MARVEL ENTERPRISES: From 1990 to 2019

Abstract:

Marvel Enterprises was founded in 1930s and which was called as Marvel Comics . Marvel was a
company that had grown in stature throughout the 1960s, 70s and 80s by giving stunning art and
storytelling in such comics as The Spider Man and Fantastic Four, Marvels financial success had
reached a peak by the early 90s. But by 1995, Marvel Enterprises was heavily in debt because of the
mistake done by Ronald O Peralman who was a millionaire business man with a variety of interest. His
works made Marvel Enterprises a loss in millions of dollars. Also the step of the main compotator DC
Comics was a great challenge. From there, Marvel Enterprises started its journey to success and proud
by changing their operational strategy and marketing strategy.

The Case:
In 1995, In the face of mounting losses Ronald O Perelman decided to press on into a new territory. He
set up Marvel Studios; a venture which he hoped would finally get the company’s most staring
characters on the big screen after years of legal disputes. To do this he tried to buy the remaining
shares in ToyBiz and combine it with Marvel, creating a single and stronger entity.

Marvel’s Shareholders resisted, arguing that the financial damage to Marvel's share prices would be
too great. Perelman's response was to file for bankruptcy, thus giving him the power to reorganise
Marvel without the stockholders' consent.

There followed a bewildering power struggle which raged for almost two years. The battle, when it
finally ended in December 1998, had a strange outcome which few could have predicted: after a
lengthy court case, ToyBiz and Marvel Entertainment Group were finally merged, but Perelman was
ousted in the process. Marvel’s transformation from a bankrupt to a profitable company during 1997-
2000 was skilfully handled by the management team that was eventually led by F. Peter Cuneo (the
appointed CEO of Marvel from 1999-2001)

Stemming from its recovery period after filing for bankruptcy, Marvel’s strategy mainly focused on
reducing overall expenditures, implementing growth-sustaining measures, new marketing methods
and minimizing risk, while also building the company back up. In order to do so, the company
emphasized the importance and revenue-generating roles of three divisions: comic-book publishing
throw web, toys, and licensing includes motion pictures and cartoons

URGENT AND IMPORTANT

The action they took against these circumstances was urgent and important. Because, for solving this
issue, Marvel needed more than two years. Within these years they faced a huge loss of money and
the main competitor DC Comics entered into the first position. For taking the position back, Marvel
took important decisions in their organization and mainly in the area of marketing. They mostly used
the area of internet for applying their marketing strategy. The motion pictures and cartoons were their
most rated material for the marketing of their comic heroes. All the decisions taken by them were
urgent and important.

IDENTIFICATION OF THE PROBLEM

The wrong decision making that done by Ronald O Perelman was the main problem of this case study.
The decision was to merge the remaining shares with Marvel and create a single and stringer entity.
But it took the Marvel Enterprises into the loss of huge money.

STRATEGY USED FOR FINDING SOLUTIONS

There were three main divisions of Marvel and each of them had different target market. The first
division was comic-book publishing which came in two main formats before that were periodicals and
graphic novels. Also with the development of the internet, Marvel also provided the digital comics on
its website which were online versions of reader’s favourite Marvel Comics created from the original
printed files.

The second was toy division which was in charging of designing, developing, marketing and distributing
a limited line of toys to markets. It licensed the toy companies to manufacture and sell action figures
and Marvel would take care of the product design, marketing and sales for the companies which also
benefitted Marvel itself to control the quality of the products. It actually targeted the 4-14 aged
children.

Licensing division was the third part which included television programs, motion pictures, video games,
animation and destination-based entertainment. The different motion pictures had different target
markets in every area. Also it was the best method that used to market the brand Marvel

SWOT ANALYSIS:
Strengths: Strong branding, wide and recognizable array of characters, strong product line of movies,
strong line of comics

Weaknesses: Weak television shows (both animated and live action), weak video games

Opportunities: create better written animated television shows that can compete with DC, More
addicted to the video games

Threats: DC Comics, other television shows and movies, other video game companies
CONCLUTION:
Even though it seems that Marvel is in its golden era with the increasing popularity and revenues, its
probability could slump if it makes a wrong decision since its main competitor DC comics also runs
quite well. Meanwhile, although the self-produced movies and motion pictures bring a lot of income to
the company, it also could be a risk that makes the company to lose money because making moving
needs huge amount of money which is a big risky investment for Marvel in these days. Focusing more
on the quality instead of quantity is the best way to maintain its loyal customers. Moreover, trying to
build the good relationship between every divisions in a more efficient way such as to have promotion
for the relative products in the cinemas when the movie is on will attract more consumers to buy the
products, which will ensure more profitability. Last but not least, entertainment industry needs more
creativity because of its fickle customers.
MARVEL ENTERPRISES: From 1990 to 2019