Now What?

An examination of the process:

       The reading requirement this week was very interesting as it provided information on a very interesting topic. The required reading was of a case study called “The Newspaper Industry” (Wade, 2012). This study provided the information and data that showed various stages of the newspaper throughout time. In this way it was analyzed to provide scenario planning from the present until 2020. The information was broken into questions first as they covered the general and specific ones that had to be asked. These questions were presented to the select number of CEO’s and COO’s of the newspaper industry that participated in the scenario planning (Wade, 2012). The foundations and concerns of the newspapers are listed below.

      General questions:

·         If you could look into the future what would you like to know?

·         If the future unfolded according to your wishes, realistically but optimistically, what could it be like?

·         If the future unfolded in the wrong direction, what would you worry about? (Wade, 2012)

     Specific questions:

·         What kind of content will newspapers contain in 2020, and how will this differ from content in 2007

·         What three major changes need to happen in order for the newspaper industry to be successful in 2020?

·         How will newspaper revenue sources change between 2007 and 2020?

·         Who are newspapers’ competition in 2020 compared to with 2007 and how do newspapers compete with them?

·         What role do newspapers play in society in 2020 compared with 2007? (Wade, 2012)

   These questions when used properly provide the guidance that is necessary to plan effectively. In this way the scenario planning will address these questions overall in the completion process. All of the actions will be incorporated with the selection of the trends. These trends will form basis of the most important issues related to the newspapers. The trends that are the most relevant are listed below.

 

     Trends:

·         New revenue models

·         Multichannel strategies

·         User-generated content

·         Shifting importance from channel to content

·         Target market segmentation

·         More mobile broadband

·         Simplifying your life

·         Audience fragmentation (Wade, 2012)

   These trends are incorporated with the previous section and allow the scenarios to be created and implemented. This allows the scenarios to be based on valuable data that is critical to the newspaper. In this way a more extensive view is scene of the situation. Thus ensuring that a decision can be made that is based on relevant data and firmly grounded in the necessary facts.            

     The above figures (1 and 2) show the areas that form the foundation for the scenario when implemented. These areas were chosen as they were considered the most prominent. Figure 1 shows the areas that directly influence one another while Figure two shows the correlation of them all together. In viewing these one can see the relationships and how they can affect the decisions that need be made in accordance with their influence overall.

Planning and Innovation

     The planning and innovation for change is very evident and has been displayed throughout the summary thus far. The questions provide the framework that is used in conjunction with the trends. This action ensures that as the information changes the result will always be within the process. By changing the trends and the dates of the questions or the questions themselves, the planning and innovation will always be within the results. This will occur because the process is based on this set of actions and provides the foundation.

Forces Involved and Impact

        In viewing that has been discusses the forces that have the most influence are social and global. The newspaper is part of everything because it tells you what is going on. In addition the paper also information on the most relevant areas of interest to the specific area that is serves. Socially the concerns of the reader and are they being met by the information provided. In this study it was shown that the information could meet the needs and be timely. However the cost of the information was cheaper using the internet. The internet provided more options to receive the data such as Twitter, Facebook, and Skype just to name a few. The news is very accurate, detailed and is easily obtainable.

     When the examination of the news was completed in the scenario, the relevancy of the previously mentioned was not considered since they were not evaluated. Globally this has to be considered because the previously mentioned are restricted in other countries. In this instance the people and newspaper access is limited because they are controlled by the government. This has occurred in some Muslim countries that are currently fighting and the only news that is being transmitted is those that access to Twitter.

                                                                           Reference

Wade, W. (2012). Scenario planning: a field guide to the future. John Wiley & Sons.