Martha Stewart Omnimedia (Mso) Is

Martha Stewart Omnimedia (MSO) is a company that rocketed to success in the same fashion as its creator, Martha Steward. The company fell into a time of crisis when Ms. Stewart was faced with rather serious corporate crimes. Some feel that the company is no longer viable as a result, and is likely to continue on its downward trend until its inevitable death, while others believe the Martha Stewart name is undefeated and will remain so. One great success factor for the company is Ms. Stewart herself.

Her leadership strategy from the beginning was to focus on herself and her own expertise first. She established herself as an expert in homemaking and entertaining via publications in magazines, as well as appearing on radio and television talk shows. Another strategy was following a specific path with achievable goals to reach the ultimate, global success of MSO. Her first step in creating her own success was establishing the magazine Martha Stewart Living in 1990.

Here she chose experts in fields she knew she would need to make the magazine a success: Gael Towey as art director and Eric Pike as creative director of publishing (AIGA, 2007). These people established a new look for the kind of magazine Stewart wished to publish, and established her and her magazine as uniquely gifted in the arts of cooking and homemaking. This is the platform from which Ms. Stewart's Omnimedia empire grew. She expanded to other media, including television and the internet to bring her work to the world.

She also expanded her products to include everything anyone might ever dream of needing for their households, from table cloths and crockery to clothing and furniture. Another major factor that led to Ms. Stewart's success is her apparent anticipation of what the public might need form her, and her ability to deliver on these demands. Her publications as well as her products were known for their quality and unique angle of expertise.

In addition, her wide range of products under the umbrella of not only household, but also personal beauty, is a further factor in the success and popularity of Stewart's company. A company's leadership during success differs from what it would be during a time of crisis. During success, for example, a company would wish for more of the same, and increase rather than change its current practices. Customers service for example might focus on establishing a characteristic sense of open friendliness towards customers by thoroughly training new recruits.

An example of this is Virgin Mobile, whose employees are trained to be friendly and cheerfully helpful towards customers. Leadership in a crisis situation would have to focus on what a company is doing to create and perpetuate the crisis and changing this. The aim would then be to change possibly harmful actions that might lead to a poor image of the company in the public mind, such as internal dishonesty. An example of this is the Enron scandal, which crippled the company.

Because of the unpleasantly tense atmosphere at the workplace, leadership would also need to aim at reassuring and calming employees. To deal with its current crisis situation, MSO can follow a number of strategies. The most important of these is to restore its image in the public mind. Martha Stewart's first action was to thank her fans for standing behind her during her time of crisis. Also, during her prison sentence, she returned to.