Industry Analysis Case Study

Newspaper Industry in US: Uncle Sam’s Last Wish?

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Abstract:
Suited best for industry analysis and discussing the impact of disruptive innovations in newspaper industry, this case study is written primarily to discuss and debate on the future of the US newspaper industry in the light of competitive threats from television and web media. This case study helps in analysing the contribution of newspapers in the formation independent US and the traditional business model built around the needs of the then society. This case aids in discussing the series of related disruptions that have eventually become competitive threats for the newspaper industry. This case also helps in analysing the alternative business models that could revive the industry, with its existing cost structure.

Credited with moulding the modern civilisations through the last three centuries, by propagating the ideologies of intellectuals to cultivate the spirit of liberty among masses and thereby replacing despotism with democracy – newspapers have become an integral part of the human lives. However, as technology is capturing the younger generations in its web of conveniences and promptness, the newspaper is fast going out of fashion. With falling circulation figures and with them the advertising revenues, the news agencies are suffering a great deal. As many as 300 newspapers ran out of print in the last two decades. Many of them, including the most famous names, are on the verge of bankruptcy, demanding corrective measures on a war footing - lest the newspaper industry will soon remain to history books.

Pedagogical Objectives:

The case attempts to achieve the following pedagogical objectives:
• To understand the traditional business model of the newspaper companies with reference to the background of the industry’s rich past
• To analyse the nature of the series of related disruptions and how they eventually became competitive threats
• To analyse the new and evolving business models in the newspaper industry and make an assessment of sustainability
• To explore and examine any possible ways for the newspaper industry to survive, with the given cost structure.

Keywords : Competitive Threats, Disruptive Innovation, Disruptive Technologies, Scanning the Periphery, Industry Analysis, Industry Attractiveness, Business Models, Discontinuities in Business Models, Strategic Inflection Points, Newspaper Industry