Richard Branson and the Virgin Group

• Virgin Group
• Multinational Venture Capital Conglomerate
• Consist of 400 companies
• Net worth: 5.01 billion pounds
• History
• 1970: Richard set up a mail-order record business
• 1980: Richard set up Virgin Atlantic
• 1984: Virgin Atlantic Airways
• 1999: Virgin Mobile
Why is Virgin Group ‘Exciting?’
Virgin Group and Managing Innovation
Top Management (Richard Branson) forms the
foundation and roots of the Virgin Group. (Fun, Creative,
Open)
Criteria for a business ： Must have high quality,
innovative, good value for the money, challenging existing
alternatives, sense of fun.

The structure of the virgin group and subsidiaries and

resource management, “ring-fenced”
SO WHAT’S INTERESTING ABOUT THEIR
INNOVATION MANAGEMENT?
WHAT IS DONE RIGHT?
What has given it trouble, and why?
Concepts we learned in class

Concepts we learned in class