Strategic Management in the Media
Theory to Practice
- Lucy Küng - Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism, University of Oxford, UK
'Its scope and learning are brilliant and dazzling.’ – Eli Noam, Columbia Business School
- How did The New York Times transform its organisation for the digital age?
- How does Netflix drive performance through culture?
- Why did Disney struggle to find a CEO to replace Bob Iger?
- How did the BBC drive equal gender representation in its news programmes?
The media industry is developing furiously and fast, and its organisations face unprecedented levels of transformation and challenge. This fully revised third edition of the classic textbook on strategy in the media:
- Explores key shifts in the strategic environment including the digital platforms, streamed media, the creator economy, the metaverse and generative AI.
- Explains key concepts in strategic management with insight and clarity.
- Applies all theories to the sector, illuminating all dimensions of the strategic task, from understanding competition and building core competencies to driving innovation, shaping culture and finding the right leadership approach.
- Takes readers deep into innovation, disruption and strategic adaptation in action with an expanded set of new cases on a diverse range of global companies from Scandinavia to South Africa.
- Provides new ‘Resources’ and ‘Questions’ sections to guide readers’ further study and support classroom learning.
Lucy Küng has again written the essential guide to strategy and management in the media industry. This is the ideal text for students of media studies, media economics and media management.
Professor Lucy Küng is an expert on strategy, innovation and leadership and focuses on successful responses to the challenges of digitalization. She is Senior Visiting Research Associate at the Reuters Institute, Oxford University, and Non-Executive Board Member of the NZZ Media Group and formerly of Swiss PSM broadcaster SRG and VIZRT, the media tech provider. She has held professorships at the University of Oslo, the Institute for Media and Entertainment New York (IESE) and the University of Jönköping.
... provides vital insights into the elements of strategy and their application to media firms. Küng relates strategic concepts to the unique settings and operating conditions of various media using contemporary examples that direct attention to core issues and challenges. Solidly grounded in theory but not pedantic, the book explores the nature of change in media markets and how strategy must be altered in response. It is essential reading for those who make or wish to comprehend choices of media companies.
Insightful, contextually analytical, yet easy to comprehend, Strategic Management in the Media successfully applies the adaptive and interpretative areas of strategic theory in the media sectors. This book’s integrative approach provides a unique perspective in which common themes linking media strategy and industry environment were thoughtfully discussed. The focus on media organizations’ adaptive strategic behavior, especially in technology management, creativity and innovation offers a pragmatic approach to understanding today’s changing, complex world of media.
The third edition of Strategic Management in the Media consolidates Lucy Küng's work as one of the main references for managers and scholars in the information and entertainment industry. With the same seriousness and lucidity that characterized the previous editions, the author weaves a rich theoretical substrate about the media ecosystem in addition to showing, through real and extremely current cases, the opportunities and limits behind the business models that predominate in the sector. With the publication of this third volume that updates her body of work, Lucy Küng makes Strategic Management in the Media -perhaps without directly intending to do so- a brilliant trilogy that brings together the recent history of communication companies. Read consecutively, the books make it possible to see, chronologically, the profound transformations that occurred in the industry and its various stages: from the initial shock through a period of unrestrained reproduction of monetization models to a greater degree of maturity, especially in terms of business strategies, to team profiles and the relative weight of technology in this whole process. An indispensable book.
I have learned so much from Lucy Küng's work and always look forward to her next book as a chance to learn more.
