Impact of technology on the media industry

Question 1

How is technology viewed in the media industry?

Answer 1

As an enabling, contributory or disruptive factor, depending on the context

Question 2

What are the media industries symbiotically linked with?

Answer 2

Technology and technological change

Question 3

Advances in technology offers what benefit to products?

Answer 3

It gives them a competitive edge

Question 4

Historically, what has there always been a distinct link between?

Answer 4

Technological development and the development of the media industries. However, the period of time that an innovation can last appears to be getting shorter (space of time between black and white television and colour television vs the introduction of HD, 3D and 4K consumer TVs)

Question 5

What have the media industries always been concerned about?

Answer 5

New technologies eroding sales (fears from film industry about the introduction of television, but they learned to exist harmoniously). Despite these concerns, new technologies have led to the development of new markets, increased product range and extra revenue generation

Question 6

What do technological innovations tend to do?

Answer 6

Supplement rather than replace previous technologies. The previous medium does not immediately get destroyed once a new market emerges, although it does progressively become undermined

Question 7

Traditional media can survive technological change, but only if it…

Answer 7

Continually adapts to the threats/opportunitis presented by new technology, thus the need for a flexible strategy

Question 8

What does strategy focus on?

Answer 8

How an organisation responds successfully to it’s environment

Question 9

What is the issue with coming up with strategic plans for the media industry?

Answer 9

The media industry’s environment is never static, making strategic planning challenging.

The current rate of change makes this challenge huge, and the outcomes are non-linear and unpredictable

Question 10

What stages of the media industries are affected by technological change?

Answer 10

Content creation stage (types of camera being used to shoot film)
Distribution (magazines and newspapers considering online and mobile editions of their issues)
Devices being used to access content (companion apps, mobile streaming etc)

Question 11

What is the rational strategy perspective on technological change?

Answer 11

That it can lower entry barriers and lead to an increase of entrants into the sector, create substitutes which undermine the organisation’s product, alter traditional value chains and affect the competitive positioning within the marketplace

Question 12

What is the adaptive perspective on technological change?

Answer 12

That it is an emergent and complex process that iterates itself while the organisation aligns itself with it’s environment

Question 13

What are the different types of technological change?

Answer 13

Incremental innovations
Architectural innovations
Discontinuous innovations
Disruptive Innovations

Question 14

What are incremental innovations?

Answer 14

The ongoing adaption and improvement of existing technology, which occurs when the industry is in equilibrium. It builds upon an existing base of knowledge and improves the capabilities of technology

Question 15

What are architectural innovations?

Answer 15

Architectural innovations are relatively simple technological or process innovations that allow for products to be modified and directed at new markets. Can still cause businesses to change, particularly when organisations underestimate the potential affects that these types of innovation can have on their business

Question 16

What is an example of an architectural innovation?

Answer 16

Video recorders. They are not revolutionary but have caused a decline in the commerical free-to-air television model by reducting advertising income and speeding up the shift towards interactive television.

Question 17

What are discontinuous innovations?

Answer 17

Discontinuous innovations are development in technology which are entirely new.

Question 18

What are some example of discontinuous innovations?

Answer 18

Satellite television, MP3 players, the Internet

Question 19

What are disruptive innovations?

Answer 19

When a business finds a foot-hold in a low-end market that has been ignored previously by the mainstream industry. Disruptive innovations often represent a simple technological change, which are often overlooked by key industry players. Through time and development, these innovations help create new markets, upsetting market structure and even undermining the attractiveness of existing products in the process

Question 20

What is an example of disruptive innovation?

Answer 20

iTunes reinventing the music industries with downloads (199% increase in album downloads 2004/2005, with an 8% drop in CD shipments the same year), Netflix affecting the distribution stages of the traditional television industries

Question 21

What is the universal strategy for dealing with technological change?

Answer 21

There is none, it all depends on the nature of the innovation and the subjective implications that it has on the firm

Question 22

What can an inadequate or late response to technological change lead to?

Answer 22

The death of an organisation

Question 23

What are SMEs (small-medium sized enterprises) better suited to do?

Answer 23

Be flexible and give quick responses to incoming change

Question 24

What is Freeview and why was it successful in avoiding inertia?

Answer 24

Freeview is a three-way joint venture between the BBC, BskyB and Arqiva, that delivers a free to air digital television service to over 10.5 million homes. BBC and Sky (despite being rivals for decades) set aside their competitiveness for the project, which was launched in only four months - impressive when you take into account the need to create an entire technological architecture unique to the project. It succeeded due to successful team management, leadership and communication.

Question 25

What is key to accomodating for new technologies?

Answer 25

An appropriate organisational structure (whether autonomy or combined structures)