Teenstuff Magazine Management

Introduction:

The report is about Teenstuff Magazine. The magazine was established 9years ago in Egypt by Manal El Mahdy to target teenagers in high school and university. Later on the magazine became more tailored to the high school youth. The purpose of the report is to analyze the management of this organization through review of it's external and internal environment, mission statement and SWOT analysis. Interviews were carried out with the assistant marketing manager Sandra Adel and the distribution manager Yasser Hashem. Aside from the print magazine there is an online one and another Arabic magazine "Kelmetna".

II-Body:

1) External environment:

a) General:

From the general environment in the external environment the economic and political dimension are considered to be the most two influential dimensions on the organization. The economic dimension affects a lot of decision in the organization including day to day business especially that the economy in Egypt is unstable. For example when the Egyptian pound was floated and the price of the dollar increased the costs of printing in the magazine increased and the price had to be increased like wise which had a huge effect on the overall organization and customers. Secondly, the effect of political dimension is manifested in the censorship practiced. When, the country is in state of chaos and instability censorship increases. The international dimension doesn't have a very influential effect because the magazine's market is mainly Egypt and the online version that aims to target Arabs outside Egypt is new too. There is no worry from the socio-cultural dimension since the magazine whether content or appearance is highly adaptable to changes in the society. As for the technological dimension, the magazine benefits hugely of course from new developments as long as, its costs is reasonable and affordable by the magazine. For example the editors and designers use Apple computers and special programs for the layout and design of the magazine.

b) Task :

The magazine is considered a category leader since it's the first English youth targeting magazine in Egypt and till this moment there is no real direct competition. There is an indirect competition from other magazines such as campus and g-mag. There is only one supplier with whom the magazine deals with; SAHARA printing press. The magazine has a certain quality which only 2 printing press houses in Egypt can achieve, they left IBH because of problems that has to do with the paper binding and deadlines. Now SAHARA is their only option which a great disadvantage because SAHARA will always be in control and have the chance to increase its price and policies. As for the labor market, this constitutes one of the major problems in the magazine. The magazine requires employees with good command of English and at the same time willing to accept a humble salary. Moreover, the teens who write in the magazine are not paid, so it's hard to find teens with good English and willing to write without a monetary reward. This equation has always been hard to reach. Other then the editorial department the availability of labor seems to be good. The customers are the readers of the magazine. One very unique characteristic about the magazine is that the readers are the writers since the magazine opens the door for feedbacks and contributions. Half the magazine is dedicated to it's editorial staff and the other half is for feedbacks and contributions. Readers range from teens with ages 14 to 20. The magazine was moved to a new office recently with more facilities because the old office was very small and inappropriate for a working environment. The magazine's creative department has created new designs for the magazine since last april.

2) Internal Environment:

The management of the organization is based on team work. There is a leader or a head to each group in different departments yet each employee has space to be creative and innovative. This idea is emphasized by having the head sit in a desk in the same room as his subordinates. The number of employees differs from each department to the other depending on the amount of effort needed in each field for example there are two employees in the marketing department and 4 employees in the editorial department aside from the writers who have a separate room to conduct meetings since they don't have working hours. The culture of the organization is enhance by a set of values which are :

- Creating sense of ownership in all employees

- Team oriented circles

- Being