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Eric Dahl
Business Administration

Alan Meyer, Mentor

Survival of the Fittest: Industry Analysis of a Start-up Comic Book Business

Investors and business analysts assess the dynamics, problems, and opportunities driving an industry by using industry and marketplace analysis. This analysis assists them in the decision to enter a market in a specific industry. The aim of this research is to assess the feasibility of a start up company sustaining a business in the comic book market. More than 18,000 American magazines are published annually. Eight hundred new magazines a year are introduced to the market, but fully half of these fail. This failure is due, in part, to the ease of entry into the market; all that is needed for start-up is an idea for a comic or magazine and a modest amount of capital. This research, by using resources such as the Encyclopedia of American Industries, Industry Surveys, Market Trends and Forecasts, and company interviews in order to build real life cases and contacts, will create an accurate assessment of the basic elements that a business must have to survive and be successful in such an industry.