“The future is a department”

Jim has a strong reputation for applying detailed analysis techniques to both strategic planning and market and competitive analysis.

He says: “Too many business decisions are taken, or arguments presented, on a subjective basis. Yet it is usually the case that simple, fast analysis of business situations - current and historical - can dramatically improve the business effectiveness and likely performance outcome. Media companies invest too little in understanding the dynamics of the markets they serve, and then under-value what information they have in terms of decision making.” 

STRATEGIC ISSUES

While media companies can be tempted to think they are producing a new product every day, week, or even hour, their stakeholders have been actively seeking a diversity of solutions for decades.

1. ‣Media consumers are searching for a wider range of sources of news and information.
   

2. ‣Communicators are continually expanding their range of media solutions.
   

Digital media are merely an extension of a trend that has been going on for over 30 years.

In addition news services are vulnerable to consumers’ unwillingness to pay for content and communicators, utilizing ROI based specific solutions for each element of their communications strategy.

Convergence is not a strategic concept. The requirement is diversity.

Yet few publishing companies have the focus or resources dedicated to business development. Of course there are exceptions: The New York Times Company, with its team of Creative Technologists. The Telegraph in London, with its newly formed entrepreneurial digital venture, dubbed the Euston Project, and the inevitable Schibsted, with its passion for new ventures and modus operandi.

But process and investment are as central to growth as an entrepreneurial vision. Compared with other industries, publishing invests little in research and development.

FACTS

1. ‣Worldwide newspaper circulations continue to grow alongside other traditional media. But the reality is that traditional media are declining in Western markets, and the growth is largely driven by China and India which between them now account today account for 38% of newspaper circulations.
   

2. ‣In western markets, the proportion of marketing expenditure which is spent on advertising has fallen from around 70% in 1990 to only 30% in 2010. The balance is spent on direct marketing methods, and this transfer has been transferring for 30 years.
   

3. ‣The emergence of digital media, is more a progression of this direct marketing than it is of the transfer of traditional media, hence the declining influence of display/classified on the web, and the emergence of concepts such as search and referrals.
   

4. ‣News media’s ability to migrate from analogue to digital varies from one country to another, and varying degrees between audience generation and communication revenue generation.
   

SOLUTIONS

There is no one solution.

Chisholm offers a range of solutions to introduce diversified growth and change of thinking into your organization, or indeed through your industry association.  None are formulaic; all are based on research of best practice, econometric and operational analysis, and experience. These include:

1. ‣A strategic analysis of your market framework, and competitive position;
   

2. ‣Identification of best options for growth, supported by analysis and case studies from other markets;
   

3. ‣An executive programme that introduces managers to the needs for and processes of business development, and also the barriers to its implementation;
   

4. ‣A corporate strategy programme that incorporates, both external market demand analysis with corporate issues such as access to capital, new product evaluation, together with management targeting and incentivisation.
   

We offer a network of specialists who can provide analysis, strategy and implementation to ensure your business is top in terms of growth and diversification in your market.

MATERIAL

Useful Chisholm articles and reports are:

New product development: What’s the problem?

Newspapers are increasingly looking at diversification. Good. But the important question is why has it taken 100 years to get there?

News and Tech. March 29, 2010

Growth and diversification

“Companies that can devise growth strategies to exploit the strengths of their core business while realising synergies with their new activities can greatly increase the influence and value of their media organisation.”

Report authored by Jim Chisholm and published by the World Association of Newspapers.

Will 2010 be new year of the deal for newspapers?

“Certainly, it's that time in the cycle, when the accountants get their slide rules out and covet thy neighbors' assets. The newspaper industry wants to secure its future, not just for itself, but (more importantly) for society and (less importantly) for the institutional shareholders who have milked the industry for the past few years.”

News and Tech February, 25 2010

PROJECTS:

Projects in the area of Growth and development have included:

1. ‣Devising a growth strategy programme for a major multi-site national publishing company with regional titles;
   

2. ‣A strategic review for a multi-national publishing of the relative value and potential of each of their properties in different markets;
   

3. ‣A financial portfolio review of a national multi-product media business to evaluate the opportunities, and weaknesses of each of their products, to determine where investment, and/or closure should be applied;
   

4. ‣Undertake a management education programme to introduce an entrepreneurial culture into a traditional media company.
   

They say: “There is perhaps no one in the world who has a more global perspective about the challenges facing online and newsprint editions. Chisholm thinks that newspapers are facing major problems but can survive -- provided that they are realistic about what must be done to solve those problems.”  Online Journalism Review