Shri Vile Parle Kelvani Mandals Mithibai College of Arts, Chauhan Institute of Science & Amrutben Jivanlal college

of Commerce and Economics Vile Parle (West) Mumbai 400056

A PROJECT ON

THE HINDU V/S TIMES OF INDIA

IN THE SUBJECT RESEARCH METHODOLOGY SUBMITTED BY MR. PANCHAL HIREN SURESH ROLL NO: 36 DIVISION: B

UNDER THE GUIDANCE OF

PROF. BHARAT PITHADIA

TO UNIVERSITY OF MUMBAI FOR

MASTER OF COMMERCE PROGRAMME (SEMESTER - III)

ACADEMIC YEAR 2013 - 2014

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Shri Vile Parle Kelvani Mandals Mithibai College of Arts,, Chauhan Institute of Science& Amrutben Jivanlal college of Commerce and Economics Vile Parle (West) Mumbai 400056

EVALUATION CERTIFICATE
This is to certify that the undersigned have assessed and evaluated the project on Topic THE HINDU V/S TIMES OF INDIA submitted by MR. PANCHAL HIREN SURESH, student of M.Com Part - II (Semester III) for the academic year 2013-14. This project is original to the best of our knowledge and has been accepted for Internal Assessment.

Name & Signature of Internal Examiner Name & Signature of External Examiner

College Seal

PRINCIPAL I/C DR. D.B. GADKARI

Shri Vile Parle Kelvani Mandals Mithibai College of Arts,, Chauhan Institute of Science& Amrutben Jivanlal college of Commerce and Economics Vile Parle (West) Mumbai 400056

DECLARATION BY THE STUDENT

I, MR. PANCHAL HIREN SURESH, student of M.Com (Part II) Roll

No: 36 hereby declare that the project titled THE HINDU V/S TIMES OF INDIA for the subject RESEARCH METHODOLOGY submitted by me for Semester II of the academic year 2013-14, is based on actual work carried out by me under the guidance and supervision of PROF. BHARAT PITHADIA. I further state that this work is original and not submitted anywhere else for any examination.

Place: Mumbai Date: Name & Signature of Student (MR. PANCHAL HIREN SURESH)

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I take this opportunity to express my gratitude to a number of people without whom this informative project would not have been possible. This project would just not be complete without the valuable contribution from various people whom I have interacted with in the course of its completion.

I would like to thank my guide PROF. BHARAT PITHADIA for providing me with an excellent and splendid opportunity to present this project and without whose consent and support this project would not have been completed.

I am extremely grateful to the University of Mumbai for having prescribed this project work to me as a part of the academic requirement in the MCOM -II course.

Finally, I would like to thank the management and staff of MITHIBAI College, for providing the entire state of the art infrastructure and resources to enable the completion and enrichment of my project.

CONTENT

Chapter No. 1
2 3 4

Title
INTRODUCTION ANALYSIS 1 ANALYSIS 2 SUMMARY, RECOMMENDATION & CONCLUSION BIBLOGRAPHY

Page no.

THE HINDU V/S TIMES OF INDIA

CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION
1.1 Introduction of Newspaper publishing Industry
In the past ten to fifteen years, media and content markets have changed significantly as a result of digitization and the growth of the internet. These developments have led to growth in some subsectors of the media and content industries, but decline in others. Most importantly they have altered existing value chains and disrupted traditional business models. In this report a study will be presented of how these changes have affected newspaper publishing, as one of the subsectors of the media and content industries. Four other studies will deal with the music, film, TV and book publishing industries. The underlying hypothesis of this and the other sub sector studies is that digitization and the internet have had a profound effect on the media and content industries and might consequently also affect their competitiveness, in terms of the health and growth potential of a sector and/or its potential to have its products distributed and sold abroad.

It must be noted that competitiveness in relation to newspapers is a difficult concept, as most newspapers are published for national or even regional or local markets, and provide content which is mainly of interest to and tailored for a the inhabitants of a particular country, region or municipality, in the language of this particular area. However, newspapers are also sold abroad; some newspapers have international audiences, some newspapers are published in different languages and newspapers are exported to cater for tourists, expats and business travellers abroad. Online newspapers can even reach international audiences much more easily, and as such digitization could have some impact on the level of newspaper publishers cross-border trade.

Finally it is important to note that newspapers, like other media and content industries are not just economic goods, but also have cultural value, and in the case of newspapers are considered to be important for democracy. Newspapers have democratic functions in informing citizens, setting the agenda for social debate and serving as a watchdog for political, economic, and social centres of power. This explains why some member states rely not only on competition and free market policies but sometimes also employ mechanisms for supporting newspapers or innovation in newspaper publishing. 7

1.2 History of Newspaper publishing Industry

Origin of Newspapers:

The History of newspapers is arguably one of the most dramatic episodes of human experience. The actual origin of newspapers lies in the Renaissance Europe when local merchants used to distribute handwritten newsletters amongst each other. However it was not until the late 1400s when Germany introduced the precursors of printed newspapers. Since then newspapers have evolved dramatically and today there are more than 6580 daily newspapers in the World. A typical modern day newspaper is filled with various materials like editors columns, newspaper classified ads , newspaper display ads, forecasts, comic strips, entertainment section and much more. Unfortunately the sudden economic downturn has also seen the rise of electronic or web-based versions of newspaper journals which automatically resulted in a decline in newspaper classified advertising and circulation.

History and origin of newspapers in India:

The history of newspapers in India is equally interesting. The introduction of newspapers in India was hastened by the spreading sense globalization amongst the countrymen who wished to be informed about the recent events in the world. It was during the same time that the first newspaper of the country was introduced in Calcutta (Kolkata). The newspaper titled Calcutta General Advertise or Hickeys Bengal Gazette was introduced by an eccentric Irishman called James Augustus Hickey during the 1780s. In the years to come India was the establishment of another newspaper daily in the form of Bombay Herald followed closely by Bombay Courier.

History and Evolution of Indian Newspapers:

Although there was a flurry of English broadsheets during the eighteenth century, newspapers in regional languages made its way much later during the second half of the nineteenth century. First on the list were two Bengali newspapers called Samachar Darpan and Bengal Gazette while the first Hindi newspaper was Samachar Sudha Varshan. The Hindu newspaper which was launched as a competitor of Madras Mail became the first national newspaper of the country. Soon it became the voice of the nation during the establishment period. 8

Since then many newspapers have been introduced out of which newspapers dailies like Times of India, The Telegraph, Hindu, Hindustan Times, The Statesman, Economic Times, Anadabazar Patrika, The Tribune etc have become the highest circulated newspapers of the country.

1.3 - The economic characteristics of the newspaper publishing industry

The economic characteristics of the newspaper publishing industry Following the different, subsequent phases in the traditional value chain, the process of news production can be described in the following steps:

Step 1: Content creation Journalists, foreign correspondents, news editors and photographers select and create news stories and images, based on their network and location in the world and on alerts and agendas supplied by news sources and news agencies. This stream of content is filtered and complemented with content of news agencies and photo agencies. Stories are written, edited, complemented with headlines and sometimes with pictures or infographics and placed in particular sections of the newspaper, according to their subject matter and newsworthiness or importance. News stories are traditionally offered in print, but increasingly also online or on mobile phones and tablets. Some newspaper publishers are also including moving images (slide shows, video) into their online news services. In the traditional news sector, before the introduction of online news, the news cycle lasted 24 hours. The complete news organisation used to be and, in case of print newspapers, still is directed at delivering the news for the morning or evening paper. Online the news cycle is no longer bound to this 24-hours news cycle, because news can be updated continuously.

Step 2: Aggregation Newspapers typically bundle stories from a variety of subject categories (domestic nes, foreign news, economic and financial news, culture, sports, entertainment, weather, etc.) and in different formats (news items, background stories, editorials, pictures, cartoons, infographics, etc.) and for different sections (domestic news, foreign news, economic and financial news, life style etc.) of the newspaper or newspapers website. Advertisements, personals and other non-editorial content is also added to the newspaper or to the online news site. By bundling content from different subject categories, in different formats and sections, 9

newspapers have a role as the aggregators of new and information. Online the roles of news creation, production and aggregation can be performed by separate entities, whereas in print newspapers these roles are in the hands of the same newspaper publisher.

Step 3: Production In the production process, the newspaper is printed. Printing is done in-house at the publishers own printing plant, or is outsourced to another publisher or printer.

Step 4: Distribution Newspapers are subsequently transported to a wholesaler or distribution facility which handles further distribution to consumers. Newspaper copies are sold (or in case of free newspapers, handed out for free) at newsstands, in stores, at railway stations and cafs or directly delivered to consumers who subscribe to newspapers, by postal or home delivery. For online news services, once the news is uploaded to a website (hosted on the newspapers own or rented servers), it is published and users can access the news. Distribution costs are close to zero because no physical transport is required.

Step 5: Consumption In the final stage of the value chain for the news industry, the news is read by news consumers/citizens. Users can subscribe to a newspaper, buy one at a news stand, collect a free newspaper, access online news for free or behind a pay wall, or download free or paidfor news apps.

1.3 The Characteristics of the Newspaper Business

Though an online newspaper can now be regarded as an institutionalised genre, its association with the printed news genre is still important. Research has demonstrated how the printed and online newspaper genres are interwoven in such a way that they cannot easily be dissolved. In todays media landscape modern newspapers cannot cope without an online presence, which allows them to provide news updates, cross-references, and additional services. Even though research shows negative pay-offs associated with seven years of online investments, the financially constrained newspapers have no plans to withdraw their online

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presence. This confirms the importance for firms of relying on a meta business model as base to develop specific business models relevant to the changing environment.

A Scandinavian study suggests a number of institutional factors, which are involved in the shaping online news into a distinct genre. The emergence of new communicative practices in response to the mutual shaping of the news genre and the new media has been outlined. The emergence of sequential dependencies between online and printed news, suggesting a type of genre interdependency, has also been demonstrated. The adoption of new media is therefore transforming the nature of newspaper organisations business. The ongoing diffusion of personal computers, and mobile telephones, as well as the advent of new technologies such as the e-paper, induce genre changes that are reflected in the way news is produced and consumed. Newspaper organisations need to pay attention to the way new information technologies change the conditions and open opportunities for news production. The most competitive newspapers will probably be those that can successfully identify a business model to manage the genre repertoire of interdependent digital genres emerging with changes in technology and the audiences everyday life. Research has reported that audiences view the printed and online genres as complementary and interdependent. Thus, we can say that use patterns and preferences of audiences are clearly changing. The increasing number of news genres and their interdependency will most likely accelerate this change, making news consumption a natural ingredient throughout the day of news consumers. Beyond the personal computer, mobile news genres are already making news always more ubiquitous. Developing audience expectations associated with ubiquitous media might enhance the transformation of newspaper companies into media organisations that provide a range of services not traditionally linked to the news genre. All this has, of course, a direct impact on the type and number of business models adopted by newspaper publishing companies. In order to cope with the decreasing circulation figures we therefore expect newspaper publishing companies to identify a theory on which to base their future actions. Considering the impact of new technologies on their markets, newspaper publishing companies should develop a way of thinking which allows them to quickly recognise new opportunities. Given the interdependency and complementarily of their offline and online businesses, newspaper publishing companies should create an operational system which exploits every possible synergy between the two businesses and considers the sharing of nonspecific content with other companies to decrease costs. In order to maximise their capacity to generate value, newspaper publishing companies are expected to follow a total customer 11

focus strategy. This means to consider not only the best customers the ones who provide the highest returns but also all the other customers. Therefore, in order to satisfy both old and young readers, newspaper publishing companies need to operate offline as well as online. Furthermore, to keep and expand the customer base, innovation is required.

1.4 Newspaper markets across the world

The challenges facing the industry are not limited to the United States, or even Englishspeaking markets. Newspapers in Switzerland and the Netherlands, for instance, have lost half of their classified advertising to the internet. At its annual convention slated for May, 2009, in Barcelona, Spain, the World Association of Newspapers has titled the convention's subject "Newspapers Focus on Print & Advertising Revenues in Difficult Times. In September 2008, the World Association of Newspapers called for regulators to block a proposed GoogleYahoo advertising partnership, calling it a threat to newspaper industry revenues worldwide. The WAN painted a stark picture of the threat posed to newspapers by the search engine giants. "Perhaps never in the history of newspaper publishing has a single, commercial entity threatened to exert this much control over the destiny of the press," said the Paris-based global newspaper organization of the proposed pact. But there are bright spots in the world market for newspapers. At its 2008 convention, held in Gothenburg, Sweden, the World Association of Newspapers released figures showing newspaper circulations and advertising had actually climbed in the previous year. Newspaper sales were up nearly 2.6% the previous year, and up 9.4% over the past five years. Free daily newspapers, noted the WAN, accounted for nearly 7% of all global newspaper circulation and a whopping 23% of European newspaper circulation. Of the world's 100 bestselling daily newspapers, 74 are published in Asia with China, Japan and India accounting for 62 of those. Sales of newspapers rose in Latin America, Asia and the Middle East, but fell in other regions of the world, including Western Europe, where the proliferation of free dailies helped bolster overall circulation figures. While internet revenues are rising for the industry, the bulk of its web revenues come from a few areas, with most revenue generated in the United States, western Europe and AsiaPacific region.

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CHAPTER 1 ANALYSIS I
Profile Of The Times of India The Times of India (TOI) is a leading English-language broadsheet daily newspaper in India. It is owned and managed by Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd. which is owned by the Sahu jain family. The newspaper has the widest circulation among all English-language broadsheets in the world. In 2008, the newspaper reported that (with a circulation of over 3.14 million copies) it was certified by the Audit Bureau of Circulations as the world's largest selling English broadsheet newspaper and making them as the 8th largest selling newspaper in any language in the World. According to Indian Readership Survey (IRS) 2008-R2 it has gained readership by 13.3 million ranking them as the Top English Newspaper in India by readership. Product Detail In Short: Table 1.4.1 showing The Times of India in brief. TYPE FORMAT OWNER EDITOR-IN-CHIEF FOUNDED LANGUAGE HEADQUARTERS WEBSITE Daily newspaper Broadsheet Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd Jaideep Boss 1838 English New Delhi www.timesofindia.com

Supplements The Times of India comes with several city-specific supplements, such as Ahmadabad Times, Delhi Times, Bombay Times, Hyderabad Times, Lucknow Times, Nagpur Times, Bangalore Times, Pune Times, Chennai Times and Calcutta Times. Other Regular Supplements Include: Times Wellness, Education Times, Times Ascent, ZIGWHEELS, Mumbai Mirror, Bangalore Mirror, Pune Mirror, Times Life, Rouge, What's Hot, Address, The Times of South Mumbai (In South Mumbai),Calcutta Times. BUSINESSES AREAS 13

Their business areas are Publications, Finance, Music, Retailing, Media, Radio, and Internet products, Events, Charitable Trusts and Education. Figure No.1.4.1 showing different areas of business

DISTRIBUTION CHANNEL OF TOI: There are three ways to sell the TOI 1. CASH SALES: Take newspaper from pan wala or any shop in cash 2. SUBSCRIPTION SALES: Pay money in advance and read TOI 3. LINE SALES: Maximum % of sales comes from this method. Money collection works in reverse order.

BRANDING: Branding: An ongoing activity through which you can create an image in the mind of customer about your product. Now branding of TOI 14

 THROUGH CAMPAIGN 1 2 3 4 Lead India Teach India Clean India Economic Times in college OTHER LOCAL PROGRAMMES

Pricing of TOI: Price of TOI vary according to day called as zigzag prici ng or differential pricing like from MONDAy to FRIDAY it is Rs.2 and on Sunday it is Rs.5. TOI Is Pioneer In Invitation Pricing: Price at which customer automatically attract towards products called as invitation price. To understand this we take one example hypothetically. Suppose the price of newspaper is 3 rupees and circulation is 1 lac from Monday to Saturday. Now suppose on Wednesday they made 1 rupee of newspaper in which they had maximum no. of pages. As result of this, on Wednesday sales get tripled. Because those who could not purchase it, now they (non-TOI readers) got opportunity to purchase and read TOI. By passage of time (After 5-7 Wednesday) they became TOI reader. This is called as invitation prices. Then same things were done by competitors. After one year both company blooded with 1000 million rupees. After this TOI made 5 rupees per day on same day (called as reverse pricing). Due to high price, customer reduced from 3 lakh to 2 lakh but company still benefit because no. of customer is more than 1 lakh with 5 rupees cost of newspaper. And people going to give 5 rupees because they become habituated with this newspaper. Competitors cannot go for reverse strategy. Because they do not have good branding when compare with TOI. By this way competitors will not survive. By these techniques, they develop their market. Now Market share of TOI is 50% Profile Of The HINDU

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The Hindu is an English-language Indian daily newspaper. Headquartered at Chennai (formerly called Madras), The Hindu was published weekly when it was launched in 1878, and started publishing daily in 1889. According to the Indian Readership Survey in 2012, it was the third most widely read English newspaper in India (after the Times of India and Hindustan Times), with a readership of 2.2 million people.[4] The Hindu has its largest base of circulation in southern India, especially in the states of Tamil Nadu and Kerala, and it is also the most widely read English daily in Tamil Nadu and Kerala. According to the Audit Bureau of Circulations, The Hindu had a circulation of 1.46 million copies as of December 2009.[3] The enterprise employed over 1,600 workers and annual turnover reached almost $200 million[5] in 2010. Subscription and advertisement are major sources of income. The Hindu became, in 1995, the first Indian newspaper to offer an online edition.[6] It is printed at 20 locations across eight states[7]Chennai, Coimbatore, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Madurai, Noida, Visakhapatnam, Thiruvananthapuram, Kochi, Vijayawada, Mangaluru, Tiruchirapalli, Kolkata, Hubli, Mohali, Allahabad, Kozhikode, Lucknow, Anantpur and Nellore. The Hindu is family-run. It was headed by G. Kasturi from 1965 to 1991, N. Ravi from 1991 to 2003, and by his brother, N. Ram, from 27 June 2003 to 18 January 2012. Other family members, including Nirmala Lakshman, Malini Parthasarathy, Nalini Krishnan, N Murali, K Balaji, K Venugopal and Ramesh Rangarajan are directors of The Hindu and its parent company, Kasturi and Sons. S Rangarajan, former managing director and chairman since April 2006, died on 8 February 2007. Ananth Krishnan, who is the first member of the youngest generation of the family to join the business worked as a special correspondent in Chennai and Mumbai from 2007, and foreign correspondent in Beijing from 2009. It now conducts very popular "The Hindu Young World Quiz', hosted by noted quizmaster V.V. Ramanan, that has now completed 12 years and is arguably the largest live, middle-school quiz competition.

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The Hindu has many firsts in India to its credit,[18][26] which include the following

1940: First to introduce colour. 1963: First to own fleet of aircraft for distribution. 1969: First to adopt facsimile system of page transmission. 1980: First to use computer aided photo composing. 1986: First to use satellite for facsimile transmission. 1994: First to adopt wholly computerised integration of text and graphics in page make-up and remote imaging.

1994: The Hindu launches Business Line. 1995: First newspaper to go on Internet. 2012: The Hindu in School was launched in 2 April for students.[27] 2013: The Hindu launches its Tamil version on 16 September.[28]

Brand wars The Times Of India vs The Hindu 17

TOI and they hit back and how! In not one but 3 full frontal attacks. The Times Of India(TOI) had recently, around November, taken a dig at The Hindu with its campaign Wake Up Chennai where it took a dig at the, The Hindu. With its no nonsense, serious and conservative image, i thought that the newspaper would never respond to TOIs commercial. But, i was proved wrong. The Hindu commands a Numero Uno position in the Chennai market, you can call it the Rajnikant of newspapers in Chennai, followed by The Deccan Chronicle (Secondary data to be verified). Now it has come up with its Stay Ahead Of The Times campaign makin g an aggressive up yours counter attack at the TOI. And not just on television but through print ads. It all started in 2008, when Times Of India entered the Chennai newspaper market, a market that was dominated by Hindu. Times Of India started off with the Nakka Mukka A Day In The Life Of Chennai campaign to reflect the vibrancy and energy that Times Of India is going to bring about in Chennai. However more recently, Times Of India came up with a campaign indirectly hitting at the market leader Hindu. The advertisement asked the people of Chennai to not go to sleep reading boring news served by newspapers (read Hindu) and to wake up to the exciting content provided by Times Of India.

Not someone to just stand there and take the potshots thrown at them, Hindu has come back strongly with an integrated marketing campaign TV, print and internet. The ads laced with sarcasm on the third grade news doled out by todays newspapers have already becoming a viral hit on thee social media and Hindu has managed to convey its message very strongly, Stay ahead of the Times. What is brilliant about these ads is that they have not only nullified the Times Of India campaign but have also managed to dub readers of other newspapers dumb. This might definitely prompt people to reconsider their choice of the newspaper they read and should directly contribute to an increase in Hindus market share. The campaign is also made authentic because of the strong quality content that Hindu has always been serving . It would have not been possible for any other newspaper to make such claims.

So currently its Hindu 1, TOI 0. While it would be interesting to see how TOI hits back 18

at Hindu, It would definitely be a tough game to win.

This is how Times Of India responded to the Hindu Campaign, by sarcastically congratulating them for their successful campaign. The print ad shown below was up in TOIs Chennai edition.

The Times of India is India's leading English newspaper. The Hindu is a national daily but 19

80% of their numbers come from the Southern city of Chennai. While The Times of India is considered more of a tabloid, The Hindu is a serious reader's newspaper. The Times of India had invaded The Hindu's bastion, Chennai with an aggressive marketing plan. We highlighted the fact that while the readers of The Times of India knew all about celebrities and Bollywood gossip, they were clueless about current affairs and general knowledge. Thus, highlighting the superior quality of content in The Hindu. The campaign caught on like wild fire. It was all over twitter and Facebook and got over 1 million views in just a week on Youtube. Even the Print ads went viral with over 2000 shares on the very first day. The campaign has created amazing buzz and is a huge huge success.

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CHAPTER 1 ANALYSIS II
SWOT Analysis of Times Of India.
If you do not know where you are going you can take any road. This famous quote epitomized the attitude of people and their lack of planning. It is primarily because of lack of strategic direction. As a result it is hard to look at the actions and determine where you are and where you want to go. This is where SWOT analysis plays an important role. SWOT is an acronym for Strength, Weakness, Opportunities and Threats. SWOT analysis is universally accepted as an effective method of identifying your strengths and weakness, and examining the opportunities and threats you face. It is a process in which you can gather and assess, in an orderly manner, information that will become the basis of your development plans.

Strength: It is one thing to discern attractive opportunities and another to have the competencies to succeed in these opportunities. Each business needs to evaluate its internal strength and weakness periodically. Best Quality at Low Price: The major or the biggest strength of The Times of India is that it provides newspaper at the best quality than any other newspaper. And the price of this newspaper is just Rs. 2.50/along with latest magazines, which no other newspaper is providing.

Popularity: Another strength of The Times of India is that it has got popularity and those are subscribes of The Times of India newspaper feels proud when they read this newspaper. In short, every one knows The Times of India. Good Working Environment: The Times of India is having good working environment for bottom level as well as middle level management. So it may affect the moral of any employee.

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Weaknesses: The business does not have to correct all the its weakness nor should it gloat about all its strengths. No Advertising: Major weakness of The Times of India is that they are not doing advertising. because of this product and Brand reminder is not there in there n the market.

Less Staff: In The Times of Indias finance department, there are a few numbers of employees working over there. They are not having sufficient staff for finance& Account department.

Opportunities: It is an area of buyers need in which company can perform profitability. The companys success probability depends on whether its business strengths not only match the key success requirements for operating in the target market but also exceed those of its competitors. The Times of India is having the opportunity to enlarge its selling over India - for instance - what happened in the case of "THE HINDU".

Threats: It is challenge posed by an unfavorable trend or development that would lead in the absence of defensive marketing. Action to deterioration in sales or profit. Generally for any of the industries, its competitors are the biggest threat. So for THE TIMES OF INDIA. the Hindu, The Hindustan Times and mainly Divya Bhaskar are the major, threat.

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SWOT Analysis of Times Of India.

SWOT Analysis 1. Wide presence across India specially in Southern India 2. High brand loyalty amongst customers Strength 3. Constant Innovation like first to go Online, first to print in color etc 4. Increasing penetration across India through advertising and promotion 5. Has a high readership of around 2 million people per day 1. Tough competition from other English dailies means limited scope of increasing market share 2. Limited popularity as compared amongst the youth which is a huge segment 1.Can use its Brand Image to spread to Pan India circulation. 2. Multi-lingual editions to penetrate into the rural areas 1.Increased competition from other newspapers Threats 2. On line news medium means reduced circulation Competition 1. Times of India 2. Hindustan Times 3. Indian Express

Weakness

Opportunity

Competitors

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Summary

The newspaper industry had dramatically changed over the last 300 years. Technology in printing and publishing has helped to increase availability of newspapers. Technology, government policies, competition, and entrepreneurship all combined to not only create an entire industry, but to define the industrys structure and the individual firms structure.

In the early 1700s the industry was a group of simple printers who published papers as one of many tasks. There were two types of paper publication: only news and only advertising. Through the growth of the population and competition, the industry has become focused upon news with some advertising incorporated. Competition has pushed the industry away from the two-person operation to highly specialized news departments. The industry has evolved from a collection of simple operations to a collection of complex organizations that utilize independent services to remain competitive.

Firm operations have changed dramatically as well. With every advance in technology, firm production costs have decreased while productivity has increased. Advances in paper technology, press technology, and communication technology have led to a more efficient news organization.

Conclusion

The future of newspapers has been widely debated as the industry has faced down soaring newsprint prices, slumping ad sales, the loss of much classified advertising and precipitous drops in circulation. In recent years the number of newspapers slated for closure, bankruptcy or severe cutbacks has risen especially in the United States, where the industry has shed a fifth of its journalists since 2001. Revenue has plunged while competition from internet media has squeezed older print publishers. The debate has become more urgent lately, as a deepening recession has cut profits, and as once-explosive growth in newspaper web revenues has levelled off, forestalling what the industry hoped would become an important source of revenue. One issue is whether the newspaper industry is being hit by a cyclical trough and will recover, or whether new technology has rendered newspapers obsolete in their traditional format. To survive,

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newspapers are considering combining and other options, although the outcome of such partnerships has been criticised.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

WEBSITES

www.hindu.com www.britannica.com www.mbaskool.com

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