Business Case Studies, Leadership Case Study, Tata Group,Ratan Tata

Code : LDS0002

Year : 2004

Industry : Home Appliances and Personal Care Products

Region : USA

Teaching Note: Not Available

Structured Assignment : Not Available

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Introduction: Martha Stewart, acclaimed as “Ms Perfectionist”, “Domestic doyenne” and a rolemodel for any businesswoman, is the ‘second’ most written about woman3 in the world. This well-known entrepreneur of the United States, who turned the art of home-making and keeping into a billion dollar business – Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia Inc (MSO), encountered hard times when she was convicted in a scandal. She was convicted for her actions, which are considered to be less harmful in a corporate world that witnessed more serious scandals. Her case called for a rethinking of certain basic notions in free-market economies – ethics in business, the role of government regulation, and more importantly the perils and promises of personal branding.

Coming fromhumble moorings,Martha Stewart owed her culinary and gardening skills to her parentage in a working-class family in NewJersey in the 1940s and 1950s. She was one of the first few women who entered theWall Street in 1968 as a stockbroker with the New York Stock Exchange. She took to catering business in the 1970s, and honed her skills in keeping kitchen, arranging parties, designing interiors – the ‘Martha Stewart way’. She made her way into publishing with her first book, Entertaining in 1982, and produced a variety of books, videotapes, CDs, and television specials.Martha launched her renowned magazine,Martha Stewart Living in collaborationwithTimeWarner, in 1990, and a television series by the same name, in 1993. Her regular appearance on televisionmade her a household name in the US. TheMSO expanded when it went public on the NewYork Stock Exchange in 1999.