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“Even if they’d never met her in person, people would talk about being like Martha, dressing like Martha, or having tastes like Martha”(Knowledge Wharton, 2004). Martha Stewart, Omni Media CEO, represents the company’s image more than anything else; being tied directly to the company can damage reputation when the CEO is in the middle of a public scandal. After all, Stewart was an Icon to many women and her reputation is what helped her brand be so successful. From magazines to TV shows Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia was becoming a very successful company. Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia will also be referred to as MSLO.
Background of Scandal
In 2001, Martha Stewart was accused of illegal insider trading with the stock of ImClone Systems which slowly ruined her reputation. Stewart insisted that she had agreed with her stock broker to sell if the stocks went below $60 a share. Throughout the investigation she stuck with her story and had serious doubts that she was going to be incarcerated. Keep in mind that at the time Stewart held a Series 7 license; as a former stockbroker it seems she knew what she did was illegal. In 2003, the SEC filed security fraud charges against Stewart and her stock broker (Carlin, 2003). In order to separate MSLO from Stewart, she stepped down as the acting CEO. In July 2004 she was eventually sentenced to five months in prison and five months of house arrest (Crawford, 2004).
Time line of events, collapsible. (Associated Press, 2004)
•Dec. 26, 2001: ImClone Systems (IMCL) founder Sam Waksal is tipped that the FDA will not review its cancer drug Erbitux. Has daughter sell her shares
•Dec. 27, 2001: Martha Stewart sells all her shares of ImClone. This links her to Waskal, prosecutors believe she ...
... middle of paper ...
...p://money.cnn.com/2004/07/16/news/newsmakers/martha_sentencing/
Fox News. (2005, March 5). Martha Stewart Released From Prison. Fox News. Retrieved February 4, 2014, from http://www.foxnews.com/story/2005/03/05/martha-stewart-released-from-prison/
Knowledge Wharton. (2004, April 7). When the CEO is the Brand But Falls from Grace What’s Next Comments. Retrieved January 20, 2014, from http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/when-the-ceo-is-the-brand-but-falls-from-grace-whats-next/
Martha Stewart and Her Incredible Comeback - Oprah.com. (n.d.). Oprah.com. Retrieved February 11, 2014, from http://www.oprah.com/oprahshow/Martha-Stewart-and-Her-Incredible-Comeback
Schoen, J. (Reprint). Can Martha turn her businesses around? Msnbc.com. Retrieved January 22, 2014, from http://www.nbcnews.com/id/7068355/ns/business-us_business/t/can-martha-turn-her-businesses-around/
The jury convicted Stewart of making false statements to investigators during her February 4 interview, in violation of 18 U.S.C. 1001. The jury found Stewart guilty of making the following false statements, each of which was a specification in Count Three of the Indictment. Martha Stewart told the government investigators that she spoke to Peter Bacanovic on December 27 and instructed him to sell her ImClone shares after he informed her that ImClone was trading below $60 per share. Martha also stated that during the same telephone call, she and Peter Bacanovic discussed the performance of the stock of her own company, Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia ("MSLO"), and discussed K-Mart. She told investigators that she had decided to sell her ImClone shares at that time because she did not want to be bothered during her vacation.
Saunders, George. "The 400-pound CEO." Harper's Magazine Feb. 1993: 52. Expanded Academic ASAP. Web. 11 Apr. 2014.
This book is important to business students because it shows that even the most seasoned executive runs into unexpected challenges and can find themselves in uncharted territory. Jim Barton’s experiences and lessons can be lessons for anyone. Any employee, whether they are support staff or a top executive, should always maintain an open mind and be ready to learn from a situation or the people around them at any time.
The reality is that it is almost impossible to separate Martha Stewart the person from Martha Stewart the brand. The success of MSLO lies in the successful creation of the brand from the person. For example, the strength in Martha Stewart's brand can be found in how the customer takes ownership in the brand. On some note, they "relate" to Martha. Martha has touched their lives and made those lives better. "Ask any of her brand loyalists and they'll tell you that Martha understands their lives, which is why they listen to her, follow her advice and buy her products" (Frankel). Attributes such as "tasteful", "stylish", and "homemaker" are personality traits whereas "cooking" and "gardening" are traits of MSLO. Likewise, as we saw in the case, a comprehensive report of MSLO will undoubtedly include stories about Martha Stewart's personal life. The brand and company succeeds on her celebrity status and vice versa.
“Bernie Madoff began investing in penny stocks in 1960, and due to his impressive work ethic, received several big breaks. The first of which was his father in-law loaning him $50,000 to invest, and soon after, Carl Shapiro, a man who made his fortune in women’s clothing gave Madoff $100,000 to invest on his behalf” (Collins 2011). With this kick-start, Bernie quickly began making a name for him, especially as he promised clients a guaranteed 20% annual return on investment. This, coupled with his firm’s adoption of the latest technology made them a tour-de-force in the investment world. But what makes his eventual downfall more interesting is that he was not just a crook, Madoff did manage a successful, and legitimate brokerage firm. To some extent, the credibility he earned from these legitimate busines...
I’m sure everyone knows who Martha Stewart is. Most people don’t even know what her occupation is, they just know the name Martha Stewart. Im also sure if you mention her name to different people you’ll get many different reactions. Stewart has a polarizing personality that is for sure. Martha is very bold with her perfectionism. We all know Martha from her cooking and house decorating shows. From when her company rose overnight in the New York Stock Exchange to make her company a billion-dollar company. Then of course from her fall from when she was convicted of insider trading in 2004. However, Martha’s commitment to educate about business and the art of fine living to others is very impressive.
Oprah Winfrey is a name that needs no introduction to most people in the world. Starting her journey with nothing, today , she has everything anybody could wish for and more. She has the money, the friends, the fame, the respect and as she repeatedly has pointed out as a comical comment, the shoes.
arack Obama has quoted, “Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we’ve been waiting for. We are the change that we seek.” This quote perfectly encapsulates that change is something a business owner must strive to do, and not to wait for change to occur.
While there are a lot of business leaders who have stepped down from companies over the last two years, it was difficult to find B2C brands with leaders who were the face of the company at the time they stepped down. It was even more difficult to find cases where the transition was successful. After searching extensively through recent news and press releases, we were only able to come up with three case studies fitting the requirements of this request. Each brand was chosen based on their success and popularity. Please dive into our findings below:
Schultz, Howard, and Joanne Gordon. Onward: How Starbucks Fought for Its Life Without Losing Its Soul. New York: Rodale, 2011. N. pag. Print.
For several decades Oprah Winfrey has been one the utmost influential and prosperous television personalities throughout the history of television talk hosts. Oprah has paved the way for several women and African Americans because of her dedication and prominent leadership aptitudes, and according to Everett, (2014) “The most successful BAMM and twenty-first-century media powerhouse is Oprah Winfrey. As the personification of a trans media brand across television (The Oprah Winfrey Show, Oxygen Network, OWN Network, Oprah's Next Chapter [OWN, 2012-]), print (Q The Oprah Magazine), film (The Color Purple [Steven Spielberg, 1985]; Beloved [Jonathan Demme, 1998], Precious), and the Internet (Oprah.com) (Everett, 2014).” This impeccable woman is
There are not many people in this planet that can be identified simply by their first name and Oprah Winfrey is one of them. This woman has been called “arguably the world’s most powerful woman” by many. Commencing out as a talk-show host, to becoming the CEO of the Harpo group of companies, producer, the founder and editorial director of O Magazine, actress, television programming creator, an online leader through her website, a leading philanthropist, cofounder of the Oxygen cable network, producer, and recipient of numerous achievement and humanitarian awards. This woman is unquestionably the personification of the American dream where the concept of success and economic opportunity is achievable by anyone who is minded to work hard for what they want.
As a public figure, Oprah’s influence is reached in many places around the world. Connected to her audience as well as her peers, she interacts with people of all walks of life. Oprah is recognized as a brilliant business woman, a compassionate television host, a accomplished actress, producer, publisher, educator, and a compassionate spokesperson for social causes. Her name and reputation warrant a great deal of respect. In Oprah’s biographical history,
Heidi Roizen is a successful Silicon Valley entrepreneur, current Venture Partner at Draper Fisher Jurvetson, and member of the board of directors for five different companies (heidiroizen.com, 2014). While her merits alone are enough to justify the attention her name brings, her name is frequently mentioned for another reason – the Heidi Howard case. The Harvard Business School wrote a case study about entrepreneur Heidi Roizen consisting of an interview dialogue discussing her personal life and development as well as her professional success. Flynn (2005) took this case a step further by changing one simple thing, the name from Heidi to Howard. He found that while students r...
The author actually wrote in this article that, “after years of helping companies build their brands, I’m still baffled by the reality that so many smart business people still don’t understand the power of a brand.” At first I was irritated with this statement and worried that the rest of the article would just be egotistical praise on the author and his vast knowledge. I was glad that he recovered and redeemed himself in the next sentence by stating that, “it was the first time [he] realized that the one thing that has the most dramatic impact on the success or failure of a modern-day business is also the least understood.