The Strategic Management of Media Firms (original) (raw)

Media Management Tools: UK Broadcast Media Executives’ Perspective

International Journal on Media Management, 2013

The UK broadcast media landscape provides an interesting context to understand and explore the competitive dynamics of media organisations'. As an industry characterised by uncertainty and turbulence, this paper considers the process by which broadcast media organisations develop their strategies and the type of analytical tools that they use to underpin this process. This paper presents the findings of a survey of UK broadcast media executives and their views on the outlook for the UK Media Industry; the influence that the competitive environment has on developing media strategy; and the management tools that they use and their levels of satisfaction with these tools.

UK media: managing turbulence and uncertainty

Strategic Direction, 2013

PurposeBusinesses increasingly find themselves competing in highly dynamic markets, making visibility of the future limited and the strategic way forward ambiguous. The purpose of this paper is to present the findings from a survey of UK media executives and identify their outlook for the industry, and an evaluation of their usage and satisfaction with the tools that they use to manage their businesses.Design/methodology/approachThe survey sampled 24 UK media executives who had responsibility for strategy and other functional areas of their business.FindingsThe survey found four strong themes amongst media executives. These were related to the launch of new products and services, seeking innovation through collaborative partnerships, leveraging their brand and content through new platforms, and uncertainty regarding the future direction of the industry.Practical implicationsThe paper will provide media executives with a better understanding of the management tools at their disposal ...

Making Media Strategy in Times of Uncertainty

2009

The future of the media industry has never been more uncertain. The rise of digital content generation and delivery has resulted in unpredictable and unfamiliar market conditions and encouraged an invasion of new, non traditional entrants which has increased competition and choice for the public. In such a turbulent competitive environment, visibility of the future is clouded and the strategic way forward for media organisations remains unclear. The process of making strategy in media organisation may well be compounded by constantly shifting competitive conditions. Existing literature on the process of strategy making in such unfamiliar and complex environment conditions is concentrated within the ‘Learning’ School’ of strategic management. This school of thought suggests that strategy making is a process of emergent learning over time, where strategy makers critically reflect on past experience, and current events, and adapt their strategies accordingly. Learning from action, chan...

Book Review: Strategic Management in the Media Theory to Practice

ommunicator, 2021

Mass media worldwide have undergone a shift change due to the technological development that has 1- Brought all the media formats in one converged digital mode , 2-that are accessible by everyone with a compact digital device called mobile phone. The book gives a comprehensive knowledge of how the technological advancement is altering the overall structure, functioning, production, distribution & management of media companies pan globe. With the overview of the changes, media industry is undergoing worldwide, it also provides conceptual & theoretical understanding of the challenges these changes pose and how the media leaders, thinkers & executives are devising innovative business models and advantageous environment to keep up. This is specially a very important read for the Indian media researchers who want to understand how global changes in Media industry have affected Domestic media industry.

Managing media uncertainty: exploring multiple futures with multiple strategies

2017

The UK Media Industry operates in a highly turbulent environment, and one that is primarily characterised by rapid changes in digital technologies and the threat of new competitive entrants. These new competitive dynamics mean that traditional TV broadcast companies no longer act as the sole intermediaries of mediated content. Indeed, innovative Internet Protocol TV (IPTV), Web TV and streaming services are making significant inroads into traditional audience market share, particularly amongst the younger demographic. This type of competitive environment makes it difficult for executives who are responsible for planning and executing Corporate Level Strategy. This in turn places increased scrutiny on the strategic planning tools that are used to undertake a comprehensive analysis of the competitive dynamics and inform strategy formulation. This paper presents empirical findings and reflections on a scenario planning project that sought to develop a long-term Corporate Level Strategy for YouTube. As such, it is positioned within the 'Strategy as Practice' domain as it combines academics with an interest in the practice of management, with business practitioners. This view of strategy focuses on the 'doing of strategy' and is particularly interested in the methods and tools that executives use to develop organisational strategy in times of uncertainty.

Strategic Choices for Media Managers: A Conceptual Framework for Strategy Adoption

2021

Purpose: Strategy adoption for media businesses has been a major concern for both researchers and executives due to environmental turbulence that such organizations have experienced during the last two decades. The purpose of this article is to elaborate on a comprehensive model through which media businesses could have a clear macro guideline of strategy development, based on the life cycle of their organization, as well as the contextual conditions of their environment. Method: Combining the general framework of the Delta model for strategic positioning and three basic types of business models, we have developed a typology of media and respective strategic positioning choices - like the static side of our modeling. Then the strategy palette has been used to depict the dynamic side of strategy adoption for different types of media businesses. Contribution: An macro-level reference framework is developed as a roadmap of strategy adoption for media businesses. This roadmap is a norma...

Managing Media Firms: the only advantage is Adaptive Advantage

The past decade has seen a transformation in the way media organizations have managed their businesses. The emergence of digitalization has paved the way for new media technologies, a proliferation of media outlets and multiple platforms to distribute mediated content. The work of Picard (2002), Kung (2008) and Oliver (2013) demonstrated the nature of high velocity media market conditions, whilst Doyle (2013, p.35) noted that “media firms have naturally adapted” their businesses, in response to the dynamic nature of the media environment, as a means to protect and sustain their company. This paper proposes that media firms manage their business and strategies through a process of adaptation. As such, organizational adaptation is examined through the lens of Dynamic Capabilities Theory (Teece and Pisano, 1994) which is well placed to consider how media firms have adapted (Ambrosini, Bowman & Collier 2009) to a transformational context heavily influenced by technological innovation. This paper will present the findings from a survey of UK media executives and argue that Dynamic Capabilities Theory can be extended to consider the ‘ability’ of a media organization to adapt their strategies, business model, resources and capabilities, faster than their rivals, that can provide them with an Adaptive Advantage in the market place. Keywords: Adaptive Advantage, Dynamic Capabilities, Competitive Advantage, Adaptation, Business Strategy, Business Model, Media Management, Media Strategy.

Media Outlook 2015: A Survey of UK Media Trends and Firm Capabilities

2015

The aim of this survey is to understand the changing nature of the UK media environment, emerging trends and the management practices of media executives. This is the third year that the survey has run, and already we are seeing immense changes in the way media firms are adapting to a changing competitive landscape. Over the past three years we have asked media executives to comment on their outlook for the UK Media Industry in the year ahead. Overall, their outlook has been optimistic, but continued economic uncertainty still casts a shadow over the operating environment. This year, 89% of media executives were positive in their outlook for the industry in 2015 – down from 94% last year. The majority of media executives (62%) also commented that the industry was experiencing a high rate of turbulence and that it was difficult to protect their core business whilst building new revenue streams. In the previous two years we have identified the management tools that media companies wer...