The Leadership Style of Richard Branson Contributes to the Success of the Virgin Group

Virgin Group operates from its headquarters at The School House, 50 Brook Green in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham.Richard branson retains complete owner ship and control of virgin brand.

Virgin is a U.K-based company led by Sir Richard Branson and is one of the three most recognized brands in Britain. The company has a vast history of brand extensions – one of which is their launch of a wireless phone service in the USA. Dan Schulman has been appointed CEO of the Virgin

The four-season hotel cares about their internal customers and external customers. Why the company’s leadership is different from other hospitality businesses, here are several reasons. First, four-season hotel has their Golden Rule to obey, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” It means treat other people with the concern and kindness you would like them to show toward you. This Golden Rule brings a bunch advantages to four-season hotel. And also encourage all of manager in this hotel treat the employees in kind and respect them.

Sir Richard Charles Nicholas Branson was born July 18th, 1950, in Surrey, England. He struggled in school and eventually dropped out at the age of 16. He started his first business after dropping out from school. In 1972, he founded Virgin as a mail order record retailer, and shortly afterwards he opened a record shop in London. This kick-started his Virgin brand globally, With more than 400 companies in over 30 countries, with different business ventures from alcoholic beverages to financial services, including airlines Virgin Atlantic and Virgin America, as well as wireless company Virgin Mobile. In addition, it includes international health club Virgin Active.

1. Richard Branson's leadership style works for his particular role as visionary and figurehead of his diverse group of companies under the Virgin Group umbrella. However diversified the Virgin Group may be, Branson remains an essentially charismatic and transformative leader. His leadership philosophy is built on employee empowerment and stimulating employee satisfaction. In his own words, Branson states, ""Rather than focusing on mistakes, catch someone doing something right every day," (cited by Adonis, 2010). Likewise, Branson advises that managers "place greater emphasis on unearthing what their employees are thinking and feeling," (cited by Adonis, 2010).

This case study will examine the strengths and weaknesses of the managerial leadership of Fletcher Jones and Continental Airlines.

The purpose of this report was to provide a strategic evaluation of the company Virgin Australia. The report begins by conducting a strategic analysis of Virgin, including an analysis of the external environment and an internal analysis of competitive strengths and weaknesses. The report then identifies the strategic direction and objectives of Virgin Australia, including the vision, mission, strategic objectives and stakeholders of the company. The report moves on to explore strategic choices of Virgin Australia by identifying the key broad business level and

The first part of this report provides a broad introduction into the business of Virgin Australian by examining its principal sources of revenue, its nature of operating, its competitors, the market share and the regulations affecting its operations. From this, it can be seen that Virgin Australia operates in a very competitive environment and generates revenue by the core business of passenger and cargo transport.

Virgin Australia is Australia’s second largest domestic airline, commenced in operations back in 2000 as a low-cost carrier (LCC) and has successfully survived in the market. Major shareholders include Air New Zealand, Singapore Airline and Etihad Airways. The airline rebranded in 2011 as a part of their 5-year turnaround

Virgin Group LTD is a British venture capital conglomerate that has been around since 1970. Virgin encompasses over 400 different companies located in many industries such as: financial services, transport, food and drink, media and telecommunications. Headquartered in London, this British corporation has come a very long way since it’s birth in 1970. One of the main reasons for the companies success is because of its founder; Sir Richard Branson.

1) What are Virgin Group's distinctive resources/capabilities?The Virgin BrandFirstly, the Virgin brand is valuable in the form of brand equity, where 'Virgin' is one of the most recognised brand names in the UK, and is also well-known in other important markets including Europe and the U.S.A. Based on 1990s research, the Virgin brand was recognised by 96% of UK consumers (Case, p.685). Secondly, it is rare for a brand to have such positive consumer perceptions; which include value-for-money, fun, innovation, success, and trust across a range of Virgin businesses (Case, p.685). Thirdly, Virgin has built up their excellent reputation over time, and is therefore path dependent and difficult for competitors to imitate. Lastly, competitors

The Virgin Group is one of the UK’s largest private companies. The group included, in 2006, 63 businesses as diverse as airlines, health clubs, music stores and trains. The group included Virgin Galactic, which promised to take paying passengers into sub-orbital space. The personal image and personality of the founder, Richard Branson, were highly bound up with those of the company. Branson’s taste for publicity has led him to stunts as diverse as appearing as a cockney street trader in the US comedy Friends, to attempting a non-stop balloon flight around the world. This has certainly contributed to the definition and recognisability of the brand. Research has showed that the

1) Introduction to airline industry 2) Drivers of globalisation using yip’s model 2.1 Market globalisation 2.2 Cost globalisation 2.3 Globalisation of government policies 2.4 Globalisation of competition 3) Localisation- arguments against globalisation 4) Pestle Analysis 5) Porter’s 5 forces analysis and their application to Airline industry 5.1 Rivalry amongst Existing Firms 5.2 Threat of substitution 5.3 Threat of new entrants 5.4 Power of customers 5.5 Power of buyers 6) Opportunities and Threats of Airline industry 7) Internal analysis of Virgin Airlines: Strengths and Weakness 8) Financial Statics of Virgin Atlantic Airline 9) Strategic Changes of Virgin

In 2007, he formed Virgin Money. Less successful ventures include Virgin cola, and Virgin vodka. He also failed to win a contract to run the National Lottery – even though he offered to do it not for profit. Today the Virgin brand has over 200 different businesses in more than 30 countries. In conclusion, Sir Richard has got a very high degree of thought and contribution in what he does, but at the same time he is very mixed up in the organization setting at the start of a new business. He is definitively a relationship-oriented leader who is good at aligning people and giving them emotional support and encouragement. He seems to fall into the section of being a participative and consultative leader. His very strong personality seems to make anyone listen and follow him. (Branson, 2015)

I believe the Virgin Group, as a corporate parent, does add value to its businesses. The main way in which it adds value to the strategic business units is by the use of their brand name and image. This is very prominent and well recognised world-wide, and therefore gives each business unit instant recognition within their industries and therefore gives each business a strong external image to benefit from. Research shows that the Virgin brand was recognised by 96% of consumers in the United Kingdom, and 95% were able to associate Richard Branson's name with the brand. The brand name is also known for a huge variety of different businesses which shows the name has proved to be very versatile and can probably be put with most fields and brings an element of success.