1. How is strategic management illustrated by this case story?
2. How might SWOT analysis be helpful to Lady Gaga as she and her advisors manage her career?
3. What competitive advantage do you think Lady Gaga is pursuing? How is she exploiting that competitive advantage?
4. Do you think Lady Gaga’s success is due to external or internal factors or both? Explain.
5. What strategic implications does the suggestion that her ability to remain a music industry mainstay depends on her ability to evolve have?

Just now in her mid-twenties, Lady Gaga has taken the music world by storm with a unique blend of business savvy, interesting hair and wardrobe choices, and a fabulous sound with a “spacey Euro vibe.” Five years ago, Lady Gaga did not exist. But the individual who is Lady Gaga, Stefani Germanotta, was waitressing and singing in drab and dingy New York clubs. She was ambitious and had bigger goals. After being signed and dropped from one label, Def Jam (turns out that may not have been the best decision by them), she joined forces with a hand-picked core team of creative advisers she called “Haus of Gaga.” Behind all that glitz, glamour, and unusual fashion choices is a “case study of what it takes to succeed in the music business today.”