Case Solution
This case packs the coming, accomplishment and challenges stood up to by Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia with respect to Martha's power and her serving as a brand image for the association. Martha Stewart could lift family unit aptitudes, for instance, cooking and home decoration to a "masterful expression" and dispatched her magazine "Martha Stewart Living" in mid 1990salong with a TV show with Time Inc. besides, another named "Martha Stewart's Weddings" by 1994. It was in 1990 that Stewart took control over her business and surrounded MSO with Patrick. The brand depended, all things considered, on Martha Steward's personality and tastes and by the late 1990s, she had transformed into a prominent female brand name. The association opened up to the world in 1999, making Stewart the first female autonomous head honchos. In mid 2000s, MSO started going up against testing contention due to climb of battling magazines by Time Inc. moreover, diverse contenders. Additionally, mechanical types of progress offered rise to insignificant exertion contenders. Besides, of MSO to keep pace with changes in examples and tastes of clients moreover affected its arrangements. Stewart, being a controlling shareholder, CEO and Chairman of the board, controlled the decision making powers of the sheets to bolster her which was clear in her amazing pay. In like manner, since the brand completely relied on upon Martha Stewart's photo as a brand image, the insider-trading examination of Martha in 2002 hit a honest to goodness hit to MSO's arrangements and future prospects.
Excel Calculations
Questions Covered
1. In what ways did Stewart’s control of shareholder voting rights disrupt the functioning of the board? How did her control of the board interfere with directors’ carrying out their fiduciary duties?
2. What changes in the makeup of the board would have improved governance?
3. How might changes in corporate bylaws have improved governance?
4. What situations might have been improved or avoided through better risk management?
5. What are the advantages and disadvantages of having one person serve as both a company's dominant brand its controlling shareholder?
6. In what ways did MSO fail to respond to competitive trends and changes in consumer preferences? Why?
7. What might management have done to stabilize revenue and reassure investors after Stewart's legal troubles surfaced?
8. What were the internal and external symptoms of trouble in the years following Stewart's 2005 return to the company?