Capital magazine case

Final Paper
Outline





Problem Statement

• Background Information
• Company Assessment

4 Organization Structure

• Incentives

1 Marketing Assessment


2 Target Market

• Four P’s
• Environmental climate
• Competitive Analysis
• SWOT
o Prisma Presse
o CapitalPorter Analysis

• Opportunities Analysis
• Financial Analysis
• Alternatives
o Analysis
• Recommendation
• Implementation
o Competitive Advantage

Problem Statement

Should Capital magazine be added to Prisma Presse product portfolio?


Background Information

The multimedia Bertelsmann Group has a subsidiary called Gruner+Jahr. And PrismaPresse with headquarters in Paris is the French subsidiary of Gruner+Jahr.
Axel Ganz founded Prisma Presse in 1978. Since 1978 the company has launched six magazines and acquire two. The average is one magazine launched every 18 months.
Prisma Presse has become the second biggest magazine publisher in France. Its product portfolio includes eight magazines (Geo, Prima, Femme actualle…), whichare among the leader in their segments. This compares favorably with the industry average.


Company Assessment

Organization Structure

The type of Prisma Presse structure includes many levels and thus a relatively narrow number of subordinates a manager directly manages. It is a tall structure.
Prisma Presse is structured around each magazine. Each magazine is headed by an executiveeditor, who usually works with two magazines and is responsible for financial results, and an editor-in-chief, who is assigned to one of magazine and is responsible for execution of editorial policies. Both are responsible for staffing, circulation, revenues of magazine, and editorial policies.
Marketing research, promotion and distribution management are functions of specialized departmentcovering all Prisma Presse magazines. Prisma Presse concentrates efforts on text and layout in its magazine, and outsources such activities as documentation, photography, printing and distribution. Each magazine has its own staff of journalist, art team, and advertising department, which sometimes compete for business against other Prisma Presse magazine.


Incentives

Incentives are a key factorin Prisma Presse management. Magazines derive revenue both from circulation (readers) and advertising. Journalist’s salary depends on circulation, which determines the major part of bonus payment. Bonus payment, including two month’s additional salary for some staff, range from 60 percent of the annual salary for the management. The managers who fail more than once achieving objectives are asked toleave.

Type of Organization
The Prisma Presse strategy is based on differentiation. Axel Ganz’s priority is clearly the reader. This close attention to the reader is rather unusual in the French press.
During 90-91 period, the performance of Prisma Presse has been a growth of 10 percent, Gruner+Jahr has been 6 percent and Bertelsmann Group has been 9 percent. The market size for businessmagazines only is 4.8 millions of readers.


Marketing Assessment


Target Market

The main reader target for Capital would be 900,000 senior and middle managers in business firms who read business magazines. The potential readers for business magazines are senior and middle managers in business firms, top non-business professionals (lawyer, doctor, teacher…), entry-level managers, andnews magazine readers.
The target market is buying business or news magazine because of their need to gain information on business related issues. The magazine can be obtained through newsstand or subscription, and are published on weekly, biweekly, or monthly bases.

Four P’s
Product- Prisma Presse publishes eight magazines covering a wide range of topics. Travel/Discover, Science, Woman...