Strategic planning for the Chronicle Gazette amid newspaper industry decline

Strategic Planning at the Chronicle Gazette

Decline of the Newspaper Publishing Industry

Declining Circulation and Revenue

Status of Leading Newspapers

Reasons for Decline in Circulation and Revenue

Economic Factors

Political Factors

Demographic Factors

Technological Factors

Porter's Model

Strategies adopted by different Companies

Steps to be taken by the Chronicle Gazette

Form a Website

Minimize Cost and Increase Efficiency

Organization Structure

Adopt Digital Technology

Susan Feiman is the publisher of The Chronicle Gazette, which is one of the most prominent newspapers of the United States. It has gained huge popularity among the people and is being circulated at high levels. This newspaper is recognized as a top class newspaper and the work of its writers has been highly appreciated. However, there has been a great decline in the circulation and subscription of the newspaper for the past few years. In the past eight years, the subscription of the newspaper has fallen to a great level and because of this downfall in the subscription of the newspaper; the advertising revenue has also declined. This decline in the subscription and revenues is affecting the entire publishing industry. Even the great newspapers such as the New York Times and The Wall Street Journal are suffering.

Goal of the Report

The basic goal of strategic planning is to be aware of the external environmental changes such as the economic, political, social and governmental changes, which can affect the newspaper industry and prepare the organization to deal with these changes. At this age of rapid change, the business industries should take necessary measures and adopt certain strategic policies which could help them survive in the changing environment.

Another important goal of strategic planning is to provide useful suggestions and steps to the Chronicle Gazette so that it can improve its subscription and circulation. It will go through the current and future position of the United States newspaper industry and will also focus on the points that have led to the downfall of the industry. It will provide the detail on what strategic policies different companies are adopting in order get over the losses they have faced by considering both the external and internal factors which are affecting the industry and the circulation of the newspapers. The paper will provide The Chronicle Gazette ways through which it can improve its position and circulation.

Decline of the Newspaper Publishing Industry

The newspaper publishing industry is facing a severe decline in its subscription and circulation due to the internet revolution. The newspaper publishers are facing serious challenges due to destabilizing consequence because of the growing popularity of the internet. One of the major reasons for this downfall is that the news that was traditionally controlled by the newspaper industry is now freely available to the public through online websites. The people are no longer interested in buying a newspaper as they can get all the information and news through the online websites without any charges.

Status of Leading Newspapers

Among the most famous newspapers of the United States are The Wall Street Journal, USA Today and The New York Times. The Wall Street Journal stands among the highly circulated newspapers. It was published by Dow Jones & Company and is owned by the News Corporation. This newspaper has changed its strategies according to the growing popularity of the internet.

USA Today is also one of the major newspapers of the United States that is owned Gannett Company. The newspaper has also been circulated at the international level. The U.S.A. Today had a huge circulation in 2010 but it faced an immense decline after this time period and the number of customers decreased to a great level.

The New York Times is also considered as an important newspaper of the United States. It was published and owned by the New York Times Company. This newspaper also had a huge circulation on daily basis as well as on the weekend basis. Its circulation also declined to a great extent because of the emergence of the internet technology which sidelined these newspapers.(Young, 2011)

Reasons for Decline in Circulation and Revenue

The major reason for the downfall of the newspaper industry is the growing interest of the people in getting all the latest news and information through the internet. There has been a major shift in the newspaper following in the United States. This shift in the newspaper following has contributed to the worries of the publishers, which has eventually damaged the whole publication of the newspapers.

Economic Factors

Due to the accessibility and low costs of these online websites, different companies are giving preference to online advertising rather than print advertising. Another major reason for the loss of costumers and circulation is that the publishers have increased the costs of their newspapers. Some of the publishers have adopted the policy to supply their newspapers to those areas only which are more profitable to them and from where they could get maximum benefit. They have limited the circulation of the newspaper to far off places due to high delivery charges. The advertisers are also contributing to the downfall of the newspaper industry in a way that they are lenient towards managing the cost that is spent on the printing and publication of the newspaper. This effects the economic position of the company to a great extent. The smaller newspapers suffer to a large extent which eventually forces them to shut down the newspaper.

Political Factors

The ownership and governance of the newspapers in the United States is controlled by the major cities. Even the government is not playing fair with the newspaper industries. All the political parties are giving preference to the online websites for their campaigning and advertisement and are not very supportive towards the newspaper industry.

Demographic Factors

The major demographic factor for the downfall of the newspaper industry is that the youngsters have gone for the online websites and are no longer interested in the printed news. A number of websites are available online which can provide them any information that they are looking for. Even videos related to the news are available on these online sites which is the major source of attraction for the youngsters. Moreover, women are also no longer interested in reading newspaper which has been a major setback for the newspaper industry as women make a large part of the population.

Technological Factors

With the emergence of new media technologies such as mobile phones and internet devices, the trend of reading newspapers has long gone. The internet websites like Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Google provide all the latest news and information as well as videos related to this news which has been a major source of attraction for the youngsters. As most of this content available on the websites is free of cost so people give preference to these online sites rather than going for the printed news for which they have to spend money. Due to this increased trend of online websites, the advertisers have also gone for online advertising as the cost of online advertising is less than printing advertisement. Moreover, the cost of operating an online website is less than the cost of printing a newspaper.

Porter's Model

The Porter's model was designed for accessing and analyzing the competitive strengths and position of an organization or industry. It was developed by Michael E. Porter in 1979. Porter has identified five forces for the analysis of the competitive position of the industry while making strategies, policies, plans or decisions related to the organization. The five forces include existing competitive rivalry between suppliers, threat of new market entrants, bargaining power of buyers, power of suppliers and threat of substitute products.

These five forces can easily relate to the newspaper industry. The newspapers can compete with the new competitors in the market by adopted new trends and changing their market policies. They could go for different creative and innovative policies for increasing the distribution of the newspaper like selling the newspaper free for some period of time, offering discount or selling some daily use product free with the newspaper. Regarding the bargaining power of the buyers, if the newspaper followers are old people than the newspaper should make such strategies so that they could attract the youngsters in buying the newspapers. They can do that by making a special section for the youngsters in the newspaper, where news related to their field of interest is available.

The suppliers of the newspaper should have the power to convince the customers to buy the newspaper. They should know how to attract the customers towards their product. The emergence of television and internet has been a constant threat to the newspaper industry. People are no longer interested in buying newspaper as they can get all the news and information through the internet or television without spending a lot of money. The newspaper publishers should come up with such strategies through which they could win back their customers. They should be able to understand the needs of the youngsters and make strategies according to their needs. As the youngsters are more attracted towards online websites so the newspaper publisher should make their online websites and provide online news content to the customers. They could attract the youngsters by providing information online related to their field of interest such as sports and entertainment.(Riley, 2012)

Strategies adopted by different Companies

The newspaper industry of the United States has been facing a lot of challenges due to the increase in the use of online websites. These online sites have severely damaged the market value of the newspapers. Many newspaper companies have changed their strategies and have launched their online website in order to win back their position in the market. Moreover, many newspapers have taken measures to increase the circulation and profit related to the distribution of the newspapers. Many of them have increased the cost of the newspapers and have restricted the delivery of newspapers to large areas to gain maximum profit.

The Wall Street Journal is one of the leading newspapers of the industry and it has changed its market policies to compete with the changing trends in the market. It has launched its online website where online news is available related to every field. The online website of The Wall Street Journal does not provide all the news for free. The news sections related to sports, politics and entertainment are provided free of cost but some accessibility to some journal, editorials or columns is only possible by fee. By adopting both the free and paid news content, the Wall Street Journal has been able to win back its customers. People give preference visiting its site for getting reliable news. They attract free users for the entertainment news and paid users for the analytical news content. In this way they are able to increase the demand and profit of the newspaper.

Another very drastic step taken by the Wall Street Journal is that they have become a part of the digital revolution. Their newspaper is also easily available on the ipads. This has helped them in gaining the attention of the youngsters as they are the ones who are the frequent users of the digital technology. Similarly, there are many more newspaper companies who made themselves accessible through these latest technologies which have helped them to increase their popularity and come back in the market.

Steps to be taken by the Chronicle Gazette

In order to improve its position in the market and to gain back its customers, the Chronicle Gazette needs to change its strategies according to the changing trends of the market. The company needs to understand what the customers require from them and should be able to adopt new policies accordingly. It should be able to understand how it could increase the sail and profit of the company. Following are some of the major steps that should be taken by the Chronicle Gazette.

Form a Website

The Chronicle Gazette needs to form its own online website in order to remain in the market. According to the new trend, people are more attracted to the online websites which provide them with all the latest news and information for free. They do not feel the need to buy newspapers as they can easily get access to any news they want. So the Chronicle Gazette needs to understand that in order to compete with the online websites and attract the youngsters, it is necessary to form its website and come up with online news content which is easily available to all the internet users. They should come up with the online version of their printed newspaper. In this way they would be able to survive in the market and increase the company's revenue.

Minimize Cost and Increase Efficiency

The Chronicle Gazette should focus on making efforts to cut costs and increase the efficiency. It should work in cutting the cost in the field of business such as the cost of distribution, printing, advertising and production. They should be careful in spending minimum amount of money on these things. It should serve those areas from where it can get maximum profit and should decrease the distribution of the newspaper to such areas which are less profitable for the company.

Organization Structure

The Chronicle Gazette should form a proper organization structure and should make maximum use of the human capital or labor. The editorial staff should fully contribute in the working of the organization and should work efficiently for the betterment of the company. The company should realize the importance of the journalist and make their contribution a necessary part of the company.

Adopt Digital Technology

As the market is going towards adopting new mediums of information and latest technologies, the Chronicle Gazette should also focus on adopting these new trends. As the youngsters are more into the latest digital technology so the company should find ways in which it could attract the younger generation. It should focus on providing online content which could attract a large number of people. It should make itself easily accessible on the digital technologies like internet and mobile phones.

Conclusion

The Chronicle Gazette needs to understand the growing needs of the customers and the growing trends of the market. It should be able to understand what the demand of the market is and how it could fulfill these demands. It should focus on coming up with certain strategies policies that can help it in increasing the circulation and revenue of the company. It should focus on the areas from where it could gain maximum profit. It should come up with the news content that the people want to read.

In order to compete with the new trends and technologies The Chronicle Gazette needs to commercialize it and adapt to the digital technology which can fulfill the demands of the youngsters. It should fully utilize its employees and work to improve the efficiency of the company. It should rearrange its production and distribution areas in order to get maximum profit. Only by taking these measures the Chronicle Gazette will be able to win back its position in the market and compete and increasing the circulation and advertising costs.