Comparing the competitive advantages of leading news sites in mainland China and Taiwan

Abstract

In the severe recession in journalism, professional news sites are facing the challenge of increasing their competitive advantage. In this study, a resource-based approach was used to interview 12 top executives of leading news sites and portals in mainland China and Taiwan. The data were analyzed to determine the inimitable resources that enabled them to achieve competitive advantages and how these resources varied under different market conditions. The results identified property-based and knowledge-based resources that were developed by the news sites in reaction to the quickly changing environment of technology and media. Particular differences in communist and capitalist ideology between mainland China and Taiwan, respectively, and their effects on comparative resources are also discussed.

Keywords::

• competitive advantage
• online news
• resource-based view
• mainland China
• Taiwan

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Science Council in Taiwan [grant number NSC 100-2410-H-009-040-MY2], and Ministry of Education of the People's Republic of China [grant number 20141020902]. The authors thank the anonymous reviewers for their constructive and insightful comments in improving the manuscript.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

J. Sonia Huang

J. Sonia Huang is an associate professor of Communication and Technology at the National Chiao Tung University, Taiwan. Her research focuses on industrial economics and strategic management for new media. Her work has appeared in Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly, Journal of Media Economics, the International Journal on Media Management, Asian Journal of Communication and Chinese Journal of Communication.

Jia Dai

Jia Dai is an assistant professor at the School of Journalism and Communication, Tsinghua University, mainland China. Her research interests include media sociology, new media and social transformation, and environmental communication. Her published research includes articles in Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly, Journalism Practice, Asian Journal of Communication, and other Chinese journals.