virgin group case study analysis

Officially launched in 2016, Virgin Voyages is the Virgin Group's brand set to disrupt the cruise sector by offering a product aimed at the younger cruise demographic. Bringing the Virgin flair and playfulness that has been seen across its airline and holiday business, the cruise line will provide a fresh perspective to cruising and be well-positioned to attract the rising demand from younger cruisers.

Key Highlights

• Virgin Voyages has set out a bold vision by adjusting many longstanding traditions typically associated with cruise tourism. Firstly, the company is opting for smaller ships and not deploying megaships, with the aim of offering a higher level of service on board. With a total of 1,330 cabins and 78 Rockstars suites onboard the first ship Scarlet Lady, plans are for it to meet the needs of a variety of travelers
• The Virgin Voyages brand is set to offer a hip, immersive cruising experience aimed at younger travelers with a mammoth range of activities on board that would not be found on a typical ship. The company is looking to disrupt the traditional cruise market by opening the market to those looking for something different. According to the publisher's Q3 2019 Consumer Survey, globally 25-34-year-olds are the most common age group likely to undertake a cruise with 26% of respondents within this age bracket. This was closely followed by those aged between 35-44 with 22% of respondents.
• An emerging trend amongst Generation Hashtag in recent years has been the increasing desire for a product/service to be personalized and it can influence/affect their purchasing decisions. This generation has been brought up with easy access to smartphone technology, the internet and connectivity causing many to become accustomed to getting exactly what they need quickly. To demonstrate this further, the publisher's COVID-19 Recovery Consumer Survey conducted in December 2020 found that 79% of Gen Z, and 81% of Millennials are always', 'often', or 'somewhat' influenced by how well a product/service is tailored to meet their needs.
• This report analyzes the cruising competitive landscape, Virgin Voyages' strategy as a new entrant and looks at its target demographic. It also assesses challenges and opportunities for the company.

Reasons to Buy

• Learn about Virgin Voyages a disruptive newcomer to the cruise industry
• Gain an insight into the company's key target demographic, namely young millennials and Gen Z
• Understand the competitive landscape of the cruise industry
• Assess the opportunities and challenges facing Virgin Voyages

Key Topics Covered:

• Virgin Voyages overview
• The cruise sector competitive landscape
• Virgin Voyages' strategy
• Virgin Voyages' target demographic
• Opportunities for Virgin Voyages
• Challenges for Virgin Voyages

Companies Mentioned

• Virgin Voyages
• Royal Caribbean
• Norwegian Cruise Line

For more information about this company profile visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/8op8uh

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Virgin corporate strategy, Case Study

Introduction

This report closely examines the Virgin Group’s corporate strategy / rationale and identifies the relationships namely of strategic nature within the Virgin Empire.

Virgin’s value adding qualities shall be discussed and the main issues faced by Virgin shall be identified and categorically solutions recommended respectively.

Corporate Rationale

The Virgin Group comprises of an assorted mix of businesses. It has its “finger in every pie”, so to speak. The Virgin has group diversified into 200 businesses. Please see Figure 1 below:

Figure 1 The Virgin Group

Sir Richard Branson, founder of Virgin in 1970 is in the author’s opinion the single most important ingredient to all the success that has been reaped up-to-date. As the saying goes ‘you reap what you sow’ thus, corporate rationale is merely a projection of Sir Richard Branson’s own personal philosophy, which he has sown into the fabric of corporate rational. A personal philosophy and a personal persona that is revered and respected by the British public and beyond.

Sir Richard Branson’s high profile already won over the general public and almost anything he would pursue or was associated with would be given the benefit of the doubt. Thus the word Virgin and Sir Richard Branson are almost interchangeable. The Virgin brand name is by far the most important asset to the company. Being known as the “customers’ champion” inevitably has done wonders for public relations.

This fact was capitalised on; in British advertisements for Apple Computers. Sir Richard Branson was associated with great names such as Einstein and Ghandi, and featured as a ‘shaper of the 20 th century’.

Sir Richard Branson, tired of the public listings obligations and corporate bureaucracy sought to take the business back into private ownership. His understandings lead him to believe that sacrificing short-term profits for long-term growth was the way the business should be geared.

As for corporate bureaucracy its significance in the Virgin Group, was reduced profoundly. No real sense of management hierarchy can be found in the group except for when it comes to marketing and promotion issues, Sir Richard Branson would take a more involved role.

Therefore Sir Richard Branson adopted a ‘hands-off’ policy with his managers and by doing so, encouraged their own initiatives. By proving such freedom, managers would inevitably feel more of a sense of responsibility, ownership and would try their up most to make a success of it. Sir Richard Branson knew this fact. He was providing an enriching atmosphere in which managers would flourish just as he had done.

Its not surprising then, that management recruited carefully selected individuals to be innovative people, pioneers in their field, and to have the competitive streak in their personalities. It was also of importance for candidates to be able to share values and to work effectively as team players. It is the author’s opinion that Sir Richard Branson employed managers who were made up of his image; in terms of personal characteristics and persona.

The key emphasis was in innovation and differentiation. The aim was to offer more for less and that each company was truly a Virgin in its own field. Although to some this notion may seem a bit too good to be true, no one can deny that “the Virgin Group is one of the UK’s largest private companies” (with reference to the case study) with an annual turnover (estimated) at £3bn by the year 2000.

The Virgin Group’s rationale is to diversify into as many markets feasible, and extend the Virgin brand name further at a low cost; where stature could be relied upon to reduce barriers to entry into static markets. The Virgin Group sought a challenge in ever venture. They would aim to provide better quality products than any competitor in a complacent market. The key point is that the market to be entered must be still in its growing phase.

The alluring factor to Virgin’s Greenfield start-ups is the “reward-to-risk” ratio, which could be acted upon by the experienced and capable Virgin management team.

To establish the virginity of a venture, so to speak in an institutionalised market extensive research was conducted into the static market to derive whether some sort of niche can be achieved and thus satisfied. Sir Richard Branson and his team deployed their 5 point criteria, to which 4 out of the 5 must be met by a new venture before giving the final go ahead.

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Strategic Relationships

All the business in the Virgin Group is strategically targeted towards a “five pillar” empire system that Sir Richard Branson is eager to create. At “ the heart of Virgin’s core strategy to develop the five pillars of the business empire: travel, leisure, mobile phones, entertainment retailing and personal finance ”. (Press Releases 30/01/02, http://www.virginmoney.com/newscentre/news2002_3.html)

As you can see displayed in Figure 1 (on page 1) all the ventures have inherited the Virgin name. What’s in a one might ask? There answer to that question is an exceptionally well marketed, promoted and trusted brand name. “Brand was the single most important asset of the company” ( Case Study Page 4, Paragraph 1 )

By giving a venture the prefix of Virgin; is to send out a message to the consumer to say out loud this new business is a “virgin” in its market place, “fun”, “innovative”, “daring”. It also has the effect of transferring all the marketing and promotional endeavours up to the present for that specific venture respectively.

As the author has previously mentioned the name Virgin has become synonymous with Sir Richard Branson’s name. The British public can immediately identify the roots to any Virgin advance as Sir Richard Branson’s very own. This is Sir Richard Branson’s key psychological strategy; and as you are acquainted by now, Sir Richard Branson plays a more interactive role into affairs of marketing and promotion; because aside from his indubitable genius marketing and promotion of the Virgin brand name is the Holy Grail to the expansion of the Virgin Empire. Thus many businesses outside the Virgin Group have shown their interest through joint ventures.

Examples of the power of the Virgin brand name can be concluded from the various joint ventures that have been formed. For example Virgin’s pledge in the Virgin Direct affair, was a mere £15m for the initial investment. But AMP Limited the leading international financial services initial investment was an extensive £450m; and yet it is a 50-50 joint venture!

All business within the Virgin Empire as mentioned in the Corporate Rationale section sacrificed short-term profits to gain long term growth and used an autonomous business level decision making method. Managers are free to make decisions independently for growth and feel the same degree of ownership and values that any other manager in the Virgin group would feel.

Businesses were ‘ring-fenced’ so that assets could not be switched between companies in the Virgin Group and if a company became too large another company would be spun off, in its place.

Value Adding The Virgin Group, as a corporate parent does value to its business. It is achieved by the following points:

Understanding of institutionalised Markets Virgin’s management team have done well in identifying complacency in the market. It is this expertise/experience coupled with the strategy to offer more for less that has help the Group plough through complacent business industries.

Virgin brand name to overcome barriers to entry The Virgin brand name is a consumer’s champion and as mentioned previously is a much respected brand with the British public.

Limiting Risk in joint Ventures Any company, corporation or organisation in a joint venture with the Virgin Group has the benefit of limiting its risk in the market place. This reiterates the point made in the last paragraph.

Management are not restricted A flat management structure helps encourage innovation; provides flexibility and promotes the values of shared ownership and responsibility.

Innovation Virgin’s senior staff consists of individuals with successful careers. The Group acquires like-minded partners in ventures who match their ability to innovate and differentiate.

These collective innovative thoughts and ideas are applied directly into business; which most often bare fruit. For example Virgin Mobile formulated partnerships with existing telecommunications operators to retail in mobile services. The Virgin management team successfully identified that the complacency was in the handling of network management. Their innovation led them to promote unique services that shock-up the market. These included “no line rentals”, “no monthly fees” and “cheaper prepaid” offers. Irrespective of the fact that Virgin Mobile did not actually operate it own network it had won the best wireless in the UK.

The Main Issues Facing the Virgin Group

Virgin Atlantic

The airline industry like many industries is cyclic. This proved to be dangerous by 2001, as Virgin seemed to rely entirely on the profits of Virgin Atlantic. Deregulation increased the competition in the market place. All in all most compositors were experiencing losses.

Virgin Rail

The biggest problem faced by the Virgin Group was the Strategic Rail Authority’s Review in 2000 because it was the most public. Virgin Rail was voted the most “unpopular” rail operator; and if that wasn’t enough the statistics: Virgin ranked 23 rd and 24 th out of 25 operators, was ample reason for Sir Richard Branson to feel a stake go through his reputation.

Slowly but surely Virgin’s prized brand name was being slowly chipped away by the press. The Virgin Group being such a large empire of 200 businesses was wonderful publicity when things were going right but all it took is for a hand full of businesses in the empire to either experience unavoidable consequences, which is the case of Virgin Atlantic and bad service and publicity as was the case with Virgin Rail for it to have quite disastrous effects on other areas of the group. Public confidence is such a delicate matter.

Recommendations

Become Less Diverse

Virgin should become less diverse. Its name has become diluted and its brand a purely endorsement brand. Lessons for the analysis of the environment must be learned. For example brand name alone isn’t enough. The pubic are sensitive and are attuned corporate strategies given time. Virgin as a corporate parent can add workable value to its businesses by investing and developing real expertise. Trying to limit risk is a knife that is sharp on both sides. On the one side it inevitably “limits risk”. On the other hand it sends out a contradictory signal to consumers. How can Virgin be “daring” when Sir Richard Branson’s value adding process is to limit risk? That is a question we should work towards eradicating.

Change in Strategy

The Virgin Group should change its policy to accommodate both independent and joint ventures to rely upon short-term profits on a few of its businesses for the sake of raises capital and release the ‘ring-fenced’ policy so that important revenue making Virgin Atlantic can be bailed out during the low times. Monies can be returned to the short-term ventures when the busy season arrives. The idea is to not restrict yourself to a policy of philosophy. Philosophies and policies should be such that can strategically change with time and environment.

Accounting Year End Every effort should be made to bring in line the accounting year end date for all businesses in the Virgin Group to be on the same date. This shall aid towards providing a better picture of the health and wealth of the empire.

ANON., “Behind Branson” The Economist 21 February, 1998 pp.81-86

ANON., “The battered bride” The Economist 25 December, 1999

ANON., “Virgin to close its West End make-up store” Evening Standard 1 February, 2000

BFI UK Cinema admissions 1933-96

www.bfi.org.uk/faq/admissions.htm

BRANSON. R., “Branson replies: Letter to The Economist” The Economist 28 February, 1998.D.6

BRASIER, M. “Virgin in £200 million MGM spectacular.” Daily Telegraph 1 July 1995

RUCKINGHAM, L., “Branson raises the curtain on Virgin cinemas in £200 million deal with MGM” The Guardian 1 July, 1995

Press Releases 30/01/02, http://www.virginmoney.com/newscentre/news2002_3.html

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How Virgin Group Started | Virgin Group Case Study – Lapaas

lapaasindia

January 14, 2020

Recent Blogs

Virgin Group is a World famous Investment focus company and world-recognized International Brand.

Virgin Group is founded by Richard Branson whose net worth is 430 Crore USD.

It is currently working in more than 35 countries across the Global.

Last year, Virgin Group reported $21.1 Billion in revenue. 

So let’s read the Case Study of the World famous Company Virgin Group. In this case study, we will discuss how Virgin Group Started and how much profit they will make per year. 

What’s in it from me

1. about virgin group.

2. How Virgin Group Started

3. What Virgin Group Do

4. How Much Profit Earns

5. SWOT Analysis

6. Digital Links Of Virgin Group

7. Fun Facts

8. Management Team of Virgin Group

9. No. of Exist

10. Acquisition By Virgin Group

11. Investment of Virgin Group

12. Competitor of Virgin Group

13. Marketing Strategy of Virgin Group 

Virgin Group limited is a British Based Investment focused company founded in 1970. The Virgin Group brand is the world’s leading investment group and most recognizable brands in the world.

The Company has invested in many sectors like travel, tourism and mobile etc. The company has more than 69000 employees in more than 35 Countries.

The company is founded by Richard Branson and the company Virgin Group brand is managed by Virgin management who is supported by Richard Branson Family and responsible for the growth of the Richard Branson.

The Company Generate more than £16.6 Billion in revenue annually. The Company has 53 million customers worldwide.

There are more than 60 Virgin Companies worldwide. The company has a diversified grouping of more than 2,00,000 privately held companies. 

2. How Virgin Group Started 

The Virgin Group has been started with an idea of mail record to help the Magazine companies.

The Virgin group is started By Richard Branson and Nik Powell. Both consider themselves in A Virgin that they named their company Virgin Record. The first recording produced by record by Virgin record was Tubular Bells stayed on UK Chart for 247 Weeks.

The Virgin Records grew up and turned to Virgin Music one of the top 6 record companies in the world. In 1984, he decided to expand their business and acquire the Voyager Group travel company.

In 1985, they started Virgin holidays. In 1992, Richard Branson’s company faces some financial crisis, but Richard Branson never lose their hope at that time and They Started Virgin Radio in 1993.

He also launched Virgin trains in 1997, who became the most criticised company in a year.

In 1998, they launched Virgin Mobile. In 2004, they launched Virgin Galactic who operates in Spaces. 

 We know that Virgin Group brand is an investment-focused company thus Virgin group has many Subsidiaries Companies invested in several companies.

Virgin Group has Virgin Active, Virgin Atlantic, Virgin Books, Virgin Care, Virgin Mobile, Virgin Connect, Virgin Holiday, Virgin Radio and Virgin Racing etc.

All these companies have their business model and stream of revenue. For Example, Virgin Books is a book publishing company who publish books.

Thus the revenue model of  Virgin Group brand is very simple they generate revenue from All their subsidiaries companies.

4. How Much Profit Virgin Group Make

Virgin Group is a group of various companies.

Revenue and Profit of Every company are different but in this post, we will discuss the total revenue of the Virgin Group.

The virgin Group generates 1660 Crore Great Britain Pound.

5. SWOT Analysis 

SWOT is a term in business in which we analyze the Strenght weakness Oppturnities Threats of a business. The SWOT Analysis of  Virgin Group is following

Strengths 

• Great Leadership By Richard Brandson Who takes the Company to the next level
• Richard Branon used Effective marketing strategy to promote their business
• The company has a lack of focus on one product or service 
• The company face Financial Problem in Virgin Atlantic

Opportunities

• The finds and utilize the new source of competitive advantage
• Investing in undermining economics likes India and china
• Leadership issue after Richard Branson
• Financial Problems due to investing in risky businesses

7. Fun & Facts

8. management team of virgin group .

Virgin Group is started by Richard Branson who was a great Entrepreneur. Richard born July 18, 1850, In Surrey, England.

They struggled a lot in their school life and that’s why they dropped the School at the age of 16. A decision of creating Virgin Records lead him to a great Entrepreneur.

Here is the team of Virgin Group who successfully run the empower of Virgin Group. 

Virgin Group brand has total 8 exist which includes most noticeable Square, Virgin Pulse, and many more.

List of Exists

10. Acquisition By Virgin Group 

11. investments of virgin group.

The Virgin group has made a total of 43 Investments. The list of their investment is following 

12. Competitors Of Virgin Group  

The Virgin Group has major 3 competitors to compete with. Although Virgin groups hold companies in various sectors.

Thus every company has different competitors in its industry. Their first major competitor is BT who provide communication services to the consumer and business sector worldwide.

Their second major Competitor is Airtel Company who offers Voice calling, messaging and data services.

Their third major competitor is American Airlines who provide travel services to global. 

13. Marketing Strategy of Virgin Group

Virgin Group Investment team mainly focuses on these 5 core consumer sectors:- Travel & Leisure, Telecom & Media, Music & Entertainment, Financial Services and Health & Wellness. The aim is to give long term capital investment to these sectors.

The company provides value to investments in 3 ways :

• Track Record and Sector Expertise of these 5 sectors 
• Experience and understanding of Consumer Behaviour, Marketing and Brands
• A strong network of Investors, Management teams and alumni

Virgin Group brand is also an active technology-focused venture investor. It has 24 Million+ visitors on social media in a year which is gained due to Marketing Digitally. If You want to gain your digital customers through Digital Marketing, You can contact Lapaas Digital Marketing Team.

• Virgin Atlantic cuts 1,150 jobs amid $1.6B rescue plan.
• US Passenger Train Service Cuts Ties With Virgin Group.
• Bain Capital becomes the new owner of Virgin Australia after creditors agree to $3.5 billion deal.
• Richard Branson’s Travel Empire Is Crumbling due to Covid-19. Only Space and Hyperloop Can Save It.
• LimeLight Sports buys mass participation company Virgin Sport
• .Virgin Hotels Las Vegas Announces World-Class Restaurant Partners. The partners will bring new and unique dining and hospitality experiences to the revitalized property.

Sir Richard Charles Nicholas Branson commonly known as Richard Branson, A British Bussiness Tycoon is the owner of Virgin Group. In the year 1970, He founded a company as Virgin Record with an idea of mail record to help the Magazine companies. Now It is Virgin Group which consists of more than 400 companies in Different Sectors.

When Richard Branson and Nik Powell founded the company, They consider themselves a Virgin in Business Industry. So they named their company as Virgin.

Virgin Group consists of approximately 70,000 employees in more than 60 different companies across 35 countries.

Josh Bayliss is the CEO of the Virgin Group. He joined Virgin in the year 2005 as the Group’s General Counsel and then became the CEO of Virgin Group in the year 2011.

Richard Bradson, a British business magnate, investor and the owner of the Virgin Group has 410 crores USD as net worth at the age of 69 years.

Their first major competitor is BT who provide communication services to the consumer and business sector worldwide. Their second major Competitor is Airtel Company who offers Voice calling, messaging and data services. Their third major competitor is American Airlines who provide travel services to global. 

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Richard Branson & Virgin Group Case Study.pptx

DIXIT, A. (2011) stated that “President Truman once said: “Give me a one-handed economist. All of my economic advisers say ‘On the one hand this, on the other hand that.’” Economists do indeed recognize that there are multiple forces at work in most situations, and it takes quite subtle analysis to understand their interaction and balance” . Virgin is one of the famous brands across the globe. It was started in 1971 and now dominates sectors of : camps, vineyards, restaurants, private members clubs, trains, and tour operating services. Its financial services include credit cards, home loans, insurance, savings, superannuation, fundraising services, and small business funding.

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This case focuses primarily on entrepreneurship and the problems facing entrepreneurs in today’s volatile economic environment. The case examines the life of Richard Branson and Virgin, Inc.

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Although he would celebrate his 54th birthday later in the year, there was little evidence during the first few months of 2004 that age and maturity had sapped Richard Branson's energy or the entrepreneurial vigor of his Virgin group of companies. Many of his new ventures were outside of Britain. His Australian budget airline, Virgin Blue, completed its IPO in December 2003 (valuing Branson's remaining 25 percent stake at $800 million) and during 2004 was expanding rapidly. In the US, Branson was busy on several fronts. He was seeking a CEO for Virgin USA – a discount airline that would begin service in 2005. Branson's major US business venture – Virgin Mobile USA (a joint venture with Sprint) – signed up its millionth customer at the beginning of 2004. He was planning a reality TV show with Fox that would involve would-be entrepreneurs vying for Branson's support. Back in Britain, Branson was negotiating the floatation of Virgin Mobile – Britain's biggest wireless virtual network operator, he was setting up an online gambling company, and had agreed to acquire the remaining 50 percent of Virgin Money – an online supplier of personal financial services – for £90m. Branson continued to court controversy and attract extensive press coverage. Virgin Atlantic's proposal to install bright-red urinals shaped as a woman's open lips at its JFK terminal was abandoned. However, he continued his project with Steve Fossett for a non-stop circumnavigation of the globe in a revolutionary plane, Virgin Atlantic Global Flyer. While Virgin Blue and Virgin Mobile were huge financial successes, the same could not be said of all his new ventures. Several of the online retailing companies he set up at the peak of the dot.com boom – notably Virgin Car and Virgin Bike – had been failures. Several of his long-established businesses were also performing poorly. Virgin Express, the Brussels-based budget airline had lost money between 2001 and 2003; at Virgin Rail heavy investments in new trains dwarfed operating profits; Victory Corporation (clothing and toiletries) and Virgin Cola also continued to rack up losses. Meanwhile Virgin Megastores suffered from declining sales of recorded music.

mehreen hussain

International Small Business Journal: Researching Entrepreneurship

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This article presents a theory of venturing using a critical realist approach. Venturing is presented as an outcome of reflexive engagement between individuals and circumstances, where opportunity is perceived in relation to some idiosyncratically defined value. Traditionally, venturing has been considered as necessarily involving financial value orientation. Removing the primacy of financial ambitions affords better explanation of real-life business activity. Venturing is presented also as temporally informed and informing through a lifetime, and thus it influences ongoing work choices, including further venturing. The benefits to theory and practice are outlined, including informing support of disparate venturing and of entrepreneurship as a specific type.

Sustainable Approaches and Business Challenges in Times of Crisis

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I congratulate my colleagues, Adina Letiția Negrușa and Monica Maria Coroș for planning, organizing and leading their International Conference – Modern Trends in Business, Hospitality, and Tourism that was recently held at the Faculty of Business in Babeș-Bolyai University of Cluj-Napoca, Romania. I am honored to prepare my Foreword for the 3rd Edition of their book, entitled; “Sustainable Approaches and Business Challenges in Times of Crisis”. I am very pleased to announce that this title features seventeen (17) contributions that were accepted for publication in Springer Proceedings in Business and Economics series. It covers a broad range of topics focused on business, tourism and/or hospitality, including tourism strategy, tourism planning, tourism policy, airline economics, crisis management, sustainable tourism, fund raising of non-governmental organizations, branding, tourism marketing, destination marketing, small town destination marketing, smart destinations, agri-tourism, mountain tourism, spa tourism, as well as on the adoption of disruptive tourism technologies (including Blockchain, innovative mobile applications, et cetera), among others. This publication is a useful guide for practitioners including those who are actively engaged in the tourism and hospitality sectors. However, it is a valuable resource for consultants, senior executives and managers who work in other service-based industries. The contributing authors utilize various methodological approaches including theoretical, empirical and real-life case studies to shed light on the latest technological developments as well as on the most modern trends that appeal to business researchers and scholars. They critically analyze the global marketing environments, and discuss on a wide array of economic, socio-cultural, technological and environmental realities in the aftermath of the unexpected Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

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The dual institutional ownership and management of corporate brands is an under-researched organisational phenomenon. The authors' examination of the Hilton hotel brand, during a period of joint ownership, revealed a discrepancy between brand promise and delivery. This failure is attribute to a narrow conceptualisation of corporate brand management: an undue emphasis on corporate identity; a failure to align corporate identity with the corporate brand covenant; undue prominence being accorded to the trappings of corporate branding (corporate communications and visual identity) and insufficient attention being given to the substance of corporate brand management (calibrating brand promise with brand quality, consistency and delivery). In theoretical terms it is concluded that there is bilateral dependence between corporate identity and corporate brand identity; they are mutually reliant. Whereas corporate brands have their roots in corporate identities the management of corporate brands require the alignment of corporate identity/corporate identities with the corporate brand in a meaningful way. In practical terms, the authors aver that it is imperative that general managers make a distinction between corporate identity (the traits of both organisations) and the corporate brand identity (the promise/covenant that underpin a corporate brand): corporate brand management requires the orchestration of both. The phenomenon of the dual institutional ownership/management of corporate brands require the meaningful and dynamic calibration of three identity types: the corporate brand identity and the two corporate identities that own, and jointly manage, the corporate brand. Many of the difficulties experienced by the Hilton brand are attributable to a lack of appreciation of the aforementioned

Contabilitatea, expertiza şi auditul afacerilor

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Virgin Group Case

Executive summary The Virgin Group is one of the UK’s largest private companies. Conceived in 1970 by Sir Richard Branson, the Virgin Group has gone on to grow very successful businesses in sectors ranging from mobile telephony, to transportation, travel, financial services, leisure, music, holidays, publishing and retailing.

Virgin has created more than 200 branded companies worldwide, employing approximately 50,000 people, in 29 countries.

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Revenues around the world in 2006 exceeded ? 10 billion. A research held by HPI in February – April 2007 has shown that the UK public vote Virgin as their most admired brand. (Virgin Group, 2009) This report provides an analysis and evaluation of Virgin Group main values, competitive advantages, business environment and strategic development and suggests new strategic and implementation plan for Virgin Media ; Telecommunications division. The report covers five main points.

The first and the third parts of the report review Virgin Group mission and vision statements, its main values and core competences and suggest steps to create competitive advantages.

It shows that Virgin’s unique culture and corporate structure are the key terms that create its competitive advantages. The second part of the report provides an analysis of the company’s business environment and makes examples of external environment impact on the company’s operations. For analyzing business environment PEST and SWOT strategic models were applied.

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Analysis of Virgin Group's Resources and Capabilities, BCG Matrix and Diversification Strategy

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Marketing Case Study Analysis – The Virgin Group

The use of marketing by virgin group.

The term marketing is an exceptional tool applied with the help of which the consumers are contented with the products or services being provided by the company, and are highly appreciated more than the company’s competitors are offering so that they will be persistent to buy your product. There must be enough profit to keep the business in operation. Marketing also means that the internal environment of the organization such as methods of productions, wages, and working conditions for employees and suppliers are provided punctually and accurately. The government laws and procedures are fulfilled precisely (McKean). Considering the marketing concept Virgin Group has always placed their customers first in every decision they have made. Virgin is applying the marketing tool in every means. Virgin is satisfying the consumer needs by providing improved services and exceptional features. Ninety-six percent of the consumers of the UK are aware of the Virgin brand, and the company believes that no product or service boundaries are limiting a brand name, it is all associated with the quality they are offering. They are fulfilling the customers’ needs by making the Virgin brand fun, successful, innovative, and reliable for all its customers. Virgin has applied marketing concepts by understanding the customer needs, wants, and demands, as they realized that the customer wants low-priced tickets and easy routes from the UK to the USA. Therefore, Virgin Atlantic provided the customers with innovative routes and excellent services at low fares. The company has always placed the customers first which has to lead the organization to higher profit margins and a successful business in every manner.

Advertising helps to promote the product through various mediums such as television, print media, billboards, the internet, and radio. According to the case, Virgin Group is promoting and advertising its products through its webpage named Virgin.com. The CEO of the company believes that the webpage would create cross-promote offerings for the customers, as every service offered by the company is available on that site ranging from traveling tickets, entertainment listings to financial services. The advertisements of Virgin are considered quirky and publicity stunts. Therefore, the company needs to portray better advertisements to attract more consumers. On the other hand, Virgin also needs to realize that advertising is different than selling. The company is selling its products through an online webpage; it is not properly advertising its products. Therefore the company needs to revise its promotional strategies by identifying their target audience for every service they are providing, then they have to set objectives of communication and at the end decide the best medium of promotional budget.

The pros of Virgin advertising are that it is reaching a high amount of consumers geographically at low cost, as Virgin.com is the one easily accessible site to promote all its products under one link. The second advantage is that the company’s advertisements are viewed by consumers as being justifiable and valid, as it is available basis and is easily reachable. The advertising campaigns are building a positive image in the consumer minds, as mentioned earlier; the end-users of the Virgin Group perceive the brand as a fun, innovative, and successful trademark.

The cons of Virgin advertising are that the advertising concepts are impersonal, and are considered quirky. Sometimes the viewers do not feel that they have to pay attention or respond to the advertisements.

Virgin’s Marketing Mix

Any firm or business can be successful by offering products or services that are able to fulfill consumer needs. Most of the companies are involved in offering a diverse collection of products or services, and most of them are related to each other. Similarly, Virgin Group is also presenting various services to the consumers. Although there is one drawback that the company is not offering a similar type of services, for instance, airline services are very different from financial services, and book publishing is different from music and entertainment. Therefore, the company has to apply effective marketing mix strategies in every service they are offering.

Product Life Cycle

Product Life Cycle is another fundamental theory required for all the products. The main purpose is that every product or service has a limited time span of popularity in the marketplace, and after its attractiveness starts dwindling. The Product Life Cycle is based upon six stages that are: Development, Introduction, Growth, Maturity, Saturation, and Decline (McKean).

The first step is Development in which with the help of market research and technical assistance the product is developed. The risk is high, and the sales revenue is very low. In the Virgin Co. scenario, the company developed many new concepts such as travel services, financial services, music and entertainment, hotel services, and many more. The development cost was high, and they were offering high prices for their services at the initial stage.

The second step is Introduction in which the product is promoted and advertised. It is introduced into the market. Initially, revenue generation is low, as the development costs need to be recovered. Virgin Company introduced a variety of services one by one into the marketplace such as Virgin Atlantic Airways, Virgin Holidays, Virgin Retail, a record shop, a joint venture with financial services, and a lot more.

The third step is Growth , as the product becomes well known in the consumer’s mind, then the sales and revenue generation increases. During this growth period, a number of competitors start arising for a particular product or service. Virgin brand is known all over the world, and today it is perceived as a fun, daring, and successful brand. The company has to face intense competition in travel services and retail services.

After growth comes the Maturity period, which is the time when the product sales are not growing rapidly mainly because of the entrants of the substitutes, which are considered as the competitors. During this time the competition is fierce and profit earning is low. Virgin introduced the retail outlet concept of the records which was later turned into megastores but in 1990 the entrants of rivalry affected the high annual growth of the company. Similarly in the airline business, Virgin Airlines business had to cut down the fare prices to attract more customers. Virgin is facing fierce competition in the European airline market and Ryan airlines who are offering low-fares to their customers.

The last two steps are Saturation and Decline in which the competitors take over the market and the sales of the company start decreasing. Eventually, the product has to be withdrawn from the market. To avoid this declining era, the company needs to introduce innovative ideas, develop new technologies for the product or service which would help to increase the life span of the product into the market. If Virgin Group has to expand their product’s life cycle then they are required to adopt new and different strategies at each stage of the life cycle particularly keeping in mind the seven main components of Marketing Mix.

Marketing Mix

In order to attain a successful business, it is highly important to consider the marketing mix which includes the seven basic elements product, price, place and promotion, people, processes, and physical evidence (McKean). According to a marketing point of view, a product can be a commodity, a service, a person, or an idea. Virgin Group is offering services such as airline services, radio broadcasting, book publishing, financial services, cinemas, and hotels.

Price is another vital element of the marketing mix it is necessary for Virgin Company to keep in mind the three basic factors while offering prices of its services which are consumers, trade, and its competitors, fulfilling these three main components would lead the brand to higher success. Currently, the company is famous for providing “low cost” “high frill” airlines in the United States and the United Kingdom.

Promotion is the most essential tool to make the product or service flourish. Promotion is associated with communicating information regarding a product or service; it helps to attract the customers or the markets to try the product. Promotion is done through advertising, personal selling, public relations, and direct marketing (McKean). Virgin is promoting its products through its website Virgin.com and through sales promotions and public relations.

Placement is also a vital marketing mix as it includes the distribution channels through which the product or service is made available to the consumers. Virgin Group is distributing its products such as music records, clothes, mobile phones, and electronic products through retail stores called Megastores. It is providing its airline tickets through its website and through different travel agents.

The services business also relies upon People. The human element plays a major role in making the service successful and the customer fully satisfied. Virgin has hired an efficient sales force for its services to make its business highly victorious.

Processes of the organization also help to generate a profit margin. Virgin Co. has implemented excellent quality control processes to make certain consistency of services.

Possible Changes which Could Occur in the Business

Every business environment is comprised of two major components microenvironment and macro environment. The micro environment includes everything that is associated with the internal environment of the company such as managers, employees, board of directors, and stakeholders. Functions such as operations, marketing, finance, manufacturing, distribution are associated with the management, suppliers, and competitors. On the other hand, macro environment embraces larger forces that influence the functions of the organization. Any firm has no control over the macro environment forces. These forces are also known as PEST, standing for Political/Legal, Economic, Sociocultural such as demographics and Technological (McKean). Both micro and macro environment forces are affecting the strategies of the Virgin.

Implement Policies and Procedures

The corporate culture of Virgin Group needs to be modified and the internal environment of the organization should be re-organized based upon proper procedures and policies. The corporate policies procedures are not well-defined. In order to overcome this issue, Virgin Group should formulate appropriate business policies and procedures which would enable the management to be more focused upon goal orientations for enhancing and sustaining the company’s competitive advantage.

Provide communication network to the employees

According to the scenario that has been explained in the case, Richard Branson, the Chairman of Virgin Group has created a very informal environment within the workplace. There is no interaction between the workforces. The employees and managers have no communication channels. The firm should also enable proper communication channels for the employees to easily interact with each other. Social networking and feedback system should be implemented which would help to build a friendly environment within the company. Award ceremonies and events should be introduced for the workforce.

Separate departments are required

There are no separate divisions for every department such as finance, marketing, operations, research and development. It is highly important that the senior management should provide separate departments for every sector. This would lead to easier the workload, and the efficiency of the workforce would increase. The company should also hire experienced operational strategists who would be able to counterbalance Virgin’s strategic decisions.

Strategies need to clearly defined to the work force

Company’s strategies are not well defined to the management and the workers. In order to achieve a competitive edge the company should also concentrate upon the marketing mix strategies. Positioning is one of the most vital aspects, the firm should adopt proper positioning strategies for every product in order to raise profits and attract more customers. Furthermore, during this recession era of music records, Virgin Group should sign up with new and upcoming music bands which would help to generate more profits, and they will be able to overcome from financial uncertainty.

More mediums required for streamlining the internal operations

Furthermore, the company is only one medium that is the web to streamline the internal operations of the organization. Internet is the only source available for the airline services, for megastore products and the financial services. Even the advertising staff is only dependent upon the Internet to coordinate with advertising agencies. The company needs to establish more mediums and database for streamlining its internal processes.

The marketing mix of Virgin Co. has already been mentioned in question 2, and on the basis of the analysis, the marketing mix needs to be altered on slight bases. In Product the company needs to elaborate its Product Mix, which means that the services and products offered by the company should be similar to each other, whereas in Virgin case the company is offering a diverse collection of services and products which are not inter related to each other under the same marketing mix. In Promotion , the company is required to provide advertisements through other means such as television, billboards and radio rather than only through Internet. Virgin Group has to emphasize upon the tangible cues that will help its consumers to understand and evaluate the services it is offering. Consumers also tend to favor “word of mouth” communication therefore it is necessary for the company to encourage customers to tell their friends about the good performance about Virgin. The Pricing of Virgin Group is compatible and affordable as compared to its competitors, so the pricing doesn’t need to be revised.

Different Promotional MethodsU within Virgin Promotion Methods

Virgin has adopted limited promotional methods to market their products. There are five main promotional methods advertising, sales promotions, public relations, personal selling and direct marketing.

Advertising

Advertisements help the advertisers to achieve the specific objectives. The objective can be anything ranging from notifying the consumer about a latest product, convincing the public to purchase your product or service or just telling again the end users about your organization. According to the case analysis, Virgin Company is only emphasizing upon advertising technique to promote their services. Advertising includes two main elements the message and the medium. Virgin brand is giving a message of fun, daring and successful trademark in its advertisements. The advertisement medium used by the Virgin Group is Internet, Television commercials and print media. Virgin’s advertising objectives are to introduce a variety of innovative products into the market for their consumers. The company has placed all its businesses on one easily accessible site called Virgin.com to cross promote the wide range of offerings such as airline tickets, music records, financial services, wine, entertainment listings and many more.

Sales Promotions

Sales promotions help to amplify the sales, and persuade a faster and stronger response from the consumers. It basically offers an incentive to buy now. In sales promotion, Virgin is offering low-fare tickets and innovative ideas to attract more customers. In record business, Virgin was offering popular records at prices 15 percent below than the record stores were offering, and in addition they were providing the records through mail orders. Such type of sales promotion is considered as consumer promotion technique.

Public Relations

According to Philip Kotler, Principles of Marketing, 3 rd European Edition, Public Relation is defined as. “To build good relations with the company’s various publics by obtaining favorable publicity, building up a good ‘corporate image’ and handling or heading off unfavorable rumors, stories and events.” In Virgin Group, the Chairman of the company is the only person who is interacting with other agencies and companies. Initially Virgin Airlines used the Lobbying technique in Public Relations to develop association with government ministers to allow them to provide both end routes and allow low fares. On the other hand, the management has only developed public relations through Internet. Therefore, it is necessary for the managers and promotional department to interact with well known advertising agencies in person and build strong PRs.

Direct Marketing

The Virgin Record Business had adopted the direct marketing concept by enabling direct mail order of records to its consumers. In the current scenario, direct marketing is hardly implemented by Virgin Group. Therefore, it is necessary that the management should participate in various events such as public affairs, public conferences, events and other ceremonies to make the people aware of their brand, and can also examine the viewpoints of other people for the Virgin brand.

Impact upon Pricing Decisions

There are eight basic factors that influence the pricing processes of the organization. These include consumer, demand, competition, channels of distribution, legal, marketing objectives, organizational objectives and cost. The Virgin Group has considered demand, competition, legal and marketing objectives into their pricing decisions. Demand is dependent upon two main features: one is if the product substitute is not available then the product demand is high, and second how willingly the consumer needs the product. Virgin Group were the first to introduce mail order business offering popular records, and no other company was providing the records at the consumer’s doorstep therefore the demand of Virgin record business went high. Competition pricing influences the organization’s pricing decision. Virgin Co. is offering low pricing strategy for airline tickets as compared to its competitors. It also keeps in mind the prices of its competitors in other fields of its services provided to its end users. Legal is a vital tool for setting prices for products or services. It is highly essential to understand the legal and regulatory framework of the country the firm is operating in. Virgin Group is currently doing business in United States, Britain, Australia and other countries. Virgin Airlines has always highlighted the regulatory framework of the British and American Airline Industry.

The Different Distribution Chains within Virgin Distribution Channels

According to Philip Kotler, Principles of Marketing Third Edition, “Distribution Channels enables the organization to place the product or service available for use or consumption by the consumer or industrial user.” Any firm applies different channels of distribution such as through agents, whole sellers, retailers, suppliers and other intermediaries.

Virgin Megastore has established Retail distribution channel. In retail distribution, they are selling the music records directly to the end users. This helps the company to persuade the consumers to buy the records that are sold in their Megastores.

Virgin Airlines is distributing the flight tickets through their webpage called Virgin.com and through well known travel agents. The agents have legal ownership of the airline fares but they take a prescribed commission and works on behalf of Virgin Express. It is very essential for the company to work with trustworthy and reliable agents. These distribution channels would help Virgin express to make its fares effectively available to travelers in key markets.

Other Intermediaries

Virgin mobile has made its cell phones available to the consumers by distributing them to the retail stores and through its website. Virgin is also providing financial services through making joint ventures with leading insurance and share trading companies. In addition, the customers can acquire financial services through Virgin.com, its homepage that is considered one easily accessible site to promote and supply its diverse range of services and products.

The company is using different channel levels for supplying its services to the end-users. They are directly supplying their goods from the manufacturers to the customers with the help of the Internet and retail outlets. This is applied to supply its mobiles, records, clothes, and consumer electronics. Then in Virgin Airline, they are using the channel level Manufacturer to Agent to End users, because agents are best sellers for airline tickets. The agents enable precise knowledge and proficiency of the best and provide cost-effective routes to the company.

McKean, James. Marketing: Introduction. n.d.

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The Virgin Group in 2015 Harvard Case Solution & Analysis

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The Virgin Group in 2015 Case Solution

Political :.

Virgin always follows the rules and regulations of the government. Virgin pays its taxes on time and along with that Bronson focus to make rules in the company to align the rules of government with the company. As mentioned in the case virgin had a very good and strong image in the market which helped Bronson to keep good relation with the county as well. The only thing which was a problem for virgin was the financial reports because it was not well managed.

The major benefit for virgin was its diversification because due to its diversification in the industry, in this case, virgin always needsfewer investments to earn more profits.  Country recession or boom have an impact on the virgin company because it affects its business strategies. Each adverse effect in the local market affects the company's profits as well.

Social factors:

The main vision behind the virgin companies was to give quality services to the customers and the company takes this as its social responsibility to meet customer needs. The company also focused on environmental issues and come up with environmentally friendly products.

Technological factors:

Technologically virgin was always updated and following the trends in the industry. Virgin always strives to update the technology to serve its customers like virgin rail re-engineered its technology to make it improve its timings. Virgin group of companies always tried to integrate internet services in the products and services to make it more viable. The company always changed its rules to make it easier for the customers.

Conclusively, to this extent, we can say that the virgin group of companies was a good fit for the external environment because from its first company Branson was moving strategically because the only powerful resource Branson had was his experience and openness to change. He always tracks the changes in the market and knew how to explore the opportunity and how to convert strengths into profits. He not only followed a diversified business model but also diversified its product and service ranges which enabled him to move in the direction of the external environment.  Branson entered the market and tried to earn a good reputation and word of mouth to cash it in the future. No doubt this helped him in many cases when it comes to face the external environment of the organization.As mentioned in the case of a virgin is an incubation where the small businesses started to grow and flourish. Branson shared his experience to make team continue the business patterns. External factors like political or economic do affect the virgin companies. Few companies during the boom period became more successful and few companies during the recession period became went into losses and Branson wisely identified those things and shutdown those businesses or sell them out. It was his best quality. So we can say that the virgin group of companies was a good fit with the external environment.

3. How would you summarize Virgin's business model?

Virgin companies were following a diversified business model because in few companies were product-oriented few were service-oriented few were earning through investments. To separately explaining it in the following:

Licensing company Model:

In this model,a virgin was earning through royalties and licensing the Virgin brand. The company was making profits and creating competitive value in the market. No doubt during 2013 company earned royalties of $52 million. The Only problem which this model faced was that virgin was associated with the name of Branson which was very difficult to part both things.

Capital business Model:

Virgin Company initially was focused on the development of new company or product. Another way to earn was to manage the business of others. Branson was managing the ideas of others as well he was working as the manager to convert the idea into a successful business.In this model, company launch a new product and proceed towards the company development. In this model,Branson was focused to hunt opportunities within the country and replicate ideas.

Diversified business model :

Virgin was following the diversification in his business which was somehow the reason behind the success of the business in the industry. Branson always looks for a suitable opportunity to invest in or to offer a new product or service in the market. Virgin company's customers vary in nature because of its diversified business model. Branson was the one who welcomed every business idea and worked as a manager to support that idea...........................

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The study aimed to determine the effects of high-risk pregnancy on prenatal stress levels. The study was conducted with a case-control design in Turkey in September-December 2019. The sample included pregnant women diagnosed with high-risk pregnancy and were at their 36th or later gestational weeks as the case group ( n  = 121) and healthy pregnant women as the control group ( n  = 245). The Antenatal Perceived Stress Inventory (APSI) and the Revised Prenatal Distress Questionnaire (NUPDQ-17 Item Version) were used to assess the stress levels of the participants in the study. It was determined that high-risk pregnancy was associated with higher rates of prenatal stress (APSI: p  < 0.001, effect size = 0.388; NUPDQ: p  = 0.002, effect size = 0.272) compared to the control group. The results of the linear regression analysis showed that high-risk pregnancy affected APSI (R 2  = 0.043, p  < 0.001) and NUPDQ (R 2  = 0.033, p  = 0.009) scores, but education levels, number of pregnancies, and number of abortions did not affect APSI and NUPDQ scores. According to the results of this study, high-risk pregnant women are in a risk group for stress. It is of great importance for the course of a pregnancy that healthcare professionals assess the stress levels of pregnant women in the high-risk pregnancy category and provide psychological support to pregnant women who have high stress levels or are hospitalized.

Avoid common mistakes on your manuscript.

Introduction

A high-risk pregnancy is a significant health problem that threatens the health of the pregnant woman, the health of her fetus, and ultimately the health of her newborn, increases the risk of morbidity and mortality, and has physiological, psychological, social, and economic aspects (Cincioğlu et al., 2020 ; Gözüyeşil & Düzgün, 2021 ; Sinaci et al., 2020 ). Chronic diseases existing before pregnancy and problems that arise during pregnancy can make a pregnancy risky. Pregnant women with gestational diabetes mellitus, preeclampsia/eclampsia, potential threat of preterm labor, cervical insufficiency, premature rupture of membranes, vaginal bleeding, Rh incompatibility, intrauterine growth retardation, and infections are in the high-risk category (Gözüyeşil & Düzgün, 2021 ; Sinaci et al., 2020 ; ACOG, 2019 ; Soğukpınar et al., 2018 ; Üzar-Özçetin & Erkan, 2019 ; ACOG, 2018 ).

Approximately 10% of all pregnancies in the world are considered to be in the high-risk category (Cincioğlu et al., 2020 ; Gourounti et al., 2015a , b ; Göüyeşil & Düzgün, 2021 ; Sinaci et al., 2020 ; Soğukpınar et al., 2018 ; Üzar-Özçetin & Erkan, 2019 ). According to Turkey Demographic and Health Survey (TNSA) 2018 data, 35% of pregnancies in Turkey are in the high-risk category (Hacettepe University Institute of Population Studies, 2019 ).

Good mental health during pregnancy is important for the health of both the pregnant woman and her fetus (Gümüşdaş et al., 2014 ). In a high-risk pregnancy, the normal outcome of the pregnancy and the birth of a healthy baby are threatened. These pregnant women have a variety of health needs that must be met. If these needs are not met, the mother may experience extreme stress and anxiety (Ölçer & Oskay, 2015 ). In the case of intense stress caused by the risks of pregnancy, the elevation of catecholamines such as cortisol and epinephrine may increase the possibility of pregnancy complications (e.g., preeclampsia) and adversely affect pregnancy outcomes (e.g., intrauterine growth retardation) (Atasever & Çelik, 2018 ; Cetin et al., 2017 ; Deshpande, 2016 ; Gözüyeşil & Düzgün, 2021 ; Riggin, 2020 ; Traylor et al., 2020 ; Yüksel et al., 2013 ). Moreover, newborns exposed to extreme stress during the intrauterine period may have permanent health problems later in their lives (Graignic-Philippe et al., 2014 ; MacKinnon et al., 2018 ; Van De Loo et al., 2016 ).

It is seen that distress in pregnancy has a high prevalence ranging between 11.9% and 63.5% in studies conducted in Turkey (Yüksel et al., 2013 ; Çapık et al., 2015 ; Gözüyeşil & Düzgün, 2021 ). It is very important that health professionals identify pregnant women at risk of stress to ensure a healthy pregnancy process and protect the fetus and newborn from the harmful effects of stress. This way, more careful monitoring of pregnant women at risk of stress can be ensured, and the negative consequences of stress can be prevented with appropriate interventions (Williamson et al., 2023 ; Atasever & Çelik, 2018 ; Pinar et al., 2022 ). It is reported in the international literature that mental problems such as anxiety and stress are more common in high-risk pregnancies than in healthy pregnancies (Byatt et al., 2014 ; Abedian et al., 2015 ; Gourounti et al., 2015a , b ). In Turkey, there are few studies examining the prenatal stress levels of high-risk pregnant women. However, in these studies, the prenatal stress levels of women with healthy and high-risk pregnancies were not compared, and only the stress levels of high-risk pregnancies were determined (Gözüyeşil & Düzgün, 2021 ; Üzar-Özçetin & Erkan, 2019 ). Current evidence indicates that studies describing the concept of prenatal stress in high-risk pregnancies with different diagnoses are needed to learn more about the complex aspects of prenatal stress and identify the sociodemographic and obstetric factors that may lead to high-risk pregnancies for early diagnosis (Pinar et al., 2022 ; Hung et al., 2021 ; Gözüyeşil & Düzgün, 2021 ; Mete et al., 2020 ; Üzar-Özçetin & Erkan, 2019 ; Atasever & Çelik, 2018 ). For this reason, it is thought that this study will guide healthcare professionals who provide care for women with high-risk pregnancies about the services they will provide.

This study aims to prospectively determine the effects of high-risk pregnancies on prenatal stress levels compared to healthy pregnant women, using two different measurement instruments.

Materials and methods

Research questions.

Does high-risk pregnancy have an impact on prenatal stress?

What are the factors affecting the prenatal distress levels of women diagnosed with high-risk pregnancy?

Is there a difference in prenatal stress levels among different high-risk pregnancy diagnoses?

Design and settings

This case-control study was conducted to determine the difference between the stress levels of women with healthy and high-risk pregnancies. In other words, it was aimed to determine the suspected causal effect of high-risk pregnancy on prenatal stress levels. This case-control study was carried out between September and December 2019 at the Obstetrics and Gynecology Inpatient and Outpatient Clinics of Atatürk City Hospital in the Balıkesir province of Turkey. The case and control groups included women who were selected from the same hospital.

The hospital where the study was conducted hosted a total of 4,152 deliveries in 2018. Approximately 10% of all pregnancies are considered to be in the high-risk category (Sinaci et al., 2020 ). The sample size required to conduct the study was calculated as 134 high-risk pregnant women using the Epi Info StatCalc program based on an assumed population size of 4152, prevalence of 10%, margin of error of 5%, and in a 95% confidence interval. The study was completed with a total of 384 pregnant women, including 134 high-risk pregnant women and 250 healthy pregnant women, who accepted to participate in the study and filled out the consent form. However, the data of 13 pregnant women in the case group and 5 pregnant women in the control group were excluded from the study because they filled out the data collection forms incompletely. For the case group ( n  = 121), the post hoc power analysis (G*Power 3.1) revealed a medium effect size and a power of 0.421.

The inclusion criteria of the study were being in a gestational week further than 36 weeks, not having a psychiatric diagnosis, and being 18 years old or order. Pregnant women who were hospitalized in the Obstetrics and Gynecology Inpatient Clinic, were diagnosed with high-risk pregnancy by a physician, and met the inclusion criteria were included in the high-risk pregnancy group. In the control group, pregnant women who were healthy, were at or above their 36th gestational week, and visited the Outpatient Clinics were included. Women who wanted to leave the study or responded incompletely to the data collection forms were excluded. After those who met the inclusion criteria were included, no pregnant women withdrew from the study by their own accord. However, 18 pregnant women were excluded from the study because they filled out the forms incompletely.

High-risk pregnancies were defined as the presence of one or more of the following: pre-existing chronic diseases, preeclampsia, gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM), vaginal bleeding, placenta previa, threat of preterm labor, premature rupture of membranes, intrauterine growth retardation (IUGR), fetal anomaly/distress, multiple pregnancy, polyhydramnios/oligohydramnios, Rh incompatibility, and infectious diseases (Cincioğlu et al., 2020 ; Gözüyeşil & Düzgün, 2021 ; Sinaci et al., 2020 ; Üzar-Özçetin & Erkan, 2019 ).

Data collection

A Personal Information Form, the Antenatal Perceived Stress Inventory, and the Prenatal Distress Questionnaire were administered to the participants. The participants were informed about the study, the purpose of the study was explained to them, and their written consent was obtained. The data collection forms were administered to the participants by the first author. The data were collected based on the self-reports of the participants. The data collection period was between September and December 2019. The interviews lasted about 15 min for each participant.

Personal information form

The form which was prepared by the researchers in line with the literature consisted of a total of 20 questions on some characteristics of the participants, including their sociodemographic characteristics and obstetric history (Gözüyeşil & Düzgün, 2021 ; Mete et al., 2020 ; Üzar-Özçetin & Erkan, 2019 ; Atasever & Çelik, 2018 ).

Antenatal perceived stress inventory (APSI)

The Turkish validity and reliability study of the inventory developed by Razurel et al. ( 2014 ) to assess perceived stress in the prenatal period was performed by Atasever and Çelik ( 2018 ). The inventory is applied to pregnant women at the 36th -39th gestational weeks. It is a 5-point Likert-type scale (very much = 5 points, much = 4 points, quite = 3 points, a little = 2 points, none = 1 point) and consists of 12 items and 3 dimensions. Its dimensions are Medical and Obstetric Risks/Fetal Health, Psychosocial Changes during Pregnancy, and Prospect of Childbirth. The minimum and maximum scores that can be obtained from the inventory are 12 and 60. High scores indicate high levels of stress perceived by pregnant women. In the study conducted by Atasever and Çelik, Cronbach’s alpha internal consistency coefficient for APSI was found to be 0.70, while this coefficient was found as 0.81 in this study.

Revised prenatal distress questionnaire ((NUPDQ)-17 Item Version)

The questionnaire developed by Yali and Lobel ( 1999 ) to determine the levels of stress experienced by women regarding pregnancy-related issues was revised by Lobel ( 2008 ). The Turkish validity and reliability study of the questionnaire was performed by Yüksel et al. ( 2011 ). The questionnaire is in the form of a 3-point Likert-type scale (very much = 2 points, a little = 1 point, none = 0 point) and consists of 17 items. The questionnaire is unidimensional. The minimum and maximum scores that can be obtained from the questionnaire are 0 and 34. High scores indicate that pregnant women have high levels of prenatal distress. Cronbach’s alpha internal consistency coefficient for NUPDQ was found to be 0.85 in the study performed by Yüksel et al., while it was found as 0.82 in this study.

Statistical analysis

Frequency, percentage, mean, and standard deviation values were used in the data analyses. Whether the data had normal distribution was tested using the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test. The Chi-squared test and independent-samples t-test methods were used to identify the differences between groups in terms of the sociodemographic and obstetric information of the participants. The Mann-Whitney U Test was used to determine the differences between the case and control groups in terms of their total APSI, APSI subscale, and total NUPDQ scores. The Type I error level was accepted as p  < 0.05. A Cohen’s d value of 0.20 is considered to indicate a small effect size, a value of 0.50 is considered to show a medium effect size, and a value of 0.80 or greater is interpreted as a large effect size (Özsoy & Özsoy, 2013 ). Since education, number of pregnancies, and number of miscarriages, which are thought to have an impact on stress levels, may be confounding factors, the linear regression analysis in this study was carried out to determine whether these factors or high-risk pregnancy affected the stress levels of the participants (Models 1 and 2). As a result of the Mann-Whitney U Test, a significant difference was found between high-risk pregnancies and healthy pregnancies in terms of “psychosocial changes during pregnancy” and “prospect of childbirth”. For this reason, APSI dimensions were collected in a single model, and a linear regression analysis was performed for the further analysis of the relationship between high-risk pregnancy and the APSI dimension scores of the participants (Model 3). The variable with the highest β coefficient was considered the relatively most significant independent variable. Multicollinearity was ignored in case of Tolerance > 0.20 and variance inflation factors (VIF) < 10. R 2 shows what percentage of the dependent variable is explained by the independent variables. According to Cohen, R 2 values of 0.0196, 0.1300, and 0.2600 are the lower thresholds for small, medium, and large effect sizes, respectively (Özsoy & Özsoy, 2013 ). One-Way MANOVA was also conducted to see whether there was a difference in stress levels during pregnancy between the case and control groups. The comparison of the stress levels of the participants in the case group based on their diagnoses was conducted with the Kruskal-Wallis test.

Ethical considerations

For the study to be carried out, approval was obtained from the Clinical Research Ethics Committee of the Faculty of Medicine of the University, and written permission was obtained from the institution where the study would be conducted (2019/123). The purpose of the study was explained to the pregnant women who agreed to participate, and they were informed that their identifying information would be kept confidential. The written consent of the participants was obtained with the Volunteer Information Form. The participants in both the case and control groups who were thought to need counseling were referred to a specialist for psychological support.

Table  1 shows the sociodemographic and obstetric characteristics of the participants. There was no significant difference between the women in the case and control groups in terms of age, whether they had an income-generating job, income status, place of residence, parity, number of living children, status of having a planned pregnancy, and smoking status ( p  > 0.05). It was determined that the participants in the case group had significantly lower education levels than those in the control group ( p  < 0.001). Moreover, the number of pregnancies ( p  = 0.036) and the number of abortions ( p  = 0.012) in the case group were found significantly higher than those in the control group. These results supported the hypothesis that some sociodemographic and obstetric characteristics of women are associated with high-risk pregnancies.

According to the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test results, the total APSI and NUPDQ scores of the participants were not normally distributed ( p  < 0.001). Table  2 shows the stress levels of the participants compared based on their scale scores. The total APSI ( p  < 0.001, Cohen’s d = 0.388) and total NUPDQ ( p  = 0.002, Cohen’s d = 0.272) scores of the participants in the case group were significantly higher than those of the participants in the control group. The APSI Psychosocial Changes during Pregnancy ( p  < 0.001, Cohen’s d = 0.473) and Prospect of Childbirth ( p  < 0.001, Cohen’s d = 0.314) dimension scores of the participants in the case group were also significantly higher than those of the participants in the control group. These results supported the hypothesis that prenatal stress levels are higher in high-risk pregnancies than in healthy pregnancies.

Table  3 shows the stress levels of the participants with different diagnoses in the case group. In terms of risky pregnancies, the most frequently observed diagnoses were the threat of preterm labor in 37.2% of the participants in the case group, vaginal bleeding/placenta previa in 20.7%, and gestational diabetes mellitus in 10.7%. No statistically significant correlation was found between the diagnoses of the participants in the case group and their total APSI or NUPDQ scores ( p  > 0.05). This result did not support the hypothesis that there is a difference in prenatal stress levels based on differences in high-risk pregnancy diagnoses.

In the linear regression analysis, Model 1 included APSI on education, gravidity, number of abortions, and high-risk pregnancy, and it was determined that there was a significant relationship between APSI and high-risk pregnancies, where the former explained 4.3% of the total variance in the latter (R 2  = 0.043) ( p  < 0.001). Model 2 included NUPDQ on education, gravidity, number of abortions, and high-risk pregnancy, and it was determined that there was a significant relationship between NUPDQ and high-risk pregnancies, where the former explained 3.3% of the total variance in the latter (R 2  = 0.033) ( p  = 0.009). Model 3 included APSI dimensions, and it was determined that there was a significant relationship between psychosocial changes during pregnancy and high-risk pregnancy, where the former explained 5.7% of the total variance in the latter ( R  = 0.057) ( p  < 0.001) (Table  4 ).

As a result of the MANOVA, it was determined that having a high-risk or a pregnancy was associated with significant differences in the combined set of dependent variables (APSI and NUPDQ total scores), F = 6.231, p  = 0.002, Wilk’s Lambda = 0.967. There were significant differences between the case and control groups in terms of their APSI psychosocial changes during pregnancy and prospect of childbirth dimension scores, F = 7.258, p  < 0.001, Pillai’s Trace = 0.057. (Table  5 ).

This study determined the stress levels of pregnant women with high-risk and healthy pregnancies. Stress experienced in high-risk pregnancies can have negative effects in terms of the pregnancy process and maternal and fetal health (Atasever & Çelik, 2018 ; Gözüyeşil & Düzgün, 2021 ; Riggin, 2020 ; Traylor et al., 2020 ; Yüksel et al., 2011 ). Therefore, it is thought that the results of this study will contribute to the literature.

It was determined in this study that the education levels of the high-risk pregnant women, who constituted the case group, were lower compared to the healthy pregnant women in the control group. Other studies in the literature have shown that risk factors in pregnancy are at higher rates in women with low educational levels (Annagür et al., 2014 ; Soğukpınar et al., 2018 ; Topalahmetoğlu et al., 2017 ; Türkmen, 2019 ). It is thought that as education levels increase, the knowledge levels of pregnant women about the management of risk factors in pregnancy increase, and these situations are intervened with in the early period. Moreover, high education levels can also prevent factors that may cause a high-risk pregnancy such as malnutrition, ill-advised exercise practices, and lack of antenatal care. For this reason, considering the results of our study, it is recommended that health professionals provide education to pregnant women with low education levels about prenatal care, proper nutrition, exercise, and antenatal follow-ups.

The numbers of pregnancies and abortions among the participants in the case group in this study were significantly higher compared to those in the control group. In the study by Orbay et al. ( 2017 ), the number of pregnancies among pregnant women with GDM was lower than the number of pregnancies among those without GDM. Cincioğlu et al. ( 2020 ) found the mean number of abortions among pregnant women with risky pregnancies to be 1.31 ± 0.71. As the number of pregnancies increases, the potential risks of pregnancy also increase. More frequent monitoring of pregnant women with a high number of abortions by health professionals and providing information about family planning methods to women with a high number of pregnancies will prevent high-risk pregnancies.

High-risk pregnancies consist of many obstetric pathologies including maternal chronic diseases. Every pathologic condition experienced during pregnancy can affect the women’s stress levels (Sinaci et al., 2020 ). In this study, two different scales were used to measure the stress levels of the participants, and the stress levels of the participants in the case group were found to be higher than the stress levels of those in the control group. Gözübebek and Düzgün (2021) stated that 63.5% of pregnant women diagnosed with risky pregnancies experienced distress. Üzar-Özçetin and Erkan ( 2019 ) reported high perceived stress levels in high-risk pregnant women. In their meta-analysis study, Amiri and Behnezhad ( 2019 ) revealed that diabetes during pregnancy was a risk factor for anxiety symptoms, and diabetes increased the risk of anxiety by up to 48%. Other studies in the literature have shown that high-risk pregnant women also have high anxiety levels (Byatt et al., 2014 ; Denis et al., 2012 ; Gourounti et al., 2015a , b ; McDonald et al., 2021 ; Orbay et al., 2017 ; Sinaci et al., 2020 ; Hung et al., 2021 ).

It was reported that low education levels, having a history of abortion, and a high number of pregnancies may cause prenatal stress (Atasever & Çelik, 2018 ). In this study, lower education levels and higher numbers of pregnancies and abortions were found in the case group than in the healthy control group. Since low education levels and high numbers of pregnancies and abortions were thought to be potential confounding factors in terms of prenatal stress, further analyses tests were performed, and it was determined that these factors did not affect stress levels to a significant extent. The research in this field may benefit from a more in-depth exploration of potential implications and confounding factors related to education.

In the studies performed by Üzar-Özçetin and Erkan ( 2019 ) and Yüksel et al. ( 2013 ), it was found that the stress levels of pregnant women who had experienced hospitalization due to any risk during pregnancy were high. It is considered that diagnosis methods, treatment methods, symptoms, complications, and their effects on the fetus for high-risk pregnancies cause great stress in pregnant women, and the fact that some pregnant women spend this process in the hospital increases their stress levels even further. For this reason, considering the results of our study, it is recommended that healthcare professionals inform the pregnant woman about her diagnosis and symptoms and explain each procedure to be performed, and that healthcare institutions provide more comfortable hospital rooms.

In this study, it was seen that the prenatal stress levels of the participants were high in terms of psychosocial changes during pregnancy. Intense stress can cause a sense of helplessness and hopelessness by depleting the energy of individuals, as well as negatively affecting their physical and mental health (Sharma & Rush, 2014 ). For this reason, healthcare professionals have an important role in the care of pregnant women with high-risk pregnancies. They should take an active role in the early diagnosis of at-risk pregnant women through qualified home visits and by initiating and continuing treatment. Advanced clinical guidelines and case management models should be developed for women having high-risk pregnancies.

In the study by Pinar et al. ( 2022 ), women with high-risk pregnancies were given training on stress management. After the training program, it was determined that 51.4% of the women in the intervention group and 75.7% in the control group experienced stress. Based on these results, it is recommended that healthcare professionals provide training, to ensure the active participation of the pregnant woman and her partner, on stress management to reduce the perceived stress, anxiety, and hopelessness levels of women in high-risk pregnancy cases. Additionally, these pregnant women should be provided with methods to cope with stress such as breathing exercises, relaxation exercises, appropriate physical exercises, visualization/yoga, massage therapy, music therapy, explanations about social support factors, and practices strengthening their spirituality (Ölçer & Oskay, 2015 ).

In this study, no significant difference was found in the prenatal stress levels of the participants in the case group based on their obstetric diagnoses of high-risk pregnancy. In the study by Byatt et al. ( 2014 ), no significant difference was identified between obstetric diagnoses in terms of anxiety levels in pregnant women. A high-risk pregnancy causes high stress levels in pregnant women due to similar diagnostic tests, treatment methods, hospitalization, complications, and fetal outcomes (Kent et al., 2015 ).

It is thought that high stress levels are not associated with obstetric diagnoses, and similar stress levels are experienced by all pregnant women aware of any risky situation during their pregnancies. Nevertheless, an increase in stress levels in risky pregnancies such as cases of preeclampsia may cause a further aggravation in the clinical status of women. Healthcare professionals should be aware of the higher stress levels of these pregnant women, they should help the pregnant woman express her feelings and thoughts by providing a reassuring communication environment, and plan appropriate consultancy, intervention, and care routines to help reduce their stress levels. These professionals can also coach high-risk pregnant women in terms of stress reduction and coping mechanisms. Pregnant women with high stress levels should be referred to a specialist for psychological support and therapy.

Strengths and limitations

The strength of this study was its prospective design with a control group. In this study, the use of two similar scales in terms of measuring the stress levels of pregnant women provided rigor and transparency compared to data obtained in previous studies. Since these scales were included in studies in Turkey only in the context of testing their validity and reliability in Turkish, it was decided to use them in the study as they measure stress levels in the prenatal period. A limitation of the study was that the pre-pregnancy stress levels of the participants, which would affect their present condition, were not measured in the study. Women with high stress levels before pregnancy have a higher risk of high-risk pregnancy. In other words, instead of high-risk pregnancy increasing stress levels, high stress levels may have affected the high-risk pregnancy statuses of the women. The results of the study also revealed a significant difference in education levels between the case and control groups. However, as a result of further analyses, it was determined that education did not affect prenatal stress levels.

In this study, it was determined that high-risk pregnancy affected prenatal stress. Moreover, it was found that the participants in the case group who had high-risk pregnancies had lower education levels and higher numbers of pregnancies and abortions compared to the participants in the control group with healthy pregnancies. This is why healthcare professionals are recommended to bear in mind that pregnant women with low education levels and a high number of pregnancies and abortions are at risk of high-risk pregnancies and monitor these pregnant women more frequently and carefully.

It is of great importance for the course of a pregnancy that healthcare professionals assess the stress levels of pregnant women in the high-risk pregnancy category, provide psychological support to pregnant women who have high stress levels or are hospitalized, offer them counseling and training opportunities (e.g., relaxation exercises, breathing exercises, practices strengthening their spirituality, music therapy), take appropriate precautions, and refer these pregnant women to specialists if needed. Moreover, since the stress levels of these pregnant women will increase even more during childbirth, alternative methods to reduce the fear of childbirth and childbirth pain should be explained.

It is recommended to organize educational programs such as trainings, seminars, and conferences on stress management during pregnancy for health professionals working in family health centers, community health centers, and gynecology departments.

Consequently, more studies with larger sample sizes are needed to compare diagnostic stress levels in high-risk pregnancies. In addition to prenatal stress and childbirth fear levels, future studies should also determine the stress levels of women before pregnancy for similar comparisons between high-risk and healthy pregnancies.

Data availability

The datasets generated during and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

The authors express thanks to the mothers for participation in the study.

Open access funding provided by the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Türkiye (TÜBİTAK). No funding was received to conduct the study.

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Study conception and design: Hülya TÜRKMEN.  Data collection:  Hülya TÜRKMEN.  Data analysis and interpretation:  Hülya TÜRKMEN.  Drafting of the article:  Hülya TÜRKMEN, Bihter AKIN, Yasemin ERKAL AKSOY.  Critical revision of the article:  Hülya TÜRKMEN, Bihter AKIN, Yasemin ERKAL AKSOY.

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Türkmen, H., Akın, B. & Erkal Aksoy, Y. Effect of high-risk pregnancy on prenatal stress level: a prospective case-control study. Curr Psychol (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-024-05956-z

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DOI : https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-024-05956-z

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