Read this case study and answer the question at the end. MTV. Is there any college student today who hasn’t at least heard of MTV? The cable TV icon has “proved one thing over time . . . it knows where the kids are.” In its early years (the company was founded in 1981), MTV was a radical newcomer in an industry filled with conventional approaches. With its suggestive language and racy images, teens and young adults loved the edgy content and presentation. Then, in 1992, the company pioneered reality television with The Real World, in which seven young adult strangers lived together in a house and had their lives—the good, the bad, and the downright weird—videotaped. MTV’s cutting-edge, real-life programming has been, and still is, widely copied. Although ratings for the MTV channel have stagnated for years, its audience is massive. In 1981, it had 2.1 million subscribers. Thirty years later, it has more than 100 million. The network remains “far and away the premier address for advertisers seeking to reach its coveted 18–34-year-old audience.” And in 2010, MTV’s ratings in that core audience rose 16 percent, the biggest annual increase since 1999. As a subsidiary of Viacom (the film production and cable television company), MTV Networks owns and operates cable networks MTV, VH1, Nickelodeon, CMT (Country Music Television), Spike TV, and other channels, including Comedy Central, TV Land, and LOGO. It also operates MTV Films in conjunction with Paramount Pictures, another subsidiary of Viacom. MTV Networks continues to be the “financial engine” of Viacom. It accounted for some 61 percent of the company’s annual revenue in 2011 and most of its operating profit. Despite its long history of knowing what an elusive and fickle audience finds interesting, the executive team must continually juggle the strategic challenges of guiding this company as it looks for ways to continue its success. “As a brand, MTV has moved beyond durable, managing to reinvent itself continuously and in doing so presenting a fast-moving target that left many would-be rivals in its wake.” Today, the primary challenges are the company’s digital and global strategies. MTV Networks has an extensive global presence, reaching more than 520 million households in 160 countries. Using a first-in-the-market strategy that focuses on channels with broad appeal (such as MTV Asia, MTV Latin America, MTV Turkey, MTV India, and MTV Arabia), MTV is the world’s most ubiquitous TV network with more than 120 channels worldwide. Now the company is expanding in key global markets with more MTV Networks brands, like Nickelodeon, by using a range of technologies such as cable, satellite, and cell phones. Analysts caution that the key to MTV’s global strategy, however, is “sticking with a winning approach that mixes universal youth sensibilities with local tastes. That way the company won’t come across as a cultural imperialist.” Despite MTV’s far-ranging global reach and a 20 percent annual intern ...

1. Read this case study and answer the question at the end.
MTV. Is there any college student today who hasn’t at least
heard of MTV? The cable TV icon has “proved one thing over
time . . . it knows where the kids are.” In its early years (the
company was founded in 1981), MTV was a radical newcomer
in an industry filled with conventional approaches. With its
suggestive language and racy images, teens and young adults
loved the edgy content and presentation. Then, in 1992, the
company pioneered reality television with The Real World, in
which seven young adult strangers lived together in a house and
had their lives—the good, the bad, and the downright weird—
videotaped. MTV’s cutting-edge, real-life programming has
been, and still is, widely copied. Although ratings for the MTV
channel have stagnated for years, its audience is massive. In
1981, it had 2.1 million subscribers. Thirty years later, it has
more than 100 million. The network remains “far and away the
premier address for advertisers seeking to reach its coveted 18–
34-year-old audience.” And in 2010, MTV’s ratings in that core
audience rose 16 percent, the biggest annual increase since
1999. As a subsidiary of Viacom (the film production and cable
television company), MTV Networks owns and operates cable
networks MTV, VH1, Nickelodeon, CMT (Country Music
Television), Spike TV, and other channels, including Comedy
Central, TV Land, and LOGO. It also operates MTV Films in
conjunction with Paramount Pictures, another subsidiary of
Viacom. MTV Networks continues to be the “financial engine”
of Viacom. It accounted for some 61 percent of the company’s
annual revenue in 2011 and most of its operating profit. Despite
its long history of knowing what an elusive and fickle audience
finds interesting, the executive team must continually juggle the
strategic challenges of guiding this company as it looks for
ways to continue its success. “As a brand, MTV has moved
beyond durable, managing to reinvent itself continuously and in
doing so presenting a fast-moving target that left many would-

2. be rivals in its wake.” Today, the primary challenges are the
company’s digital and global strategies.
MTV Networks has an extensive global presence, reaching more
than 520 million households in 160 countries. Using a first-in-
the-market strategy that focuses on channels with broad appeal
(such as MTV Asia, MTV Latin America, MTV Turkey, MTV
India, and MTV Arabia), MTV is the world’s most ubiquitous
TV network with more than 120 channels worldwide. Now the
company is expanding in key global markets with more MTV
Networks brands, like Nickelodeon, by using a range of
technologies such as cable, satellite, and cell phones. Analysts
caution that the key to MTV’s global strategy, however, is
“sticking with a winning approach that mixes universal youth
sensibilities with local tastes. That way the company won’t
come across as a cultural imperialist.” Despite MTV’s far-
ranging global reach and a 20 percent annual international
growth rate, the U.S. division still accounts for 73 percent of
overall revenue, which means there’s still a lot of upside
potential in the global market. The executive team must be
ready to tackle the strategic challenges of both the global and
the digital media environments. And they’ll have to do it
without the guidance and insights of long-time CEO, Judy
McGrath, who had been with the company from day one,
starting first as a copywriter in MTV’s promotions department.
Her resignation in May 2011 came as a surprise to many and
ended the tenure of one of the most powerful women in
television. “The change marks the end of an era at MTV, which
had been run largely by home-grown veterans since its creation
in 1981.” Viacom’s press release said Ms. McGrath’s
resignation was due to a “desire to seek a new career direction.”
However, several executives connected to the company said that
Ms. McGrath was put into a position to resign by the president
of Viacom after he made her an offer that would have changed
her duties. With McGrath’s departure, MTV’s strategic
decisions and directions became the responsibility of the
president of Viacom.

3. 1. Explain how strategic management and the strategic
management process are illustrated in this case.
2. What challenges do you think MTV might face in crafting
future digital and global strategies?
3. What are some performance measures that MTV’s strategic
decision makers might use as they evaluate the results of their
digital and global strategies?
4. What challenges might a change in strategic leadership bring
to a company? How might this affect the strategic management
process?