CEO Characteristics: Media Firm Innovation and Performance

Being innovative is a prerequisite in today's media world. Digital media companies are found more attractive by both the investors and the viewers/readers. Young generation is preferring to obtain news from online sources destroying the revenue stream of traditional media. Most traditional media companies which were once the most innovative ones are becoming somewhat old fashioned as their rivals come up with improved products and services. Television companies which can be considered a part of traditional media are doing relatively better in financial terms compared to their counterparts from print media. Print media companies are suffering deeply unless they have been able to be innovative. Old business models which were once very successful are not working anymore and the financial outcome of being innovative is still questionable for many companies with print media origin. On the other hand, there are some successful examples as well. The purpose of this study is to determine successful examples of print media companies in terms of innovation and if this innovativeness has helped them improve their profitability. For this purpose, US media companies with print origin is selected due to US dominance in media industry. The owners of the top 3 newspapers by circulation are detected as USA Today, The Wall Street Journal and New York Times. These 3 newspapers are owned by Gannett Co., News Corporation and New York Times Company respectively. As these three owners are publicly quoted companies, their innovativeness and their financial statements will be reviewed using their annual reports and other publicly available documents. Their ability or inability to convert innovative practices into financial performance will surely pave the way for companies in a similar position.

Comparative Analysis: Managing Media Firms vs. Other Organizations, 2020

In the intricate web of organizational interdependence, the management of media entities intertwines with various other enterprises. This paper endeavors to elevate the discourse by scrutinizing, elucidating, and delineating the intricate nexus between the administration of media organizations and their counterparts in different industries. The conceptualization of overseeing media entities has frequently drawn parallels in formulating protocols for handling, organizing, directing, and coordinating decisions, all while striving to attain overarching organizational objectives. Delving into the foundational principles and theories governing organizational management, especially in the realm of media, this paper aims to unravel the distinctive nature of media management in relation to diverse business entities. Through a discerning analysis of different types of media firms, encompassing realms like print and broadcast media, this study seeks to expound upon the idiosyncrasies inherent in the management of media organizations within the broader business landscape. At the epicenter of this discourse lies an exploration of the pivotal facets and activities in which media managers engage, illuminating their functional role within diverse business organizations. Nevertheless, the spotlight remains steadfast on unraveling the unique challenges and attributes that characterize the management of media houses and firms, providing insights into the protective shields that safeguard such distinctive domains.

Value-Oriented Media Management, 2017

The concept of performance is embedded in thinking about media managers and media organizations. Media managers are expected to yield a certain level of performance in the enterprises they manage by producing gains in cash flow, market share (e.g., revenues and audiences), organizational efficiency, and other items typically geared around financial and quantitative measures. Managers are also expected to perform in qualitative areas such as leadership, public service, and goodwill. Yet, research on these critical areas is limited. One reason for the lack of literature is that performance is a difficult concept to grasp when applied to the media management environment. One area of confusion is how to define a media enterprise. Media firms can be publicly or privately owned and compete in different markets (local, domestic, international). Likewise, there are challenges with the simple term management. What managers do we refer to? Management in many media organizations can be found on three different hierarchical levels (e.g., executive, middle managers, and supervisors), so we would expect performance to differ across managerial positions (Albarran, 2013). Further complicating the picture are the many possible interpretations for the term performance. Financial performance dominates, probably because it is the easiest to assess, especially for publicly traded corporations. Peter Drucker, considered the father of management thought, recognized the challenges of defining performance late in his career: "We will have to learn to establish new definitions of what 'performance' means in a given enterprise. .. especially in the large, publicly owned enterprise. .. we will have to develop new measurements and so on. But at the same time performance will have to be defined

The past decade has seen a transformation in the way media organizations have managed their businesses. The emergence of digitalization has paved the way for new media technologies, a proliferation of media outlets and multiple platforms to distribute mediated content. The work of Picard (2002), Kung (2008) and Oliver (2013) demonstrated the nature of high velocity media market conditions, whilst Doyle (2013, p.35) noted that “media firms have naturally adapted” their businesses, in response to the dynamic nature of the media environment, as a means to protect and sustain their company. This paper proposes that media firms manage their business and strategies through a process of adaptation. As such, organizational adaptation is examined through the lens of Dynamic Capabilities Theory (Teece and Pisano, 1994) which is well placed to consider how media firms have adapted (Ambrosini, Bowman & Collier 2009) to a transformational context heavily influenced by technological innovation. This paper will present the findings from a survey of UK media executives and argue that Dynamic Capabilities Theory can be extended to consider the ‘ability’ of a media organization to adapt their strategies, business model, resources and capabilities, faster than their rivals, that can provide them with an Adaptive Advantage in the market place. Keywords: Adaptive Advantage, Dynamic Capabilities, Competitive Advantage, Adaptation, Business Strategy, Business Model, Media Management, Media Strategy.

Creativity and Innovation Management, 1994

Journalistic perceptions may be regarded as forums for knowledge creation, and therefore offer a potentially valuable but largely ignored source of research on the management of innovation. Journalistic accounts from Fortune Mugmine's annual surveys were thematically analyzed over a ten year period, using ratings of innovativeness on the organizations reported. Three themes were identified as innovation directed executive actions which differentiated the more innovative firms. These CEO actions or strategies were characterized as a dilating of organizational focus, generating elasticity in organizational processes, and concentrating ('swarming') resources until innovations were stabilised. These themes cut across sectoral differences in the firms studied.

2011

T chapter looks at the issues of strategy, creativity, and innovation in media firms. At first glance readers may question the connection between these elements—how does creativity connect with strategy, for example? The goal of the following pages is to demonstrate how closely linked these elements are, how crucial they are for the success of media organizations, and the priority they represent for managers working in them.

The Journal of Media Innovations

Decades of change in the media landscape and technological innovation have brought several uncertainties to media leadership. In this study, we build on the upper echelons theory to discuss the possible isomorphic behaviour of media leaders. Based on a survey of 372 Swedish media leaders, our results indicate that while innovation is considered to be a strength at media companies, innovation work may still stand in contrast to the institutional perspective. We found that Swedish media leaders perceive innovation as highly important and something they are good at. The perceived ability to work with innovation inside the organizations (rather than introducing knowledge from outside expertise) is undermined by the fact that, during the average work week, the majority of leaders set aside very little time for developing their own competences, individual talks with their employees, and time to reflect on their own work. Thus, in line with upper echelons theory, we find a paradox of trust...

Journal of Media Business Studies

The past decade has seen a transformation in the way television broadcasters have managed their businesses. This paper examines the theory of 'dynamic capability' in two UK television broadcasters, BskyB and ITV, and their attempts to transform themselves into multi-product, multi-platform media companies. Using Comparative Financial Analysis and Content Analysis in a time series, this paper illustrates how the strategic management of media firms can be significantly different for two companies operating in the same sector. This research demonstrates an original contribution to knowledge by providing evidence of the dynamic capability performance effects of significant players in UK television broadcasting.

Journalism Studies, 2020

Technological disruptions and increasing competition in the digital mediascape have fundamentally altered the market conditions for news media companies, raising corresponding concerns about the future of journalism. News media firms can adapt their business models by more purposefully focusing on media innovation, or the development and implementation of new processes, products or services. Specifically, this article focuses on innovation-centric coordination and collaboration-namely, coordination of knowledge and innovation activities among social actors in news media organizations. In doing so, this article builds on the knowledge-based view (KBV) of the firm and its core argument that coordination of knowledge is essential for organizational innovation. It presents findings from a series of cross-sectional surveys with newspaper executives carried out biannually from 2011 to 2017, examining executives' perceptions of collaborative potential for digital media innovation at the intersection of editorial, business, and information technology (IT) departments. The findings suggest that there has been a significant increase in perceived collaboration more recently, and that the IT department is perceived to have become more important to innovation over time.

International Journal of Media Management, 2013

"The UK broadcast media landscape provides an interesting context to understand and explore the competitive dynamics of media organisations’. As an industry characterised by uncertainty and turbulence, this paper considers the process by which broadcast media organisations develop their strategies and the type of analytical tools that they use to underpin this process. This paper presents the findings of a survey of UK broadcast media executives and their views on the outlook for the UK Media Industry; the influence that the competitive environment has on developing media strategy; and the management tools that they use and their levels of satisfaction with these tools. It concludes that UK broadcast media is a competitive and turbulent environment, and that media strategy is developed using a number of media management tools that have varying degrees of success in terms of helping broadcast media executives to manage their media organisations’ in uncertain and complex conditions. "