Sir Richard Branson as a music mail-in service, the company has gone to grow as one of the largest companies in UK. Today, Virgin group has more than 400 companies worldwide in 34 different countries and with global revenues of $21 billion, as of 2011. How the group grew so fast has intrigued many analysts. While there are many factors that contributed to the rapid growth of the Virgin group, it is its company structure and company culture that has powered and sustained its growth.
The company started as a mail order service which sold records to customers who placed orders through Virgin Magazine. The business was so successful that it quickly expanded into Virgin Megastore (Corsi, pg. 1). Although there were already many established record stores during the founding of Virgin Megastores, the company differentiated themselves by focusing on the customers’ need which was delivered through low prices, friendly staff and welcoming environment (Corsi, pg. 2). The profits of the stores went back to the company for reinvestment. This later led to the creation of Virgin Records. Just like the record store industry, there were also a lot of established recording companies during the creation of Virgin Records. Despite that, Virgin was able to thrive in the saturated industry because of its willingness to commit to unique and sometimes controversial artists who included Sex Pistols and Phil Collins, who catapulted the Virgin, records to becoming a major player in the music production business (Corsi, pg. 2). The success of Virgin records opened a lot of doors for Richard Branson as he started receiving invitations to fund start-ups which he took advantage of and made several investments in
Cited: Corsi, E., and Gary Pisano. “Virgin Group: Finding New Avenues for Growth.” Harvard Business School Case 612-070, May 2012. (Revised from original March 2012 version.)