Marvel Entertainment management strategy

[Makunouchi Ippo]

Hi !

I'm a Spanish student preparing a scholar market study on the US comic book market.

I was specifically seeking for informations about Marvel's managerial system, as it is an emblematic company.
As I didn't find any relevant informations on the Internet I decided to come to you

Here are my questions :
What are Marvel's standard and core competences (apart from publishing services and motion pictures production) ?
What are the organizational and managerial resources (network, investors, sources of revenues...) that Marvel has ?

Thank you in advance for your answers

[codystarbuck]

Hi !

I'm a Spanish student preparing a scholar market study on the US comic book market.

I was specifically seeking for informations about Marvel's managerial system, as it is an emblematic company.
As I didn't find any relevant informations on the Internet I decided to come to you

Here are my questions :
What are Marvel's standard and core competences (apart from publishing services and motion pictures production) ?
What are the organizational and managerial resources (network, investors, sources of revenues...) that Marvel has ?

Thank you in advance for your answers

Their standard and core competencies are in publishing comics, though they are hardly run like a traditional publishing house. They are, in the sense that editors oversee particular magazines or lines of magazines, hiring and firing talent and guiding the m from conception through publication. They aren't traditional in the ownership end of things. Unlike other publishing ventures, the creators have no financial stake in their books, other than the paltry royalty system; or rather, what remains of it. Royalties in other publishing ventures are far higher, and ownership is also usually included. It is more similar to licensed publishing work, such as the Star Trek novels, where ownership remains with the rightsholder and they get the lion's share of the revenue. However, those writing contracts do include some royalty participation for the writer. Marvel's royalties are far less, as a percentage, though, in past, they have been more lucrative, for the right book (such as late 80s, early 90s X-men royalties) The motion picture arm is reall a separate division and runs fairly independently. I suspect, in the grand scheme of things, they report directly to Disney, rather than marvel; but, I have no evidence to back that up.

Their other core competency is in managing their trademarks; i.e. their characters, for licensing purposes. That is where the bulk of the revenue comes from (aside from the movies and tv). Same with DC. That has grown exponentially, since they were purchased by Disney.

Their organization is as a division of Disney, which covers a lot of territory. Disney has always had separate divisions for specific purposes, such as the motion picture and animation company, the theme park division, Buena Vista Distribution, to market the movies and tv and home video, Hyperion, for book publishing, etc, etc.. As such, their resources include the vast capital of Disney and the lines of credit that brings, as well as their stock. Marvel originally had their own stock; but, the Disney purchase put it under the Disney umbrella and the stock was bought up with cash and shares of Disney stock.

As for the rest, well, there just isn't much information out there on the corporate set up of Marvel. comic fandom revolves around the characters and stories, which bleeds over into the publishing of said stories and characters; but, rarely into the financial side of things. The one book i could point you two is long out of date and focuses on Marvel's bankruptcy, in 1996: Comic Wars, by Dan Raviv, from 2002. It details the financial aspects of Marvel from the period when the McAndrews group took over and took marvel public, to the bankruptcy and fights between mcAndrews and the junk bond holders, led by Carl Icahn. there was probably more financial reporting about the company at that time than any other, until the sale to Disney, apart from the financial success of the movies (much of which never delves into the corporate structure at work or financial aspects of the films, and the movie production side vs Marvel publishing). As with Warner and DC, the publishing side is not running the movies, nor vice-versa. Marvel Entertainment is run as its own entity, within Disney, like a Balkan state (as is DC Entertainment); but, with the conglomerate emperors giving a thumbs up or down to their ventures. As long as they hit their targets and run things well, they are left alone.

Don't know how much of that helps.