Strategic Planning at the Chronicle Gazette - Term Paper Example

? Strategic Planning at the Chronicle Gazette ID Number The report presents a comprehensive analysis of the present problems affecting newspaper industry and the main causes of why circulation and advertisement revenue have reduced. The consultant report outline measure required to formulate a plan to rejuvenate the newspaper industry and more specifically the chronicle gazette which as a result of tremendous changes in media (cable media and online media). Introduction The goal of this paper is therefore to provide succinct visions to the management of chronicle newspapers about the current states in newspaper industry and project the trends in the next decade. The report analyses the current states of newspaper publishing industry, problems facing newspaper publishing, causal factors and how they impact on the newspaper industry. In addition, the paper also defines external assessment and internal assessment to determine the reasons as to why there is rapid decline in the circulation and revenues and the counteractive measures and technologies to be embraced to toughen their market position. Furthermore the appropriate strategies to be adjusted by chronicle newspaper so to be able to handle the challenges and procedures involved to deal with the challenges. In the past years, The Chronicle Gazette has been the leading newspaper especially in the urban setting with over 200,000 customers. However, in the years, the newspaper sells has been reducing and this has greatly impacted negatively on the revenue of the newspaper. Indeed there is great need for the company to revise it business strategies so that it can survive in this competitive world. State of the newspaper publishing industry today Data on declining circulation and revenue The Chronicle Gazette is first-rate newspaper with over 200,000 customers and is the main newspaper read among the urbanites. In the recent years, newspaper subscription has been dwindling steadily and its estimated that, in the past eight years, subscription had declined by over 30% and advertising revenue by over 25%.Reduced advertising revenue has affected the daily operations of the newspaper industry for example maintenance of equipments and staff allowances. Status of newspaper leaders Financial problems in newspaper publishing industry have been swiftly declining advertising revenues and it’s estimated that from 2006, the revenue accrued from newspaper sell has been falling by over 40%. Trends in 2010 remained negative with less severe rate of revenue loss of over 6%. In reference to the released figures from Audit Bureau of Circulation, The Wall Street Journal tops all U.S newspaper with over 3.5% incremental sum paid circulation in 2010. The journal continues to expand it circulation and it leads other newspapers by selling over two million newspapers a day. The main rival of jounal circulation the USA Today is in the second position having fallen by over400, 000 copies. In terms of online sites, over400, 000 paid digital readers have registered with wall street journal placing the journal at the top of paid online site four times or more than Detroit free which hold the second position. In spite of the setbacks, USA Today has benefited for having over 400,000 paid digital readers. The New York Times, the third placed Newspaper had over 10% fall in income revenue because of untargeted or poor advertisement methods which declined by nearly 6% in 2010. However, there was 11% rise in online advertisement which accounts to over15% of company revenue. Why newspapers are facing declining circulations and revenues There are many reasons why customer subscription and revenue has fallen. These can be Classified into two categories; External assessment Internal assessment External assessment This involves the assessment of factors outside the industry which impacts either positively or negatively to the operation and the accrued profit of the industry. They include Economic forces Social, cultural, demographic, and environmental forces Political, governmental and legal forces Technological forces Competitive forces External Factor Evaluation (EFE) matrix Economic forces United States economic recession, and uncertainty in the environment in which newspapers operate have negatively affected the advertising revenue because of the sensitivity of advertising spending to economic environment .Negative economic factors that affect advertisement revenue include disheartened home sales, lesser spending of businesses and consumers and unemployment. Advertisers may react to fragile economic circumstances by altering their budgets, expenditure patterns and priorities and this severely affect advertising revenue. Competitive forces A Chronicle newspaper faces tougher competition from other advertisers especially the newspaper leaders’ i.e The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, The New York Times etc. Chronicle newspaper faces competition for advertising revenue from magazines, direct marketing, television, digital platforms radio, free/paid newspapers, websites and online advertisement. This competition is based on the demographics, advertisement results, audience status and prices .the situation has further been aggravated by continuation in the development and divisions in digital media coupled with severe economic conditions. These affect our capability to magnetize and maintain consumers and advertisers or raise the rates of advertisement. Technological forces The attractiveness of digital media has steadily been increasing and this coupled with change in the habits of consumer have and will continue to affect negatively our revenue. Applications from various mobile phones, news distribution from digital platforms, websites and networking tools have continued to gain acceptance. And in long run, subscription for print media will decline and traditional media will slowly mould into the digital media. The change has increased advertisement competition in traditional media resulting in reduction of advertisement revenue in print media for our company. Social, cultural, demographic, and environmental forces    Newspaper reader are in constant search of contents and news that are interesting and of significance to their lives and therefore newspapers should not only focus on the bad events that   occur in our surrounding but also should strive to balance between bad and good news as nature is not only composed of bad events but good events too occur. The age of the readers plays a great role in shaping the varying interests in the readers. The aged population is more interested in news that are relevant based on evidence and reason. In summary, failure of the advertisers to recognize that, the demographics of their customer base have changed has lead to the decline in newspaper subscription and revenue. Political, governmental and legal forces Newspaper publishing companies that adapt slowly to the restrictions and policies set by the government to control media industry find it difficult to maximize profit from advertisement and subscriptions. To ensure smooth and uninterrupted operation, newspaper publishing industry has to adhere to the media ethics.     External Factor Evaluation (EFE) matrix The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, The New York Times and other leading newspapers control distribution channels posing a great threat to the growth and expansion of the chronicle newspaper. Some newspaper companies have innovatively diversified into media formats while others have been able to take advantage and maximize use of display marketing, internet, direct mail and responsive television. As technology advances, printing services have become highly computerized in addition to changes in skills required. Although there is still a considerable high number of people reading the newspapers, subscription are falling as a great number of people are opting for either television or internet. Internal assessment Organizational processes and structure Lack of enough distribution channels is one of the reasons why the chronicle newspaper cannot compete favorably with the leading newspapers. The company has also failed to embrace the technological advances to improve the advertising and subscription revenue unlike their major rivals. HR capabilities The awards received is a clear indication the chronicle newspaper writers are talented. HR capability is groom highly skilled people and should also be encouraged by the results of their writers to perform better. Financial position The reduction in online competition subscription and advertisement has directly affect the revenues of chronicle newspaper. Marketing/sales capabilities The chronicle newspaper has been using the print media as their main channel of distribution. However, in the recent years, there has been extensive analysis to determine which position, the chronicle newspaper is holding in the media industry and newspaper in particular. Operational capabilities  The chronicle newspaper has set up strategies to make sure that the contents of their newspaper are within the threshold of major newspaper companies that have already embraced internet in their advertisement .However, these strategies does not take into account the advances in technology hence they are inefficient. In addition the chronicle newspaper has not explored other means of   customer subscription that provide fair prices to the customers      Our strengths and weaknesses as a publisher The chronicle newspaper is capable of exploring new channels and markets. The company is also able to diversify their print products into online products. The company too has some weakness as evidenced in its reluctance to explore new media. Digital information has remained a great problem to the operation and development of the chronicle newspaper Adjusting strategies to cope with the challenges in publishing industry Strategies for diversify In the past years, there has been a great change in the demographic characteristics of the customer base and therefore the company will have to diversify their products to meet the demand of various customers. There is also the need to produce variety of publications to suit the demand of various markets in creative formats such as electronic media, audio and CD-ROMS. In order to improve revenue collection, classified advertising should be embraced by the company by using local languages that are well understood by the target audience .In addition the electronic media should be embraced to provide their customers with an option or opportunity to read the news in various languages which they understand better. Lastly but not least, the company has to consider other options for example freelancer writers and editors, commission based employment and outsource printing and where possible, sell the capacity that had been spared. Marketing and promotional strategies New promotional strategies have to be devised to ensure sustainability of the business. The Chronicle Gazette should also develop new promotional techniques to keep the business sustainable .This can be achieved through diversification and expansion of the available marketing channels and by realization of E-commerce capabilities .These new promotional and marketing strategies have to work concurrently with traditional practices that will promote any new publications by devising clear publicity campaigns. Strategies for growth Writer have to be encouraged to both conceive and writer news and also innovatively analyze issues of interest to produce high quality news that are healthy for the growth of the industry.      Steps to be taken by The Chronicle Gazette to deal with the challenges Short-term steps The company has to monitor changes in revenues from both advertisement and customer subscription and increase circulation by holding down cover prices. In addition, packages for advertisement have to be reviewed so that the company can make a decision as to whether offer advertising on cheap package or not. In addition, the company will have to enter into collaboration contracts with suppliers, so as to be able to provide the products in new format that suits the demand of various customers. Furthermore, The Chronicle newspaper has to make sure that on-line options provided to customers by suppliers are of quality and allows the customers to access the news in various languages. Long-term steps timely, unbiased and factual news are the main criteria considered by customers when choosing which newspaper to read .Therefore, the company has to treat the newspaper contents the way customers want them to be .New reading materials will have to be introduced to increase the demand of the newspaper. This has to include analysis of past events in history for example the events that unfolded during cold war .Last but not least the company has to consider the option of inviting freelance writers from uvocorp and academia-research, the biggest freelance writing companies to provide writing services to the newspaper. Read More