Bozena I. Mierzejewska

Key Changes Impacting Media Management Research

In less than two decades, the ecology of media industries has evolved in startling and unpredictable directions as a result of technological innovation and changes in media consumption habits due to new approaches and sociological changes. The goal of this article is to identify some of these changes and the way in which they impact the studies of traditional media management and economics scholars. This is not an exhaustive list, but a starting point to think about some of the ways in which these changes impact—and will continue to impact—the media management and economics community in ways that affect the perspectives we adopt, the questions we ask, and the methods we use.

Evaluating Strategic Approaches to Competitive Displacement: The Case of the U.S. Newspaper Industry

ABSTRACT The concept of competitive displacement is central to theories of media evolution, and the threat that the Internet has posed to printed newspapers provides an ongoing case study on the topic. In particular, this situation offers an opportunity to examine the strategic efforts of print newspapers to prevent competitive displacement, as well as the effectiveness of these strategies. This article addresses these issues through an analysis of a unique data set, constructed from 20 years of newspaper circulation data, as well as data on local market characteristics, newspaper staffing and content variety, and state-level Internet penetration. Specifically, this article examines whether, and to what extent, these competitive strategies impacted local print newspaper circulation trends over this 20-year time period. This analysis focuses on the following strategic responses: (a) newspapers’ launching of online versions (a diversification strategy within the language of media evolution literature); and (b) newspapers’ efforts to cover a greater variety of subject areas, as measured by the number of editors and special editorial sections produced. (The authors characterize these as a “mimicking” strategy from media evolution literature, as this strategy essentially represents an effort to simulate the much greater content variety that readers can find online). This article examines the relationships between these circulation, strategic, and Internet penetration variables over a 20-year time period, while also taking into account relevant characteristics of local newspaper markets.

The Development of Media Management as an Academic Field: Tracing the Contents and Impact of Its Three Leading Journals

This chapter takes stock of the development of media management as an academic field. We draw on Bird et al. (Family Business Review 15(4): 337–350, 2002) to assess how these fields measure up on three criteria that determine maturity as a discipline. While the existence of professional associations is evident in media management and career opportunities for media managers and scholars alike indicate that two prerequisites have been fulfilled, systematic theory is less evident and that is problematic. The authors reach this conclusion based on review of the most-cited articles published in the three leading journals of the field (Journal of Media Economics, International Journal on Media Management and Journal of Media Business Studies). Drawing on Whetten (Academy of Management Review 14(4): 490–495, 1989), the chapter observes that while considerable progress has been made in identifying the what (i.e. factors relevant to understand empirical phenomena related to media management) and quite a bit of less to how these factors are related, the why (i.e. the underlying dynamics explaining the characteristics of the field) and the who, where and when (as boundary conditions placing limitations on the theory or model) are in need of substantial work in order for a systematic body of theory about media management to develop.

Happy online and in real life too?: how social media interactions affect real life well-being of students in the U.S. and Germany

Research examining the impact of social media use on the well-being of digital natives has resulted in a myriad of opposing outcomes indicating both positive and negative effects. In this paper we examine whether there is a boundary between online and offline interpersonal sphere in the cohort of student digital natives and how does it differ between German student populations and U.S.. From data collected in 2013 and 2014 we find that involvement in Social Networking Sites (SNS) results more in positive emotional outcomes than in negative ones. Secondly, we conclude that there is no significant impact of SNS interactions on real life activities. We explain this striking result by focusing on separation of communication activities in online and offline life contexts. We also report on differences between U.S. and German students. The results of our study show that German students tend to separate between online and offline sphere more strongly.

Boundaries between online and offline realms: how social grooming affects students in the USA and Germany

ABSTRACT Research examining the impact of social media use on the well-being of digital natives has resulted in a myriad of opposing outcomes indicating both positive and negative effects. Focusing on positive effects only, this study examines whether there is a boundary between online and offline realms in cohorts of student digital natives and what differences exist between German and US populations. Using data collected in 2013 and 2014 we find that social grooming activities in social networking sites (SNS) significantly increase positive emotional outcomes and indirectly increase subjective well-being. We also conclude that there is a significant impact of online social grooming activities on offline social activities. But this impact is significantly moderated by cultural aspects: only within the subsample of US students is this effect of spreading social capital from online to face-to-face interaction significant. This striking result can be attributed to the stronger separation of communication activities between online and offline life among German students. Further, these differences can be explained by differences in underlying usage motives, which do also differ between US and German students.

Book Review: Media and Internet Management, by Bernd W. Wirtz

Media and Internet Management is a 500-page textbook, but a very welcome newcomer for students and teachers as it fills a market gap for good educational material in this rapidly evolving field. It is concise, simple (but not simplistic), and contains a contemporary overview of concepts and tools for media managers. The German language edition of this title is currently running in its seventh edition, and is widely being used for courses at universities and colleges in German-speaking countries. According to the author, what this book attempts to do with its 11 similarly structured chapters accompanied by short case studies is to “make a contribution to the topic of media and Internet management from the perspective of business administration” (p. 4). Apart from chapter 1 (which lays out foundations and characteristics of media markets and businesses) and chapter 11 (which is dealing with media conglomerates and cross-media), all remaining chapters consist of the same sections—namely, “market structure and market behavior,” the “service system,” “functions,” and “case studies.” Because each chapter is devoted to one media sector, they could be read singularly; and, as a whole, the book provides a complete overview of media industries. Media and Internet Management is a very good textbook for an introductory media management course as it teaches the core of the business administration tools applied in each chapter to a different media sector. At times, that may seem repetitive, but it serves the teaching purpose well.

In Memoriam: Wayne Fu

When Wayne Fu died unexpected on 19 August at age 42, I lost a dear friend, a trusted colleague, and a highly valued collaborator. The fields of Media Economics and Media Management Studies lost one of their brightest rising stars. Wayne’s passion was media economics, which he discovered as a MA student at Northwestern University after enrolling with the intention of studying telecommunications management. He left Northwestern with the rare combination of first-rate PhD-level training in both economics and communication: a knowledge base that he exploited to great effect in his studies of media industries and institutions. His work was unfailingly rigorous in its applications of economic theory and notable for the sophistication of the empirical methods employed. During his all too brief career he made substantial contributions to our understanding of trade in media products, network effects in the cellular telephone industry, competition in newspaper markets, information cascades in online user-generated content services, and vertical relationships between cinema exhibitors and distributors, among other things. While his best work was undoubtedly still ahead of him, we can be thankful for the body of work he left behind. Wayne was generous with his time, quick to share his enthusiasms, and utterly without artifice. For those of us fortunate enough to know him well, he will be missed for a long time.

JMM FORUM INTRODUCTION: DIRECTIONS IN CURRENT MEDIA MANAGEMENT RESEARCH

Media management is a young discipline that is generating a body of interesting research published in academic books and journals and presented at numerous international conferences. Scholarly asso...

Book Review: Strategic Responses to Media Market Changes

Reports on the developments of media markets indicate many changes, but we do not learn much from them about how media companies respond to them and how they adapt their strategies. Those questions are addressed by the 16 authors contributing to this book. Based on selected papers presented at a conference held in October 2003 in Joköping, Sweden, this book explores changes in the media environment and their consequences on existing media structures and firms. This collection is a highly interesting and comprehensive volume in which the world’s leading specialists on media management theory and research deliver many answers and pose new questions. Although the book is not divided into specific sections, its structure is clear. From general issues it proceeds to in-depth discussions of particular strategies, firms, and media industries in various countries. The editor and host of the conference, Robert Picard, starts with a synthesis of the main environmental and market changes affecting strategies of media firms. This is followed by Alfornso Sanchez-Tobernero’s discussion about the future of media companies and new forms of management. Those chapters bring us closer to understanding the great variety of managerial and strategic challenges facing media companies. Perhaps the most exciting contribution to the field is the collection of analyzed cases of successes and failures of various strategies employed: analysis of mergers of AOL Time Warner and Vivendi Universal written by Albarran and Gormly, and an analysis of the development of new newspapers in Europe by Gustafsson. Based on a very interesting statistical analysis, Chan-Olmsted identifies trends in global merger and acquisition activities in the global media industry. Discussions of French and German newspaper industries written by Desmoulins and Kopper, respectively, identify how and why the newspaper market has gone through very dramatic transformations. Those cases show that even very different markets faced very similar challenges. Cases devoted to broadcasting media address the issues of firm performance by Küng utilizing examples of BBC, HBO, and Pixar. Hoyer discusses TV2 in Norway. Hollifield, Vlad, and Becker address problems facing media organizations in emerging economies. For those looking for more theoretical discussions, the obvious choice should be Lacy’s exploration of fuzzy markets. All those articles are very different and support its analysis and conclusions on varied sources, so the whole collection is not as homogenous as it could have been. It is a bit like food: Some suit an individual’s tastes more than others, but each of them could be used as very valuable additional reading material or cases for student discussion. A book containing such a breadth of coverage and current evidence represents a major achievement. It provides a valuable resource for teachers and students and interesting reading for media managers and those interested in understanding the changing media industry.

Editorial -The future of copyright

While preparing this issue the editorial team of the JMM has welcomed new Co-Editor. Prof. Andreas Herrmann joined us to replace Prof. Peter Gomez, founding Co-Editor. Prof. Gomez, rector of University of St. Gallen, has been very supportive during four years of journals existence. Prof. Andreas Herrmann holds a chair in Media and Communications Management Institute at the University of St. Gallen, Switzerland. His research focus is in the area of product design with a special interest in design of media. Additionally he widely published in the fields of brand building and management, pricing and market research. Welcome to JMM team!