Declining Circulation and Revenue in Newspaper Industry: A Strategic Analysis

Running head: BUSINESS POLICY AND STRATEGY
Business Policy and Strategy
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1BUSINESS POLICY AND STRATEGY
Table of Contents
1. Introduction............................................................................................................................3
2. State of the newspaper publishing industry today..................................................................3
2.1: Data on declining circulation and revenue......................................................................3
2.2: Status of newspaper leaders............................................................................................5
3. Why newspapers are facing declining circulations and revenues..........................................6
3.1: External assessment........................................................................................................6
3.1.1: Economic forces.......................................................................................................6
3.1.2: Social, cultural, demographic and environmental forces.........................................6
3.1.3: Political, government and legal forces.....................................................................7
3.1.4: Technological forces................................................................................................7
3.1.5: Competitive forces (Porter’s 5 forces).....................................................................7
3.1.6: External Factor Evaluation (EFE matrix)................................................................8
4. Internal assessment.................................................................................................................9
4.1. Organizational processes and structure...........................................................................9
4.2. HR capabilities..............................................................................................................10
4.3. Financial position..........................................................................................................11
4.4. Marketing/sales capabilities..........................................................................................11
4.5. Operational capabilities.................................................................................................12
4.6. Our strengths and weaknesses as a publisher................................................................12
5. How companies in the publishing industry are adjusting their strategies to cope with the
challenges.................................................................................................................................13

2BUSINESS POLICY AND STRATEGY
6. Steps The Chronicle Gazette might take in order to deal with the challenges.....................14
6.1. Short-term steps............................................................................................................14
6.2. Long-term steps.............................................................................................................14
Reference List..........................................................................................................................16

3BUSINESS POLICY AND STRATEGY
1. Introduction
The primary goal of this report will be identify the problems that results in steady
decline of the subscriptions of the newspaper in the metropolitan area that is affecting the
entire industry. The report will provide insights regarding the strategic vision of a company
called The Chronicle Gazette so that it can help them in building a new environment that will
result in earning profits.
2. State of the newspaper publishing industry today
2.1: Data on declining circulation and revenue
In the recent times, it can be seen that most of the professional readers are inclined
towards the internet in getting the news from around the globe. The introduction of smart
phones, easy availability of internet and other devices has allowed the readers in getting all
the information within a short period of time and not depend on the daily newspapers. In the
past years, it has been seen that most of the consumers are not taking the delivery of
newspapers in the morning, as they are getting all the necessary information in their smart
phones (Casero-Ripollés and Izquierdo-Castillo2013).
A survey that was conducted by University of Oxford presented the data that only
around 11 percent of the consumers pay for the news content that is available. This is due to
the fact that most of the news are available online and is free of cost. This has led to most of
the customers shifting from a newspaper to the online base. It was also seen that almost 62
percent people in the United States were addicted to social media to get the latest news
whereas 18 percent of the people started using the social media too often. These studies show
that it has led to the decline in the circulation of paid media and that the circulation of
newspapers declined by around 24 percent (Nielsen 2015).