Harlequin Publishers: The MIRA Decision - Research Paper Example

Harlequin Enterprises is, by far, one of the most widely recognized and established s in the publishing industry for the sale of its immensely popular women’s “series” romance novels. However, on account of a steady decline in the total women’s fiction market and a simultaneous rise in the demand for single title women’s fiction, the company finds itself in the midst of a strategic dilemma.

Owing to the sudden change in customer preferences, Harlequin Publishers had to contemplate the possibilities of relaunching a single–title women’s fiction program – MIRA. Some of the critical issues faced by the company include Declining market share, Rise in popularity of single title women’s fiction novels, Shift of popular authors to other publishers to exploit the rising trend of single title novels, etc. These strategic issues faced by the company are highly critical for its success.

The rising popularity of the single title women’s fiction novels might be a threat to the company since it may eat into its market share taking away a substantial position of its existing large customer base. As evident from the market research and analysis report as well as the statement given by Mark Mailman – Vice President Market analysis and research, at Harlequin Enterprises; the estimated market share of Harlequin’s North American women’s fiction market was only five percent, which considering the sudden influx of single title novels in the women’s fiction category might pose a serious threat to the existing market share of the company.

Secondly, the rising popularity of single title novels has also led to several major popular authors opt-out of the company and work for other publishers to exploit the growing trend and gain better opportunities. This might seriously endanger the company’s competitive standing in the industry and lead to a major downfall in its revenue stream. In order to protect the company from such external threats, it needs to contemplate certain decisions such as the prospective positive / negative outcomes of the implementation of MIRA or considering other probable alternatives.