Strategic recommendation of Harlequin’s MIRA Program
Harlequin Enterprises: The MIRA Decision After examining Harlequin’s current strategy, market position and opportunities available, I recommend that Harlequin should enter single-title women’s fiction market with a campaign strongly focused on the romance genre, featuring some of the best-selling authors that were once Harlequin series authors. I will outline the reasons and related details of execution for my recommendation in the following sections.
Entering the single-title market will benefit Harlequin by expanding product offering to counter the stagnation of sales and profit caused by anemic growth in the traditional series market in the last decade. While looking at romance novel sales in North America, single-title romance books indubitably presented much stronger growth (Exhibit 1) than series. In the six years between 1985 and 1990, single-title romance has been chipping away steadily at the lion’s share of the romance novel market once enjoyed by series. Harlequin’s market share in romance novels dropped by 8% in 6 years – the figure that single-title market share grew by. (Exhibit 2) The strong market outlook of single-title coupled with a 50% margin, compared to a 45% margin in series, makes single-title an appealing opportunity that Harlequin cannot afford to ignore. The current strategy Harlequin employs for series, if tweaked properly, can be effective in penetrating the lucrative single-title market.
The Term Paper on The Romance Of A Busy Broker
Pitcher, confidential clerk in the office of Harvey Maxwell, broker, allowed a look of mild interest and surprise to visit his usually expressionless countenance when his employer briskly entered at half past nine in company with his young lady stenographer. With a snappy “Good-morning, Pitcher,” Maxwell dashed at his desk as though he were intending to leap over it, and then plunged ...
It would be recommendable for Harlequin to approach a few best-selling authors with established reputation in the romance market who began their careers with Harlequin. This approach has the potential of tapping into the portion of the single-title market that is composed of current Harlequin series readers who also consume equal number of single-title books. Because these readers would already be familiar with the names of certain past Harlequin series authors, they would know the consistency in quality they can expect from these authors. This will help smooth the entry to the single-title market. With the good relationship between Harlequin editors and authors, this approach is consistent with the current management preference.
In aspects of shipping and distribution, Harlequin should leverage its current distribution chain with a shift of emphasis towards bookstores. This will help offset the higher distribution cost of single-title by re-using existing infrastructure and resources. Through cost analysis based on known profit and operational cost, the profit per book is 21.5% (Exhibit 5) or $1.52 per copy. If we can pursue 2 best-selling authors with a 3-book deal, each selling 1 million copies per year minimum, the MIRA program can be profitable in its North American operation by the end of 1994 with a projected gross profit of $3.2 million (Exhibit 7) assuming a modest 2% market share in the single-title romance market. The success of the MIRA program will not be immediate for Harlequin but in focusing their resource on the single-title romance novel market and leveraging their resources and strengths, to acquire market share, Harlequin will see sustainable long-term growth in profits as a result of this endeavour.