Strategy to Succeed in the Newspaper Industry - Desklib

This report discusses the strategic challenges faced by News Corporation in the newspaper industry, including digitalisation, lack of IT skills, taxation, compliance with laws and regulations, data privacy, and more. It also covers the digital strategies used by News Corporation to remain competitive and successful in the industry. The report includes a SWOT analysis and PESTLE analysis of News Corporation, as well as lessons learned.

Strategy to succeed in
the newspaper industry

Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................1
The context and Strategic challenges ....................................................................................1
Strategic analysis of an organization that has demonstrated sustained success in this context. .3
Lesson Learnt ........................................................................................................................7
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................9
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................10

INTRODUCTION
Digitalisation is defined as the process which is related to converting information into a
digital format. It is related to using digital technologies for the purpose of changing business
model and providing new revenue as well as gain value-producing opportunities. Digitalisation
facilitates business to maintain digital presence, take better decisions, improve organisational
productivity and efficiency and create new channels for connecting with customers (Lianos,
2019). It provides competitive advantages to business and help to survive in competitive
environment. Business develops various strategies for handling changes in business
environment. In this report chosen organisation is News Corporation which is known as “News
Corp”. It is an American media and publishing organisation founded in the year of 2013 by
Rupert Murdoch. Respective organisation provides newspapers and books worldwide. This
report covers strategic challenges that are faced by organisation and digital strategy which help
business to remain competitive in news space. Strategies that lead business towards success in
current environment are mentioned. Along with that various lessons that are learnt by
organisation strategy are explained in this project report.
MAIN BODY
The context and Strategic challenges
Strategic challenges: Strategic challenges are defined as those pressures that are exerted a
decisive influence on business likelihood as well as future success of organisation. These are the
challenges are frequently driven by the organisation and impacts future competitive positioning
as compared to other providers or organisations who are providing similar products and services
to customers.
News crop is the organisation which is facing various strategic challenges of
digitalisation that impacts business performance and functionality. Digitalisation or digital
transformation is the application of digital technology for the purpose of creating new business
model. The main objective of organisation to digitalise organisational services is to improve
efficiencies as well as deliver more personalised customers experience (Jonathan, Gebremeskel
and Yalew, 2020). These challenges that are occur in the process of digitalisation are mentioned
below:
1

lack of dedicates IT skills: In the process of digital transformation, business requires
highly skilled and dedicated IT team who can handle all critical situations and work efficiently
on new technologies. News crop organisation has lack of skilled staff members that impacts
overall organisational performance and efficiency. News Crop organisation has lacking expertise
in cyber security, technical architecture, advanced data analytics and enterprise architect which
affect organisational digitalisation process.
Challenges with respect to taxation: Each and every business has to pay taxes to the
local , state and centre government. Income tax department imposes huge amount of fines on
the organisation who do not pay taxes. Taxation is defined as the slippery path as well as
important to be cautious for the News Crop organisation (Challenges faced by the media
industry, 2021). If organisation fails to pay taxes on time than reputation of organisation is
getting affected that impacts overall performance of business.
Compliances with laws and regulations: It is vary difficult for News Crop
organisation to comply all rules and regulations in business operations. Organisation faces
difficulty manage finance for filling return, comply with labour laws, local laws and
environment laws that impacts business performance. If News Crop do not follows these
compliances then it impacts overall business functions and operations.
Concern related to data privacy: Challenge related to data privacy is impact the
performance and efficiency of organisations. Big data is the challenge that pose trouble
when it comes to accumulating adequate user data without which exact scrutiny can not be
carried on. As viewers are more sensitive than ever so News Crop organisation have to
focused on privacy of customers and related stakeholders. As organisation provides digital
media services so, data privacy is the greatest concern of business.
Adopting challenges: There are various technologies are used in media industry that
help them to publish news. News Crop organisation facing the challenges related to
welcoming new technologies to the area of work. Dependency on outdated methodologies and
technologies create difficulty for News Crop organisation and impact its performance level.
Organisation is engaged in providing digital media services and in digital technologies regular
changes are happened that create challenge for News Crop to maintain performance and
efficiency.
2

Quantity and speed: It is a challenge for news industry to provide quick information to
customer's with relevant quantity. If News Crop organisation provide late news to customers
than it pull behind than other competitors.
Catering to new consumer behaviours and expectations: It is the most impacting
challenge that is faced by the News Crop organisation. Organisation face difficulty in creating
customer base and understand their requirement as well as expectations. If News Crop
organisation fails to recognise customers expectations than it impacts whole business
performance and sustainability.
Trust and quality: Trust and quality is the challenge that affect functionality of News
Crop organisation. If customers do not have trust on news industry than they do not believe on
news which is broadcast by the organisation. It impacts overall organisation's customer base and
image of organisation in market.
Motivating readers to pay for news: It is a challenge for news industry to motivate
readers to pay for their news which is published by them. As readers compares different channels
and platforms that provide news so, drag their attention towards own organisation through
provide quality news is a threat for News Crop organisation.
Reduced revenues from advertisement spend from clients: Now these days, clients
spend less on advertisement that impacts news industry revenue. There are various other
mediums are available through which clients get news regarding world that also impact New
Crop organisation's performance.
Content aggregation through social media and search engines: In current days, on
social media and search engine news and information is being delivered in the form of hashtags
that impacts News Crop organisation's functionality.
Lack of organisational change management: There are some factors that creates
strategic challenges for business in the context of digitalisation such as outdated organisational
structure, rigid leadership style and inefficient workflow (Strizhkova, 2019). If some changes
are implemented in organisation then business faces resistant of employees that impacts their
working performance. News crop organisation is being affected due to having lack of change
management.
Lack of defined strategy: In Digitalisation business faces challenges due to not having
defined strategy. Without effective strategy, the transformation failed that impacts News crop
3

organisation performance and functionality. Inefficient data management is another factor that
create challenge for business and affect business performance.
Lack of clarity on digital transformation budget: Budget in digitalisation is the biggest
hurdle that could hamper entire organisation's activities. Setting up appropriate budget for
digitalisation activities helps business to attain success and in the lack of budget all activities are
suffer and it reduce efficiency of whole process (Lilja, 2020). News crop organisation needs to
make investment in acquiring right technology as well as suitable and experienced team to
execute strategies.
Organisational culture: Shortcoming in organisational structure is the greatest challenge
in the process of digitalisation that are faced by the News crop organisation. In digitalisation is
essential for organisation to upgrade its all tools and technologies (Safiullin and Akhmetshin,
2019). Digitalisation in organisation is related to organisations ability to adopt these changes in
efficient manner. To handle these challenges, News crop organisation ensures effective
organisation culture and implement clear communication at all hierarchical level of business. It
encourages employees and stakeholders to engage with organisation and adopt changes in
efficient manner.
News crop organisation uses digital strategy that enable business to improve
performance. Respective organisation uses digital marketing strategy to promote organisation
products and services at global level that facilitates business to attar number of customers and
maintains string brand image.
Strategic analysis of an organization that has demonstrated sustained success in this context
Overview
New Corp is a global diversified information and media services that mainly focus on
developing and distribution engaging content among customers around the world. The company
is committed to provide premium content makes its properties a premier destination for
information, news and entertainment. The company contains business across range of media
which includes digital real estate facilities, subscription video services in Australia, information
and news facilities along with book publications that are distributed under several recognised
brand such as The Wall Street Journal, The Sun, The Times and many others (Annual Report
2020, 2020).
News Corp's success
4

SWOT analysis
Strengths Weaknesses
 The Sun, The Sun on Sunday, The
Sunday Times and The Times are News
Corp's UK publication which are also
considered as leading newspaper of the
country. These newspapers are
accounted around one-third of all
national newspaper trades that was
recorded on June 30, 2020 (Annual
Report 2020, 2020). The Sun is
considered as one of the most paid and
read newspaper in the country along
with The Times and The Sunday Times
are the most most read national
newspaper in quality market of UK.
 According to PAMCo data stated on
March 31, 2020 in print and digital
media these brands together have
reached around 77% of adult news
readers in the country or almost 41
million people (Annual Report 2020,
2020).
 It might face fierce competition with
various competitors such as Daily Mail,
Daily Mirror, The Guardian and many
more in the market. This intense
competition decrease the market share
of the respective newspaper
organisation.
 It also face changed preferences of
people which gets modified with time.
The weak online presence could also
lead to decrement in its market share
which could impact its profitability.
Opportunities Threats
 During COVID-19 digital promotions
at Dow Jones was enhanced to 4% and
usual shift towards digital as source of
revenue continues with digital
advertising representing 54% of
promotional revenues in fourth quarter.
 Advanced and disruptive technologies
could become threat for media industry
which could further decrease its
growth.
 News on various other social platforms
such as YouTube, Twitter and many
5

Digital subscription in UK for The
Times and Sunday Times paid the
subscribers for it increases almost
around 336,000 and enhancement of
11% every year (Annual Report 2020,
2020).
 The subscription of company in Video
Services segment provide video
entertainment, sports and news
facilities to pay-TV subscribers and
various others commercial licensing,
primarily via cable, internet and
satellite distribution and contains
around 65% interest in Foxtel and
remaining 35% interest is held by
Telstra which is an ASX listed
telecommunication organisation
(Annual Report 2020, 2020).
others also grabs attention of people
which impacts on newspaper industry.
PESTLE
Political factors: News Corp Australia is also considered as one of the leading
information and news providers in the country by readership with both digital and print media
which covers suburban, national and regional footprints. It has been estimated that during year
2020 at the end of March, its weekly and bi-weekly newspapers were read by almost 6.9 million
citizens of country on average of every week (Annual Report 2020, 2020). The operations of
company are organised into six segments which includes digital real estate services, subscription
video services, Dow Jones, Book publishing, News media and others. The digital Real Estate
services of company mainly consist of 61.6% interest in REA Group which is a publicly traded
organisation and is listed on ASX along with around 80% interest in Move. The rest of the
interest percentage which is 20% in Move are held by REA group (Annual Report 2020, 2020).
6

Economic factors: The other property that is owned by selected organisation includes
premier properties such as taste.com.au which is a leading food and recipe website, another site
is Kidspot.com which is a leading parenting website and many others. The other assets of News
Corp Australia have been 14.8% interest in HT&E limited, which runs a Australian portfolio of
radio and outdoor media assets, another is 30.2% interest in Hipages Group Pty. Ltd. which is
runs business operations in on-demand home services and improvement (Annual Report 2020,
2020). Furthermore, revenues generated from circulation, advertising and subscription sale for its
digital as well as print goods, News UK develop revenues from third party printing facilities. The
content of this newspaper is also available on certain digital platforms including its websites
thesun.co.uk, thesundaytimes.co.uk and thetimes.co.uk along with applications on mobile and
tablets.
Social factors: The coronavirus has majorly impacted the newspaper industry and
changed their business in extending pre-existing digital trends. In context to News Corp, it has
made many adaptations where majority of employees are working at home, and resilience of
culture of company had been a core competence in regularity (Pillai, Goldfarb and Kirsch, 2020).
The company is continuously working to focus on adopting digital subscribers and audience
along with right-sizing their business to become digital-first which is resulting in cost reduction.
The company always invest in best journalism but the format is less essential than function and
the firm believe that digital reincarnation will bring profitable future.
The largest Australian News Channel Foxtel which is considered as largest pay-TV
provider in the country which have almost 200 channels covering, general entertainment,
documentaries, music, sports, news and other kids’ programs. Foxtel also have Foxtel Now
which is an OTT (Over the Top) facility that provides access across live and on demand content
(Annual Report 2020, 2020).
Technological factors: The digital mastheads of respective company come under leading
digital news channels in Australia which is based on monthly specific people data and had
around 648,000 subscribers at the end of June 30, 2020. the wide portfolio of News Corp
Australia in digital properties include news.com.au which is one of the leading general interest in
the country which provides news regarding finance, entertainment, lifestyle, breaking news,
sports and technology along with delivering monthly services to around 10.3 million people
according to Nielsen monthly overall ratings around June 30, 2020 (Annual Report 2020, 2020).
7

The selected company expect that its technology platforms are best in-class at lowest price
available and whole coordination among its business will certainly be increased.
In Australia, the digital subscribers for News Corp were also enhanced around 25%
which is nearly up to 650,000 by the end of year. In US the online customer base was also
increased for The Sun during year 2020 which also includes launching of U.S. Edition and
according to PAMCO The Sun remained the leading news brand. In U.S. the digital network for
New York Post has been increased by 177 million monthly specific users during the fourth
quarter (Annual Report 2020, 2020).
Legal factors: The company needs to print authentic and right news so that it do not face
any legal issues in future. The company also is require to provide news with reliable source so
that people could not get influenced through fake news.
Environmental factors: The selected organisation is required to utilise eco-friendly
papers for its newspapers so that it could not impact environment. The company also focus on
spending its investment on renewable technologies so that it could gain competitive advantage
over its rivals in the market.
Lesson Learnt
From the above case study of News Corp, it has been observed that it has faced many
strategical challenges which impact its business operations. It could be said that company is
required to recruit qualified staff who could understand and have complete knowledge about
advanced technologies. It has also been estimated that companies must maintain their
organisational structure in order to properly operate business operations (Villi and Picard, 2019).
For digitalisation it is very essential to enhance knowledge and understanding about digital
platforms so that they could provide efficient services to clients. During COVID-19, the business
of many industries got impacted due to lock-down implication and banning of travelling to
places. The newspaper industry was also among one of the worst hit sectors as it printing of
papers were impossible as workers were no able to come to factories physically. From the above
case study of News Corp, it has been evaluated that it has taken various steps to overcome the
losses. It has launched several online platforms so that it could provide updated news to its
subscribers. The company represents success from which other companies could also learn that
how to implement strategies effectively that could help them in digitalisation their process. It has
also been determined that the company has targeted potential customer segments through
8

providing them services according to their demands. The company has launched OTT platforms
where it could attract more customer who are looking for entertainment during this pandemic
(Weritz, Braojos and Matute, 2020).
To accomplish success, it is important for company to determine needs to understand
what are its abilities or capabilities. News Corp determine that they could deliver online services
to its clients therefore, it provided various new paper services in different countries, it become
leading newspaper organisation in UK and Australia where people trust the information provided
by the firm (Lotz, 2018). It has been learned that the companies must focus on their customer
base and identify changes occurring in client base. This has provided the selected organisation an
opportunity to quickly analyses or recognise modifications that were required to enhance
profitability at this time of uncertainty. The second thing which could be determined is that it is
very essential to meet needs of customers quickly which would assist in maintaining growth.
This fulfilling of demands raised by customers helps companies in gaining competitive
advantage over their rivals in market (Sohl, Vroom and McCann, 2020). From the above
company’s case study, it has been learned that organisations are required to remain true to their
values, culture and strategies so that they could accomplish desired goals effectively. The high
level of coordination, teamwork and effective leadership is also required which could result in
rapid growth and productivity. Transition out of rapid growth in the market tends to develop
challenges that must be recognised and quickly responded by companies so that they could
explore more opportunities in the market.
9

CONCLUSION
From the above discussion it has been concluded that world is progressing with
digitalisation which is changing the way of doing business for many industries including
newspapers sectors. From the report it could be said that it is very important for newspaper
industry to emphases on several strategical challenges they could face while operating their
business operations. It has been observed that after COVID-19, preferences of people have
changed and shifted towards more digital services rather than focusing on traditional facilities. It
is very essential for newspaper industry to provide news on digital platform as it will help them
in enhancing their customer base. It could be estimated from the above report that digitalisation
helps companies in gaining competitive advantage in the market.
10

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Lianos, I., 2019. Digitalisation and Competition Law: New Challenges. Revista de Defesa da
Concorrência, 7(1), pp.5-50.
Jonathan, G. M., Gebremeskel, B. K. and Yalew, S. D., 2020, November. Privacy and Security
in the Digitalisation Era. In 2020 11th IEEE Annual Information Technology,
Electronics and Mobile Communication Conference (IEMCON) (pp. 0837-0844).
IEEE.
Strizhkova, A., 2019. Open innovation as trend in terms of digitalisation.
Lilja, J., 2020. Digitalisation and well-being at work: Understanding work transformation and
the role of acceptance through thematic narrative analysis (Master's thesis).
Safiullin, M. R. and Akhmetshin, E.M., 2019. Digital transformation of a university as a factor
of ensuring its competitiveness. International Journal of Engineering and Advanced
Technology, 9(1), pp.7387-7390.
Villi, M. and Picard, R. G., 2019. 9. Transformation and innovation of media business models.
In Making media (pp. 121-132). Amsterdam University Press.
Pillai, S. D., Goldfarb, B. and Kirsch, D. A., 2020. The origins of firm strategy: Learning by
economic experimentation and strategic pivots in the early automobile
industry. Strategic Management Journal, 41(3), pp.369-399.
Sohl, T., Vroom, G. and McCann, B. T., 2020. Business model diversification and firm
performance: A demand‐side perspective. Strategic entrepreneurship journal, 14(2),
pp.198-223.
Weritz, P., Braojos, J. and Matute, J., 2020. Exploring the Antecedents of Digital
Transformation: Dynamic Capabilities and Digital Culture Aspects to Achieve Digital
Maturity.
Lotz, A. D., 2018. We now disrupt this broadcast: How cable transformed television and the
internet revolutionized it all. MIT press.
[Online]
Annual Report 2020. 2020. Online Available Through: <news-corp-2020-annual-report.pdf
(newscorp.com)>
11