Guest editor’s introduction: strategic media management at a junction

Rapid developments in technology as well as permanent changes in audience behaviour and media consumption have led to accelerating change, continuous transformation and disruption of business models for the media industries. Incessant, but often unpredictable change has become the new normal in managing media organisations. Obviously, these developments have profound effects on management strategies and industry development which are addressed and reflected in scholarly research. Intriguingly however, two separate academic factions approach the phenomena differently and also with distinctive objectives in mind: media management scholars focus on empirical research into media industries and their organisations, while scholars in strategic management use media as applications for theory development. The two research strands are outlined through the following literature synopsis.

Strategic media management in strategic management research

Scholars in strategic management have used media abundantly as a field of investigation for building or advancing strategic management theory as they study certain phenomena. Media studies have become exemplary cases for proof-of-concepts and theory validation. Nevertheless, scholars in strategic management typically have no primary interest to solve particular business problems of media organisations or making strategy recommendations for specific media industries.

Multi-sided and platform markets as well as the challenges of market entry are by far the most commonly studied topics for which media and entertainment applications are used by strategic management scholars. This is not unexpected as many media industries are or have become at least partially platform-based while digitisation has also lowered the barriers to entry for several of the media and entertainment industries formerly protected by expensive expert technology (e.g. film, games). Platform-related research explores direct and indirect network effects as well as platform learning and competitive strategies for a variety of technologies and applications such as video recorders (e.g. Ohashi, 2003), e-Readers (e.g. Parry & Kawakami, 2017), and video games (e.g. Lei & Slocum, 2005; Maruyama & Ohkita, 2010; Schilling, 2002; Shankar & Bayus, 2003). For music, games, film, and information goods digital platforms for peer-to-peer file sharing and the challenges of piracy are being investigated (e.g. Belleflamme & Picard, 2007; Casadesus-Masanell & Hervas-Drane, 2010). Other topics of platform research concern content aggregation platforms in the news media (Chiou & Tucker, 2017) or more generally two-dimensional spatial competition in two-sided media markets (e.g. Ehrlich & Greiner, 2013).

Theories of product positioning, product differentiation, timing, reactions of existing market incumbents or the effects of lowered barriers for market access are advanced through studying the music industry (Graham et al., 2005; J. M. Mol et al., 2005; J. Mol et al., 2012), national newspapers (Cronshaw et al., 1990), radio and television markets (Klepper & Simons, 2000), motion pictures (Krider & Weinberg, 2018), the US video game industry (Ozalp & Kretschmer, 2018), magazine subscriptions (Simon, 2005), game consoles (Zhu & Iansiti, 2012), the mobile app market (Wen & Zhu, 2019), or commercial media markets in general (Gal-Or & Dukes, 2003). Video cassettes became a prominent example to explore standard wars regarding the fight between VHS, Betamax and Video 2000 (Grindley, 1990) as did standards for the US. home video game market (Gallagher & Park, 2002) or the ongoing challenge between iOS versus Android operating systems (Grant, 2019).

Not surprisingly market dynamics and disruption and dealing with uncertainty allow for media applications, particularly in the face of digitalisation, e.g. managing uncertainty in UK independent film (Franklin et al., 2013), disruption by TIVO in the US television ecosystem (Ansari et al., 2016) or technological disruption in the camera market (Sandström et al., 2009). Likewise, media, in particular print media, have served as study objects for declining markets with the case of Encyclopædia Britannica bearing particular fascination through its well-known brand (Greenstein, 2017; Greenstein & Devereux, 2017).

Other theories of strategic management explored by strategic management scholars through media applications include the resource-based view and dynamic capabilities for Hollywood studios (Mannor et al., 2016; Shamsie et al., 2009), radio business models (Teece, 2018) and music (Teece, 2007), path dependencies in German newspaper organisations (Koch, 2008) and in video game development (Goh & Pentland, 2019), or competition in short product life-cycle markets such as motion pictures (Calantone et al., 2010). Newspaper publishers have been early study objects for the adoption of new technologies (Noon, 1994), and more recently organisational inertia (Gilbert, 2005) and organisational learning (Muehlfeld et al., 2012). Due to its initially less integrated nature, the game industry has been of interest for studies into co-opetition (Nalebuff & Brandenburger, 1997), network evolution (Venkatraman & Lee, 2004), and alliances (Ozcan & Eisenhardt, 2009), while the latter are also being investigated for other cultural and creative industries (Gundolf et al., 2018). Social media networks served to develop research frameworks and agendas in network studies (e.g. Kane et al., 2014).

Cultural goods, in particular movies, have been studied regarding strategic attractiveness and release decisions (Belleflamme & Paolini, 2018), while TV formats serve for investigations into crowding, satiation and saturation (Barroso et al., 2016). Furthermore, the agency model has been strategically analysed for eBooks (Tan & Carrillo, 2017).

The media and creative industries are also used in comparisons with other knowledge-intensive industries affected by digital disruption such as manufacturing (Heidemann Lassen et al., 2018). A prominent topic concerns the development and implementation of a digital transformation strategy, especially in the converging markets of telecommunication, information technology and media and entertainment (TIME markets) (Hess et al., 2016; Littler & Wilson, 2007).

Strategic media management in media management research

Media management research typically grounds in solving particular business problems of media organisations or aims at making strategy recommendations for particular media industries. This empirical focus has been widely criticised by leading media management scholars who note that in-depth specialist industry knowledge is not sufficiently combined with management theory and that macro-level studies often take precedence over firm-level, hence missing the intricate details necessary for successful strategy development (Küng, 2007; Küng 2017).

In terms of theoretical or conceptual framework strategic management continues to be the most widely used in media management studies (Mierzejewska, 2010). A plethora of studies and analyses seek to understand media firm performance and the underlying management strategies. The dominant conceptual frameworks have been the structure-conduct-performance (SCP) framework and the resource-based view (RBV). While the SCP approach focuses on industry structure and its potential effects on incumbent behaviour and performance, the RBV assumes that each company has a unique set of resources that it can use to develop and implement strategies provided these resources allow for a sustainable competitive advantage. Besides SCP and RBV the niche theory approach has proved useful to understand competition among media corporations for scarce resources and adaptations to new technologies and media competitors (Mierzejewska, 2010; Mierzejewska, 2018).

The following overview discusses the general scope and major focus areas of strategic media management by media management scholars and provides examples of the most common fields of application.

Various works discuss strategic media management on a more general level with rather broad application areas such as legacy vs. new media and traditional vs. digital media (e.g. Chan-Olmsted & Kang, 2003; Chan-Olmsted, 2006b; Chyi & Sylvie, 2000; Daidj, 2018; Dennis et al., 2015; Gershon, 2000; Lischka, 2019; Vukanovic, 2009; Williams, 2002), business model development (e.g. Bakker, 2002; Chan-Olmsted, 2004b; Vaccaro & Cohn, 2004) or aspects of convergence, value creation or integration strategies (e.g. Lawson-Borders, 2003; Wirtz, 1999), often with the purpose of taking stock and predicting future developments (e.g. Achtenhagen, 2016; Küng, 2007; Mierzejewska, 2018; Picard & Lowe, 2016; Wirtz et al., 2013). In 2004 Picard (2004) captured the state of strategic media management field in an edited volume, while Küng devoted a textbook to Strategic Media Management (Küng, 2008, 2017).

Recurring topics in strategic media management studies are mergers and acquisitions (M&A) and horizontal and vertical integration strategies which typically coincide with increasing activities in the media sectors such as the mid-1990s (e.g. Chan-Olmsted, 1996, 1998), a strong surge with the first internet hype and its burst (e.g. Albarran & Gormly, 2004; Chan-Olmsted, 2004a; Jung, 2004; Muehlfeld et al., 2007; Parsons, 2003; Peltier, 2004) and recently revitalised M&A activities in the media industries (e.g. Sullivan & Jiang, 2015; Van Kranenburg & Ziggers, 2018). Strategies of industry competition are another prominent topic, especially when strategic media management started to emerge as a research field (e.g. Chan-Olmsted, 1997, 2006a; Chan-Olmsted & Li, 2002; Daidj et al., 2010; Hellman & Soramaki, 1994), in the meantime complemented by investigations into cooperative approaches as well as strategies of co-opetition (e.g. Daidj & Jung, 2011).

Diversification strategies became of greater interest with the emergence and establishment of internet and mobile technologies that allowed for additional and transformed media products and services (e.g. Chan-Olmsted, 2005; Chan-Olmsted & Chang, 2003; Friedrichsen, 2004; Jung & Chan-Olmsted, 2005; Stephan, 2005; Van Kranenburg et al., 2004) or internationalisation (e.g. Shrikhande, 2001).

Increasing market pressure and the demise of legacy media organisations, in particular in the publishing industries, fostered scholarly interest into strategies of displacement and divestiture (e.g. Eilein Landers, 2015; Mierzejewska et al., 2017), re-invention and survival (e.g. Doyle, 2013) as well as innovation and business transformation strategies (e.g. Gershon, 2018). Various studies focus on exploration and exploitation in media organisations, ambidexterity and dynamic media management capabilities (e.g. Baumann, 2013; Maijanen & Virta, 2017; Oliver, 2018; Oliver, 2016)

Rather surprisingly, several important strategic topics have not yet been treated by many media management scholars, such as strategic media venturing (e.g. Hasenpusch, 2018; Hasenpusch & Baumann, 2017), fighting standards’ wars (e.g. Daidj et al., 2010) or (multi-)platform management (e.g. Evens, 2013; Hess, 2014; Järventie-Thesleff et al., 2014). Also, the strategy as practice approach took a relatively long time to find its way into strategic media management research (e.g. Horst & Järventie-Thesleff, 2016; Horst et al., 2019; Horst & Moisander, 2015; Järventie-Thesleff et al., 2014).

Strategic media management at a junction

Summarising the brief literature overview it can be said that media management scholars have studied the phenomenon mostly from empirical angles in order to gain insights into the functioning of the media industries and to derive recommendations for media managers. Their publications are predominantly published in the International Journal on Media Management, the Journal of Media Business Studies and – to a lesser degree – in the Journal of Media Economics. Opposed to that strategic management scholars have used media abundantly as a field of investigation for theory-building, but not for advancing insights about the markets and business operations of the industries per se. Publication outlets for this group of researchers are manifold including highly ranked journals such as the Strategic Management Journal and Academy of Management Journal. For cases in which the media and creative industries are used in comparison with other knowledge-intensive industries affected by digital disruption, publications on strategic media management can even be found in journals such as the Journal of Supply Chain Management (Graham et al., 2005), Production and Operations Management (Tan & Carrillo, 2017), IEEE Xplore (Gallagher & Park, 2002) or MIS Quarterly (Hess et al., 2016; Kane et al., 2014).

Clearly, there is no lack of publications in Strategic Media Management. What has been missing, however, is a stronger scholarly exchange and mutual acknowledgement in order to tap into the shared synergies by introducing advanced theories of strategic management to studies of media sectors (Achtenhagen, 2016; Küng, 2007). This special issue aims (1) to advance our understanding of the media industries by examining specificities of strategic management and strategy work in the media context, and (2) to shed light on the strategic approaches of media firms to manage the challenges and threats of a high-velocity business environment, in order to (3) advance strategic media management theory.

The articles in this special issue all answered the call to apply and advance strategic management theory while investigating the specificities and particularly the dynamics caused by digital disruption of the media industries. Sara Ekberg’s study extends the existing strategic issues framework in order to assist organisations in addressing uncertainty by consciously constructing issues rather than reflexively imposing the dichotomous opportunity or threat labels on ill-defined situations. Based on a qualitative case study of two newspapers that represent an industry in disruption, her articlederives an additional strategic issue label, amorphous issues, for the existing framework that captures the uncertainties organisation members face during periods of disruption. Moreover, her contribution illustrates how the interpretation of issues can change over time. This captures the dynamic nature of strategic issues in the disruptive environment in which many contemporary media organisations operate.

Mikko Villi, Mikko Grönlund, Carl-Gustav Linden, Katja Lehtisaari, Bozena I. Mierzejewska, Robert G. Picard & Axel Röpnack in their article “They’re a little bit squeezed in the middle” investigate the specific strategic innovation challenges faced by high-profile US Metropolitan newspaper organisations (US metro papers). Their situation is difficult, as they fall between national newspapers (New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, USA Today) with their national (and potentially global) reach and local newspapers, which have lower costs and cater to a smaller, often more engaged audience. The study combines both quantitative and qualitative data, the latter collected from comprehensive datasets as well as 34 semi-structured interviews with CEOs, editors-in-chief and other managers at US newspaper companies as well as with expert representatives from newspaper associations and universities. The findings indicate that US metro papers are mostly rearranging existing business models (e.g. versatile pricing models for subscriptions or organising community events) or imitating and copying from industry competitors. Radical innovation or business efforts outside legacy media are rare although managers are well aware that innovative strategies of news publishing are necessary to prevent their organisations from dying slowly. However, managers are struggling with constraints, such as lack of financial and human resources and general organisational anaemia.

Digital transformation in the news industry is also addressed by Allie Kosterich, in her contribution “Managing news nerds: strategizing about institutional change in the news industry”, but her focus is on understanding the institutional strategies related to the rise of professional news nerds, i.e. professional journalists working in jobs at the intersection of traditional journalist and technologically intensive positions, and the ensuing changes in the journalist profession. Using semi-structured interviews with 20 news editors and managers across 17 news firms (global and local within the United States), the author examines patterns of strategies and how they relate to institutional change in order to remain competitive in an ever-transforming environment. Her findings indicate a strong shift towards data, analytics, and platform-related positions constituting digitally enabled configurations of news work with new routines and norms. News nerd positions are filled both by technologically skilled new-comers to the media industry as well as retrained journalists. Hiring and training news nerds can be regarded as a strategy that reflects a firm’s dynamic capabilities to purposefully modify its (personnel) resources in an effort to remain competitive within a technology-driven external environment.

In their article “Brand co-creation in multichannel media environments: a narrative approach” Saara Bange, Johanna Moisander & Rita Järventie-Thesleff shed new light on the productive, strategically important roles that media consumers play in brand co-creation in multichannel media outlets. Their qualitative study of a Scandinavian teenage girls’ magazine demonstrates how a media company can leverage the power of vibrant communities and social networks in its strategic brand management by providing a platform to actively engage consumers in brand co-creation and at the same time create value for the brand. The paper thus draws attention to the new challenges and opportunities that the co-creative media culture and the evolving business models and logics of the platform economy bring about in the media industry. The authors conclude that at least in some contexts of co-creating media platforms and customer communities, media managers might need to develop new practices and approaches to media branding that stimulate and motivate brand-related collaboration with and among consumers while preserving the brand’s essence.

As is evident from the range of studies presented in this special issue Strategic Media Management covers a broad field of both theories as well as media industries in which the conditions may vary greatly. Although the application focus of the articles was mainly in publishing, particularly newspapers, this emphasis does not come as a surprise as newspapers and other publishing industries are still struggling to find sustainable business models in the face of life-threatening digital disruption.

The cases in this special issue come from a variety of geographic and market settings and their analysis is enriched by reliance on a diversity of theories and tools from Strategic Management. The contributions clearly indicate that managers play a central role in creating the right conditions to understand, capture and address the challenges as well as managing an often painful change process in an uncertain environment. Organisational strategies and their impact are therefore inevitably shaped by distinctive market and organisational circumstances.

New and additional skills and capabilities around digital technologies and data analytics are needed to sustain competitive advantage, while previously relevant skills and capabilities become increasingly irrelevant, potentially creating organisational dissatisfaction and inertia. However, technophobia and inertia pose a deadly combination especially in digitally driven dynamic market environments such as the media industries. Involving customers into the value creation process may mean to relinquish influence and control in order to gain involvement and loyalty. All contributions in this special issue distinctly indicate that “wait and see” is not an option, but the strategic capabilities around managing in dynamic environments are crucial for long-term survival.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.