Brief - Case Study Example

Harlequin Enterprises: The MIRA Decision Harlequin Enterprises: The MIRA Decision Harlequin, the publishing company began its operation in 1949. It has a vast clientele. They are popular in publishing single title romance fiction novels and are also involved in publishing non-romance books like women’s health book etc. Thus, it can be said that their customers are mostly young adolescences or adults, mostly females that have inclination towards romantic novels.
Harlequin’s creates values to their customers by estimating that there is more demand for these single-title women’s fiction novels which comprises of romantic series. It can be said that there is more demand for books hence, in this regard the company plans to launch MIRA program which had the same focus, of promoting these simple story lines. It is indicated by research that customers are more inclined towards reading these romantic novels. As far as reasons for likeness of these romantic series is concerned, it can be said the novels offers the readers a sense of romantic fantasy which makes these books popular among young adolescence specially women.
The case study of Harlequin shows that the company has stabilized growth in publishing romance series. However, the company should take the initiative of launching MIRA program with emphasis on women’s single title romance novels. The main reason of using this program would be that the company would be able to achieve a competitive advantage of creating a brand image which could help generate incoming sales in the long run. This brand image would be based on a business model that has the components of capitalist stance. This capitalist stance can be defined as having an advantage over the weaker market, making Harlequin a recognized brand. It is seen that the fiction market is fragmented so Harlequin has the potential of becoming the world largest publisher of these single title fiction series. Moreover, the name, “Harlequin” would suggest to the people as a dominant brand that establishes brand loyalty by being standardized in printing, marketing their books and using effective distribution channels. It can be said that this would make the company an opportunist and they can successfully take the title of being brand that promotes single title series of romance and limit access of other companies.
The books provided by this company would cater to all the audience, making the readers hooked on these books so that there is no other brand that could compete with the company. It has been estimated that there is only around 50% of the books having the same title of single title fiction romance so the company is unlikely to face any price wars. While launching the MIRA plan, the company would ensure that there is quality reading and the prices of these books are reasonable for the customers. Moreover, in order to make MIRA a successful brand, the company has to focus on marketing strategies as well as on distribution mechanisms to publicize their image and meet the up with the expectations of the global market. Looking at the company’s history it is deduced that Harlequin has the right amount of resources and capabilities to create a brand image that can overshadow the competitive forces like Simon & Schuster in the market (Mark, 2003).
Reference
Mark, K. (2003). Harlequin Enterprises: The MIRA Decision. Toronto: Richard Ivey School. Read More