Farghulo could lead you to think of far and ghoul - a monster in the distance. Alechinsky: ale, chin, ski - a man spilling ale all over his chin while skiing down a mountain. Dirrado: dire, radiator, doe: a female deer looking on as a man in dire straits tries to fix his radiator in the middle of the Sahara dessert. Shatner: shat, nerd - a nerdish looking person coming out of a bathroom.
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1 The management guru Tom Peters, in particular, has raved about the efforts of companies such as the ABB, the Swedish- Swiss engineering company, to break themselves down into small entrepreneurial units.
2 He did have an attack of takeover mania in the mid-1980s, but it was short lived. Virgin’s hostile bid for EMI was cut short by the stock market crash of 1987.
3 AMP subsequently bought out Norwich Union’s share in the venture.
4 Campbell, Andrew and Sadtler, David, “Corporate Breakups,” Strategy & Business, Third Quarter 1998.
5 Rodgers, Paul, “The Branson Phenomenon,” Enterprise magazine, March/April 1997.
6 “Richard Branson: the interview,” Forbes, February 24, 1997. 7Mitchell, Alan, Leadership by Richard Branson, Amrop International,
1995.
8 “Has he won the lottery?” The Independent, December 17, 1995.
9 Campbell, Andrew and Sadtler, David, “Corporate Breakups,” Strategy & Business, Third Quarter 1998.
SIZE DOES MATTER
The Virgin Group is effective because it maximizes the entrepreneurial
spirit of its staff whilst minimizing the bureaucracy of its systems. Virgin is not a traditional hierarchical company. Rather, it is a cluster of loosely associated businesses, with their own offi ces and their own management teams. The Branson approach to corporate structure has fi ve key points:
? Grow your own. Branson is a builder not a buyer, something that marks him out as a special kind of business leader. Where other business tycoons have created empires by gobbling up smaller empires, Branson has grown his own.
? Keep it simple. Branson’s life is remarkably uncluttered. This adage epitomizes the Branson approach.
? Break it up into management molecules. To maximize the entrepreneurial energy, and to counterbalance the risk of losses in one part of the empire infecting the other parts, each Virgin venture is intended to be a stand-alone business.
? Keep headquarters to a minimum. Long before they fell out of favour with management gurus, Branson spurned the very idea of a large corporate headquarters.
? Ensure the sum of the parts is greater than the whole. Richard Branson has made it company policy to listen. He has also made it public knowledge that the company will take a look at business proposals from would-be partners.
Taken From: Richard Branson 10 Secrets of the World’s Greatest Brand Builder
To remember the first five items on your numbered list, form unusual associations between your ready-made words and the things you have to do. For example:
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Colon cancer has strikes many people in the world. There are up to 100,000 cases of colon cancer reported from all around the world in 2008. The prior causes of this disease is bad habits that are done by the human itself, such as smoking, drinking, big amount of caffeine, eating fatty, and many other unhealthy foods. By knowing these facts, you should be aware and better take a second thought if you have one of those bad habits. The best you can do to avoid having colon cancer is by doing colon cleanse.
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For all his japes, Richard Branson takes the reputation of the Virgin
brand extremely seriously. “Your brand name is only as good as your reputation,” he says. “Ours is of tremendous value.”
What is perhaps unique about the Virgin brand is that it is, as one of the company’s slogans puts it, “a lifetime relationship.” Will Whitehorn, director of corporate affairs at Virgin management and long-time colleague of Branson, observes: “At Virgin we know what the brand means and when we put our brand name on something, we’re making a promise. It’s a promise we’ve always kept and always will. It’s harder work keeping promises than making them, but there is no secret formula. Virgin sticks to its principles and keeps its promises.”
Branson has acknowledged time and time again that the most vital asset Virgin has is its reputation. Put the Virgin name on any product that doesn’t come up to scratch and the whole company is brought into disrepute. “Our customers trust us,” he says.
The Branson philosophy, then, is: look after your brand and it will last. There is, however, and always has been a tension at the heart of the Virgin brand. For all his unquestioned emphasis on the integrity of the Virgin name, one of Branson’s personal characteristics
– that has become a strand of what Virgin stands for – is a certain restlessness. He has an insatiable desire to take risks and explore new areas. It is in his blood that Branson has to be constantly expanding the borders of the empire. Yet it is vital to do so without damaging the good name of the company. This creates something of a dilemma. It is one that Branson is well aware of.
“We are expanding and growing our use of the brand,” he says, “but are always mindful of the fact that we should only put it on products and services that fi t – or will fi t – our very exacting criteria.”
Taken From: Richard Branson 10 Secrets of the World’s Greatest Brand Builder
Nowadays, the number of drugs and alcohol addicts are greatly increasing. As a matter of fact, most addicts are youngsters and this fact has made lots of people feel worried. The quality of life of drugs and alcohol addicts usually declines as they cannot be sober. They do not really know what they do and what they think. Those addicts seem have no future since they cannot think positively about their life. Therefore, there must be proper treatment to help them reclaim their previous life.
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1 Morris, Betsy. Richard Branson: What a Life. Fortune, September
22, 2003.
2 Inc. magazine, November 1987.
3 Brown, Mick, Richard Branson: The Authorized Biography, 4th edn, Headline, London, 1998.
MOVE FASTER THAN A SPEEDING BULLET
If there is one area where Richard Branson’s disdain for the “suits” of the corporate world is entirely justifi ed, it is in the speed of their reactions. Management gurus are agog at the notion of a large corporation that can move quickly. He has created exceptionally short decision-making chains. The normal committee stages are almost entirely absent. The lessons are:
? Avoid paralysis by analysis. The speed at which Branson expects to move is often breathtaking.
? Leap before you look. Branson is not a great believer in market research, preferring to trust his instinctive feel for what consumers want, often based on his own conversations with them.
? Streamline decision making. Timing is all important to Branson’s success. He is a master of the decisive moment – the all-important moment when an opportunity presents itself.
? Get plenty of help. Something Branson is especially good at is persuading others to get involved in his projects. Whether it’s Virgin employees or partner organizations, Branson’s enthusiasm is infectious.
? Don’t be afraid of making mistakes – it’s the only way to learn. Branson gets fi red up by new ideas and converts them into business opportunities with head-spinning speed. The downside for Virgin employees is that their illustrious leader is constantly switching from one hobby horse to the next.
Taken From: Richard Branson 10 Secrets of the World’s Greatest Brand Builder
Branson is not afraid to step in a take action to protect the brand in such a case. The Virgin name was caught up in a mis-selling controversy when London Energy and its online partner Virgin Energy were fi ned by the energy regulator Ofgem. Virgin moved to protect its brand and the result is that energy is not sold via Virgin Home Energy online any longer.
Equally the foray into the UK railway market has done Virgin’s brand no favors. As recently as November 2006 there were stories in the media of passengers on a Virgin Pendolino train being asked if they had any nuts and bolts on them to help fi x a faulty windscreen wiper.
Time will tell if the criticism Virgin Trains has attracted will do lasting damage to the Virgin umbrella brand. With recent improvement in train services, though, it seems unlikely.
Branson on brand stretching: “No-one has a problem playing a Yamaha piano, having ridden a Yamaha motorbike that day, or
listening to a Mitsubishi stereo in a Mitsubishi car, driving past a
Mitsubishi bank.”
Taken From: Richard Branson 10 Secrets of the World’s Greatest Brand Builder
Branson is not a great believer in market research, preferring to trust his instinctive feel for what consumers want, often based on his own conversations with them. Where Virgin has benefi ted from market research it has often been carried out by a joint venture partner either prior to making a business proposition or to refi ne the product offering once Virgin is on board. One of the great advantages of owning such a powerful brand is that partners will often make the running.
Once the idea has a green light from Branson, then the fi ner details can be honed by others. Branson’s willingness to leap before he looks has important advantages. It means that Virgin can often launch new products – even whole new companies – into the marketplace much quicker than its lumbering rivals. With the speed at which the business environment changes these days, this can make all the difference between taking advantage of a window of opportunity and missing out. At the end of the day, as long as the Virgin reputation is not compromised in any way, then an unprofi table venture can be
closed down.
One of the great advantages of owning such a powerful brand is that partners will often make the running.
Taken From: Richard Branson 10 Secrets of the World’s Greatest Brand Builder
