Why has Madonna experienced sustained success over the past two decades?

1. Vision. Madonna has demonstrated a clear commitment to super-stardom goal that was pursued with single mindedness throughout her career. Other dimensions of her life have been either subordinated to or absorbed within her career goals. Rather than wait for industry trends, she has acted to shape the world around her.
2. Deep understanding of consumers and the industry environment. Madonna has developed her strategy through a deep and insightful appreciation of customers and the music industry. Critical to her continuing success has been a deep understanding of the ingredients for sustaining popular appeal. The frequent reinvention of her style and sound has reflected an acute awareness of changing styles, social norms and attitudes in a fast clock-speed industry.
3. Leveraging competences and addressing weaknesses. Madonna has been able to exploit her abilities to develop and project her image and to exploit emerging trends, while protecting areas of weakness. Her weaknesses have been more than compensated for by her use of an extensive network of support personnel, including musicians, technologists, producers, dancers, and designers. Her personal relationships have often been important in building her career.
4. Consistent Implementation. Without consistent implementation, even the best strategies are unlikely to succeed.
Madonna has surrounded herself with individuals and organizations that have enabled her to deliver upon her vision.
Through her various companies, such as Maverick, she built organizations that allowed effective marshaling of resources and capabilities, and quick responses to changes in the competitive environment.
5. Continuous Renewal A key ingredient of Madonna’s success has been her ability to renew her popularity again and again. She is known as the ‘queen of reinvention’ within industry circles. Compare her abilities in re-invention to many
‘one-hit-wonders’ in the music industry, or to performers such as the Rolling Stones who have enjoyed long periods of success, but whose fan-base has aged or remained largely unchanged.