From humble beginnings Asiaweek is becoming one of the major weekly magazines in Asia. Now part of the media group Time Warner, it finds it difficult to rightly position itself as a Pan-Asian publication in between local journals and global players like Time and Newsweek. The Asian crisis boosts interest in Asiaweek’s editorials, but advertising revenue slumps.

The French subsidiary of the German publishing company Gruner & Jahr, itself a subsidiary of the Bertelsmann Group, is considering the launch of a new business magazine called CAPITAL. The market looks unattractive, is new to the company, and the financial risk is high. The case describes the various steps in product development.