I have recently embarked on a PhD-project that will investigate the interrelationship between organizational, technological and market forces - and specifically how organizational inertia affects innovation in media companies.

The project will add critical new knowledge about the sustainability of the newspaper business, and address one of the most critical questions facing newspaper managers:

When does it make business sense to converge (integrate organization, products, technologies and processes), and when does it make sense to diverge (separate) the old core business from new ventures?

 

Here is the “elevator pitch” for the project: 

Across the globe, something dramatic is happening to the news business.

Digital technologies such as the Internet, smart phones and tablet devices have permanently changed consumer habits, providing new business opportunities and but also profound challenges for incumbents in the market. 

 Media companies are being confronted with profound changes that are destabilizing successful mature markets, undermining long-term relationships with audiences and advertisers, and threatening the sustainability of their business models.

 To slow the erosion of readership, newsroom managers have experimented with new technologies, products, work processes and organizational models. But the isolated and accumulated effect of these measures is in question, as the decline continues.   

 This innovation challenge can be framed as one of organizational commitment: Different business environments require different, often incompatible organizational features, and several studies suggest that successful organizations disregard practices, people and structures regarded as peripheral to their current recipe for success – in effect breeding inertia. 

This PhD Project will investigate the complex interplay between organizational, technological and market forces – and specifically how organizational inertia affects innovation in media companies. 

 The project will add critical new knowledge about the sustainability of the newspaper business, and address one of the most critical questions facing newspaper managers:

 When does it make business sense to converge (integrate organization, products, technologies and processes), and when does it make sense to diverge (separate) the old core business from new ventures?