Disruptive Technologies in the Newspaper Industry

NMBA-6150: RESEARCH PAPER
JEREMY BAMBACE
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Disruptive Technologies in the Newspaper Industry
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NMBA-6150
RESEARCH PAPER
April 9, 2008
Jeremy Bambace
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INTRODUCTION & SUMMARY
The traditional newspaper publishing industry is experiencing substantial change
and transformation, due in large part to the emergence and diffusion of radical
innovation and disruptive technologies. For many generations traditional newspaper
firms have enjoyed monopolistic or oligopolistic market structures, whilst exerting
considerable influence and control over the delivery of localized printed news to the
consumer. Within these focused, concentrated market structures, newspaper
publishers have historically retained high relative market share as well as the
corresponding ability to set premium price points on advertising inventory due to lack of
alternative or substitute product (competition primarily consisted of rival newspaper
firms within the general geographic vicinity). Additionally, consumers of localized print
news content had relatively few options available to select from, resulting in virtually
unchallenged, monopolized market shares in some regions and highly competitive
oligopolistic markets in other regions. However, both of these traditional market
structures were essentially unscathed by other external environmental threats or
substitute products, allowing for relatively high profit margins for many years within the
newspaper industry. (For another perspective and concise overview of the monopolistic
structure and profitability of the newspaper industry, refer to page 11 and 12 of Warren
Buffett’s 2007 letter to shareholders, accessible via the following link:
http://www.berkshirehathaway.com/letters/2006ltr.pdf).
The purpose of this paper is to explore the types of radical innovations and
disruptive technologies which are exerting pressure on the newspaper industry;
evaluate the impact these external conditions are effecting on newspaper firms; and
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aggregate and document previously proposed and intuited prescriptive frameworks
which could be implemented by newspaper publishers to address increasingly hostile
environmental elements. At a more granular level, the intent is to apply concepts and
tools acquired throughout the NMBA-6150 course to the evolving dynamics of the
newspaper industry, allowing for objective assessment of the situational context
affected firms must navigate, and a better understanding of the strategic considerations
which should be taken into account. Through the utilization of analytical tools, these
industry issues can be viewed through a conceptual lens allowing for improved
perspective and environment-specific contextual assessment. Further, my aim was to
use these assessments as a foundation for researching and aggregating strategic
measures prescribed in prior exploratory resources, as well as draw upon course
concepts to infer supplemental strategic direction. Finally, I close the paper by
commenting on the degree of severity of these developments impacting the newspaper
industry, the potential consequences of management’s inability and/or unwillingness to
confront the related issues, and a contemplative vision of what the future industry may
evolve into.
ISSUES IMPACTING THE INDUSTRY
The traditional newspaper publishing industry is rapidly changing, undergoing a
radical evolution precipitated by the introduction of disruptive technologies. There are
various issues intertwined with this evolving landscape, which are exerting a direct
impact on newspaper publishing organizations. Of central concern is the proliferation of
alternative product offerings, driven in large part by the introduction of non-traditional
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mediums of content delivery to the end user, enabled and perpetuated by disruptive
technologies. Specifically, consumers of print news are increasingly embracing digital
mediums to acquire their content, resulting in substantial ramifications imparted on
newspaper’s bottom lines. Indeed, “the share prices of the four largest U.S. newspaper
publishers have fallen between 10% and 50% during the generally rising market of the
past three years…because of challenges from new media and advertising models”
(Stalnaker, 2008).
Facilitated via disruptive technologies such as the Internet, World Wide Web, and
an increasingly digitized marketplace, content distribution and acquisition is evolving
and increasing in scope to include new channels of delivery. Content consumers are
utilizing these disruptive technologies to their advantage by not only tapping into
substitute products to acquire content, but also leveraging these evolving technological
tools to essentially act as their own “editor-aggregators” (Kuttner, 2007).
Consequentially, as purveyors of news continue to turn to alternative, digitized channels
to tap into their sources, the associated affect on print circulation and advertising
revenues is directly impacted. “In the Internet age newspapers will have a smaller share
of the total advertising pie than they enjoyed in the print era. Newspapers’ share of the
$424B spent globally last year on advertising…was still a considerable 29.1 percent –
but shrinking. The Internet share was just 5.8 percent – but growing. And most Web
dollars will not go to newspapers. The Internet competition to monetize traffic is fierce,
with most sites designed as pure revenue plays unencumbered by news or civic
mission. As newspapers complement their traditional news content with local consumer
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services and ingenious interactive features, they face competitors who enjoyed earlier
market entry and who have high brand awareness” (Kuttner, 2007).
This evolving re-allocation of customer’s advertising budgets is tightly aligned
with the expansion of end-user’s usage of alternative mediums enabled by disruptive
technologies. As consumers continue to embrace digital news sources, digital online
communities, user-generated content (UGC), mobile devices, and other digital-enabled
mediums to acquire and aggregate their news content and entertainment, new and
innovative advertising opportunities are realized and a corresponding shift in advertising
revenues from the traditional print sector to the digital sector results.
Also directly impacted by the mainstream market’s increasing willingness to
substitute digital channel delivery over traditional print channels is the corresponding
decline in print circulation impacting virtually all newspaper publishing organizations. As
consumers continue to opt for digital over printed-copy delivery of their news content,
newspapers sustain not only a decrease in advertising revenues, but also a decrease in
subscription and single copy revenues. Further, the decrease in print circulations effects
a negative impact on newspapers abilities to benefit from scale economies and
continuous press runs, resulting in increased costs.
INDUSTRY RESPONSE
While the migration of users from print to digital mediums has developed at a
relatively quick pace, the transformation has not necessarily occurred “overnight”. The
permeation of internet usage has been a steadily increasing trend over the past decade,
and the realization of the potential of digitized disruptive technologies to subvert
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traditional newspaper value chains was a phenomenon that could have been identified
at an earlier juncture. However, the industry response to these developments has been
relatively delayed, and in general viewed by the publishing industry solely as a
competitive alternative to the traditional newspaper product instead of a new tool
available to be leveraged. “Five years ago, editors were haltingly and grudgingly adding
a few bloggers and chat features, because the Web was something that had to be lived
with” (Kuttner, 2007). Indeed, the industry’s willingness to fully utilize these disruptive
technologies has been slow, with traditional print media organizations typically
assuming a conservative to pragmatic adoption philosophy. This delayed response has
subsequently resulted in first-mover advantages of digital-centric firms over the
traditional media organizations, further debilitating newspaper’s ability to effectively
compete in a digital landscape.
One potential factor impacting most newspapers delayed responsiveness to
these external threats might be attributed to absorptive capacities of newspaper firms
(or, ability to exploit external knowledge). I would infer that the historical market
structure, characterized by a relative lack of substitute products for print news and often
highlighted by monopolistic or oligopolistic configurations, has ultimately manifested into
reduced absorptive capacities within many newspaper organizations. Basically, for
many decades, the primary threat was a competing newspaper within a certain
geographic proximity. To effectively compete in this environment, newspapers have
focused on incremental and process innovation, allocating resources to compete within
the scope of the existing platform. However, as the external environment has evolved
and new (digital) platforms have been established, a rapid introduction of new
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competition has materialized, forcing newspapers to re-focus their competitive initiatives
in an entirely new playing field. So although newspapers have historically demonstrated
continual improvement in regards to process and incremental innovation, the industry
has been relatively absent of radical innovation and emphasized focus on R&D
investment. Indeed, one might derive a correlation between historical market structure
and competitive dynamics of the industry, and the reservoir of absorptive capacity within
many newspapers. Consequentially, a reduced absorptive capacity could diminish a
firm’s ability to recognize the potential value of incorporating disruptive technologies into
its core business.
A CONCEPTUAL ASSESSMENT OF THE PUBLISHING INDUSTRY
Despite these setbacks, lack of first-mover advantages, and potential absorptive
capacity deficiencies, newspapers have (as of relatively recently) aggressively altered
their strategies to substantially increase their focus on digital platforms. As a result, the
industry is currently in a state of flux, characterized by excessively increased levels of
competition and weakening margins. Within this evolving industry context, application of
conceptual frameworks ascertained in the NMBA-6150 course provides useful insights.
In this regard, Porter’s Five Forces analysis allows for an assessment of both horizontal
and vertical competition within the industry, essentially illustrating the external
environmental context within which newspapers will need to execute their strategies.
Assessing the horizontal competition within the newspaper industry focuses first
on the threat imposed by substitute products. In this regard, substitute products
encompass many of the core themes of this paper as well as one of the key
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considerations currently demanding publishers’ attention. The most well-established
substitute product and largest threat to the traditional newspaper industry is alternative
online sources of news content available via the World Wide Web. These alternative
sources embody a wide range of formats and range from competing non-print
professional news organizations to less-formal reporting networks and individual user-generated
content (UGC). Indeed, this emergence of substitution is not only increasing
competition, but truly transforming the structure of the industry as well. “P2P networks
have disrupted the media industry by changing the flow of information from a one-to-many
model (which newspapers have historically capitalized on) to a many-to-many
model (through individuals’ ability to both consume and create content)” (Stalnaker,
2008). As a result of this rapid proliferation of substitute products within the industry,
competition has sharply increased as the external environmental threats have grown in
both scope and volume.
The second dimension of horizontal competition to be considered is the threat of
established rivals within the newspaper industry. This aspect of competition has
historically been the pervasive focus of newspaper firms, and demanded the bulk of
management’s attention. However, despite the traditional weighted focus on this threat
by established incumbents throughout the industry in general, the degree of threat
varies substantially by geographic region. For instance, in some areas incumbents have
enjoyed virtual monopolies for considerable durations, whilst in other regions fierce
competition between firms has remained high. Interestingly enough, as the environment
continues to evolve under the impact of digitalization, newspapers have increasingly
explored “co-opetition” opportunities with the existing established rival base (Holahan,
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2008). So although certain markets remain highly competitive between established
incumbents, there are also many newspapers attempting to exploit partnership
opportunities with other incumbents for the purpose of competing against the
aforementioned “substitute product” threats.
The third facet of horizontal competition to explore pertains to the threat of new
entrants. Whilst not a completely benign area of risk, the entrance of new traditional
print competition within established markets is typically not of major concern to
incumbent operations. This reduced risk in terms of new entrant threats is based
primarily on high barriers to entry reinforced by established brand equity and positional
advantages of incumbents. Indeed, the most common occurrence of established
incumbent print firms expanding into new regions is attributable to mergers or
acquisitions (Dirks, 2007).
Assessing vertical competitive factors focuses first on the bargaining power of
suppliers. In this case, the raw inputs into the traditional newspaper firm include printing
presses, paper and ink, organizational and technological infrastructures, distribution
infrastructure, and employee capital. Of these supplier bases, no one sector really
controls considerable influence or ability to appropriate a disproportionate share of the
value. Whilst paper and ink are relative commodities, the actual newsprint still tends to
represent the second highest operating expense for newspaper organizations. Despite
this expense, the commoditization of the market for these raw inputs is still sufficient
enough to prevent any significant leverage by suppliers. The vendor markets for
newspaper-centric systems are also quite competitive. Innovative and high-quality
vendor firms supplying printing presses and newspaper-specific technological solutions
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are able to capture sufficient value, but these industries remain competitive enough to
prevent irrational price points and thus still allow newspapers to retain a large amount of
value from the chain. Suppliers/providers of organizational and distribution
infrastructures do not operate within concentrated markets and thus are not able to
appropriate significant share of profit. Employee capital remains by far the largest
operating expense for newspapers, illustrating some appropriation of value in this area.
(Note: for a relative example of the newspaper industry’s operating profits and
expenses, the 2007 McClatchy Company Consolidated Statement of Income can be
viewed at http://www.mcclatchy.com/pressreleases/story/2123.html. This allocation of
expenses and revenues is relatively representative of the industry and can be compared
with other publicly owned operations).
Downstream vertical competitive considerations focus primarily on degree of
choice available to customers. In this context, customers encompass both readers and
advertisers, the two primary segments of focus for newspapers. In this regard,
downstream bargaining power is increasing in tandem with the emergence of substitute
product availability. In other words, as the availability of products which consumers
utilize to access their content (both print and digital) continue to increase, newspapers
will continue to experience diminishing bargaining power in relation to both advertisers
and subscribers.
By applying Porter’s Five Forces framework and viewing the newspaper industry
through this conceptual lens, the increasingly competitive environment becomes
apparent, as well as the horizontal and vertical segments responsible for these shifts.
Further, a correlation can be inferred between the horizontal substitution segment and
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the bargaining power of the vertical customer segment, highlighting the interrelated
aspects of these two forces. Keeping these aspects of the external environment in mind,
it may also be useful to employ a SWOT analysis to further supplement the insights
identified from the ‘Five Forces’ framework. In this regard, I will further assess the
newspaper industry whilst focusing on the internal indicators of strengths and
weaknesses, framed within the context of the opportunities and threats present in the
external publishing industry environment.
Two of the strongest and most well-preserved strengths which newspapers have
at their disposal are their positional advantage and brand equity. Most established
incumbent newspaper firms have operated in their local market for many decades. As a
result, they enjoy a discreet competitive advantage tied to their position in the local
market comparative to alternative-product, digital competitors. Reinforcing this
positional advantage is the newspaper’s well-established brand equity, pervasive
throughout the local community as a primary source of news, sports, entertainment,
advertising and coupons for many years. Also complementing these strengths are the
professional cultures inherent within most newspaper firms, typically translating into a
potentially higher quality of editorial content than would be found in some of the
available alternative products.
Countering these strengths engrained within newspaper organizations are
weaknesses which are becoming increasingly apparent within the context of the
evolving digital environment. Digital-centric capabilities once outside the scope of
newspaper’s required repertoires are increasingly becoming a necessary competence
and, due to relative lack of experience and integration within the standard newspaper
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firm, manifesting into deficiencies and weaknesses. Partially because newspapers
missed out on first-mover advantages within the digital spectrum of news and content
delivery, market share of online mediums have decreased, leading to reductions in
readership and advertising revenues. “The nation’s top thirty newspaper Web sites
together have under 100 million visits from distinct individuals per month, while
Microsoft, Google, and Yahoo have well over 100 million each, according to Nielsen Net
Ratings” (Kuttner, 2007). I would further infer that these weaknesses related to
operating within a digital environment can also be traced back to absorptive capacities
and the overall concentrated structure of the industry for many years preceding the
introduction of disruptive digital technologies. Within this context, newspapers focused
primarily on incremental innovation maintaining scope focus on existing print platforms.
As a result, organizational DNA promoted print-centric R&D functions whilst, by
necessity, discouraged digital and online, web-centric R&D to insure appropriate
resource allocation in the traditional print environment. In this regard, resource
allocation and R&D initiatives focused on developing radical innovation and new, digital
platforms are a necessary strategy for newspapers to alleviate this weakness.
Opportunities for newspapers within the external environment involve capitalizing
on digital platforms whilst simultaneously leveraging existing strengths. The opportunity
is available and viable for newspapers to deliver customized content focusing on local
news and other community-oriented aspects omitted by larger substitute rivals.
Additionally, newspapers have the opportunity to leverage the skills and expertise of the
professionals they employ to deliver higher-quality content unrivaled by less-refined
UGC. Further, although print advertising profit pools are decreasing and will continue
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this trend into the foreseeable future, newspapers have an opportunity to focus on
growth in their online advertising revenues.
Online advertising revenues must also be explored from the perspective of a
threat. Indeed, this area bridges the gap between opportunity and threat for
newspapers, offering growth opportunities whilst simultaneously cannibalizing existing
profit pools. “Internet advertising stimulates off-line sales… online campaigns increase
sales more at advertisers’ retail cash registers than on their websites. Data like that
should embolden executives to shift ever more dollars to online advertising.” (Abraham,
2008). As increased metrics, awareness and research become available providing
insights into the associated impact and successfulness of online advertising, customers
will continue to re-allocate advertising budgets away from print and into online mediums.
Both the threat and opportunity for newspapers to realize the ramifications of this
evolving environment will depend on how firms deploy their strategies and leverage
their existing strengths to capture a higher percentage of the online market. Ultimately,
the greatest threat to newspapers will continue to be the substitute market driven by
digitization; however, the goal here should be for newspapers to realize the
opportunistic aspects of this threat and leverage strengths in order to mitigate the threat
whilst simultaneously capitalizing on opportunities to increase digital readership and
digital advertising revenues.
PRESCRIPTIVE FRAMEWORKS
Using the industry assessments identified above as a foundation, research and
aggregation of strategic measures prescribed in prior exploratory resources and
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supplemented with course concepts allows for inferred strategic directions for
newspapers to explore in the future. As outlined thus far, the dominant force exerting
pressure on the newspaper industry can be attributed to the emergence of a substitute-product
market, enabled by the prolific diffusion of disruptive technologies. Intertwined
with this development is a broader range of options for the customer base, thereby
resulting in greater downstream bargaining power
Based on this synopsis, the first and most intuitive prescriptive strategy entails
the sustainable preservation and leveraging of newspapers’ core competencies and
competitive advantages. At the core of this concept is the ability for newspapers to
capitalize on the unique advantages they possess over the majority of the alternative
product offerings available via digital mediums. Specifically, newspapers are heavily
invested in employee capital, equating to output of professional editorial content. In
contrast, many alternative product offerings, consisting of blogs and other types of
UGC, encompass a wide range of editorial capabilities, skill, and integrity. “In The
Elements of Journalism, Bill Kovach and Tom Rosenstiel write that, ‘in the end, the
discipline of verification is what separates journalism from entertainment, propaganda,
fiction, or art” (Kuttner, 2007). By maintaining and leveraging their core competencies
and competitive advantages related to strengths identified within the SWOT analysis,
newspapers possess the ability to retain readership and strength in circulation, albeit a
potential and probable shift to “digital circulations”.
An additional strategy newspapers should consider is to explore opportunities to
incorporate disruptive technologies into their business models and extract value from
new platforms, as opposed to viewing these technologies solely as an impediment to
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their success. One potential application of utilizing disruptive technologies is to leverage
these innovations into new value-add opportunities, such as convergence of mediums
and channel distributions. Whilst a considerable onslaught of competition for
newspapers has materialized within the digital platform, there is also opportunity for
newspapers to leverage these digital mediums in a way that is beneficial to their core
competencies. According to Martha Stone of the World Association of Newspapers
(WAN), “by converging mediums and distribution channels, newspapers have the ability
to increase efficiencies by producing content once whilst publishing multiple times;
increase communication and collaboration by sharing resources amongst many
journalists and thereby potentially improving content; create multiple media that
complements (not duplicates); expand reach in the marketplace with multiple print and
digital products; and finally to expand the time information is published to a 24/7 cycle”
(Stone, 2008). These benefits associated to convergence of mediums which Stone
points out clearly exhibit potential, and are one of many opportunities to exploit
disruptive technologies which should be thoroughly scrutinized by newspaper
executives.
Another opportunity for newspapers to leverage disruptive technologies in their
favor is to focus on aggregating homegrown professional editorial content derived by
newspaper employees with supplemental UGC contributed by readers in the
community, and delivered via digital mediums enabled by the very same technologies
impacting the industry. “Several strategists are promoting a blend of the civic journalism
movement with a business strategy that builds on the local paper’s brand awareness to
create the most comprehensive and interactive web site in town. In principle, this
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strategy invigorates the journalism, engages the community in new ways, and increases
Web traffic that can bring in ad revenue” (Kuttner, 2007). In this way, newspapers can
actually utilize disruptive technologies to their advantage, by leveraging digitization to
increase online readers and ad revenues.
Building on this philosophy is the notion that newspapers should not only utilize
disruptive technologies to leverage their core competencies, but also another of their
key assets – brand equity. “Harvard’s Clayton Christensen counsels newspapers to
‘engage, enrich, empower, and entertain’ members of their larger communities, taking
advantage of their branding and the Web’s interactive potential. It’s a little ironic that a
model of community journalism that was created before there was an Internet is now
being seized on by the business side as a road to profitability” (Kuttner, 2007). This
strategic perspective further capitalizes on the use of disruptive technologies (to
leverage competitive advantage) to increase competitiveness whilst improving and
expanding the breadth of content and consumer utilization available via digital mediums.
ORGANIZATIONAL CAPABILITIES
Clearly there are sufficient opportunities in the external environment for
newspapers to embrace and leverage disruptive technologies to their advantage. Thus,
it becomes increasingly consequential that newspaper firms wishing to prosper in this
evolving environment develop organizational capabilities enabling them to further
innovate within the digital realm. Essentially, a key challenge in this changing landscape
will be for newspaper management to effectively cultivate and promote ambidextrous
organizations, allowing for flexibility and continued focus on incremental improvements
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within the legacy print platform, whilst simultaneously pursuing radical innovation and
opportunities to leverage existing competencies onto new platforms. To this extent, an
effective utilization of portfolio maps would allow newspaper executives to properly
balance and allocate resources within their firms in order to insure that the pursuit of
radical innovation within the digital environment is supported, whilst continuing to
increment new process innovation and continued execution on the print side.
Indeed, it is vitally important that resources are adequately allocated to focus on
both of these platforms for the foreseeable future. Sustaining existing legacy print
operations remains critical to the health of newspapers to retain readership and
revenues. “The economics of the business require newspapers to persist as partly print
media for at least another generation. Some Americans still want to pick up a daily
paper rather than read content on a screen. And as a business proposition, the average
monetary value of a visitor to a newspapers Web site is only 20 to 30 percent of a
newspapers print reader; Web ads command lower rates because of the greater
competition among Web sites. So even if a newspaper shut down it’s print operation,
published only on the Internet, and somehow managed to keep its entire circulation, the
revenue loss would exceed the cost savings” (Kuttner, 2007). Thus, it remains clear
that print operations must be considered when allocating resources, reinforcing the
importance of derivative, incremental innovation.
Conversely, focusing solely on print operations would neglect the full potential
documented thus far indicating opportunities to leverage web-based mediums to
promote core competencies and strategic advantages. Further, lack of investment in the
digital sphere would alienate younger demographics and all users who prefer to either
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acquire content solely via digital channels, and/or to supplement use of print product
with digital. Thus, it becomes increasingly apparent that newspaper management must
cultivate ambidextrous organizations, leveraging the strengths of existing operations
into the development of new initiatives whilst maintaining focus on both the incremental
as well as the radical.
As an example, consider the strategic approach implemented by New York
Times Digital (NYTD), the online unit of the New York Times. According to Martin
Nisenholtz of NYTD, as they were growing and evolving, there was a period when they
had “simply replicated the newspaper’s business online, even though there were many
possibilities for new products and services. The business unit needed flexibility to
explore redefinitions of customers, value propositions, and work processes. It needed to
build a much stronger competence in Internet multimedia technologies to complement
the existing competence in journalism” (Govindarajan, 2005). Mr. Nisenholtz’s strategic
perspective in this matter clearly supports the cultivation of ambidextrous organizations,
and is a testament to the value of fostering such a culture as evidenced by the
continued growth in profits and innovation which NYTD continues to achieve. For
instance, NYTD posted 26.5 percent revenue growth third quarter of 2007, as opposed
to (a still healthy) 10.9 percent for national advertising and 3.9 percent growth for
circulation revenues (The New York Times, 2007). Continued exploration of radically
innovative opportunities can also be observed on the part of NYTD, such as their
initiative to partner with Google to provide geographically-relevant news headlines and
articles within the framework of the Google Earth application (Shankland, 2008). All of
these examples serve to represent the value of creating and sustaining an
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ambidextrous organization customized to the specificity of the firm’s DNA and unique
culture.
CONCLUSION
Although the newspaper industry is experiencing profound transformation
coinciding with the emergence of disruptive technologies, there is also evidence that
embracing the change and strategically structuring the organization can lead to
appropriation of value within the evolving market. However, the issues impacting the
industry are severe and are affecting substantial ramifications on the profitability of
incumbent firms. It is imperative that newspaper management consider the potential
prescriptive applications noted in this paper (as well as other applicable theories or
approaches not identified within this paper), and maintain awareness of the vital
necessity to take a proactive action-oriented approach to addressing these issues.
Unless management takes appropriate measures to identify and assess the external
threats; to identify opportunities to leverage the provoking disruptive technologies to
increase their competitiveness; and to strategically allocate resources and
ambidextrously structure their firms in a way that will allow exploitation of core
competencies and competitive advantages within the context of the evolving
environment; the outcome for the entrenched incumbents could very well be dismal.
Severely reduced profit margins and escalation of the migration of readers from
newspaper-produced print to non-newspaper digital platforms is a scenario which will
materialize if incumbent firms do not appropriately alter and align their strategies to the
evolving industry landscape.
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However, as demonstrated by such forward-thinking organizations as New York
Times Digital, it is possible to appropriate value within this new environmental context
by embracing the underlying disruptive technologies initiating the industry
transformation, and creating an organizational culture and structure that promotes
ambidextrous initiatives. “Publishers need to work with what they have, investing in
people and technology to get through this transition to the promised land of hybrid print-
Web publishing” (Kuttner, 2007). Indeed, if newspapers allow themselves to organically
adapt to these changing environmental variables and strategically leverage their core
competencies onto new platforms, attaining a profitable and sustainable future is within
their grasp.
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References
Abraham, M., 2008. The Off-Line Impact of Online Ads. Harvard Business Review, Vol.
86 Number 4, Pg 28.
Buffett, W., 2007. Letter to shareholders [online]. Available from:
http://www.berkshirehathaway.com/letters/2006ltr.pdf [Accessed 6 April 2008].
DIRKS, VAN ESSEN & MURRAY, 2007. Year End Report [online]. Available from:
http://www.dirksvanessen.com/article.asp?newsId=236&categoryId=1 [Accessed
6 April 2008].
Govindarajan, V. and Trimble, C., 2005. Organizational DNA for Strategic Innovation.
California Management Review, Vol. 47 Issue 3, p47-76.
Holahan, C., 2008. Old Media Takes Aim at Web Goliaths [online]. Business Week
Online. 00077135, 2/26/2008. Available from EBSCO HOST Business Source
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Kuttner, R., 2007. The Race [online]. Available from:
http://www.cjr.org/cover_story/the_race.php?page=1 [Accessed 6 April 2008].
Shankland, S., 2008. Google Earth gets 'New York Times' news [online].
CNETNews.com. Available from: http://www.news.com/8301-10784_3-9913172-
7.html [Accessed 6 April 2008].
Stalnaker, S., 2008. Here comes the P2P Economy. Harvard Business Review, Vol. 86
Number 2, Pg 18.
Stone, M., 2008. Digital Landscape Presentation. Atex Sales Conference, 14-18
January, Malaga, Spain.
THE MCCLATCHY COMPANY, 2008. Consolidated Statement of Income [online].
Available from: http://www.mcclatchy.com/pressreleases/story/2123.html
[Accessed 6 April 2008].
THE NEW YORK TIMES, 2007. Third Quarter Results Press Release [online]. Available from:
http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=105317&p=irol-pressArticle&ID=1066071&highlight
[Accessed 6 April 2008]
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