Oliver, JJ (2018). Strategic Transformations in the Media
Published as: Oliver, J.J. (2018). Strategic Transformations in the Media. Journal of Media Business Studies, Volume 15, Issue 2, 1-22 Introduction Transformation: a marked change in form, nature, or appearance. It is a word that characterises the profound impact that digitalisation and new media technologies have had on the way that many media firms have managed their business. Whilst many media organisations have been exposed to continual levels of turbulence in the past 20 years, two critical events have acted as key drivers of transformational change. The emergence of widespread digitalisation in 1997 and new media technologies, circa 2003, are significant events that have acted as catalysts for technological innovation and market disruption. These high velocity environmental conditions have largely persisted since the late 1990s, and when viewed over the long term, provide an ideal context through which to examine corporate strategy, dynamic capabilities, corporate performance and the strategic transformation of media firms. These disruptive forces have also shaped and contextualised the theoretical debate of many media management researchers, so much so, that we are now seeing the emergence of ‘strategic’ media management as a topic of inquiry. The primary strands of this theme include: an examination of how a highly uncertain media environment has influenced management strategies, business models and profitability (Kung 2007; Koch, 2008; Doyle, 2013; Oliver, 2013; Horst and Jarventie-Thesleff, 2016; Kunz, Siebert and Mütterlein, 2016; Vukanovic, 2016; Daidj, 2018; Evens, Raats & von Rimscha, 2018; Horst, Murschetz, Brennan and Friedrichsen, 2018 ); how legacy media firms are developing dynamic capabilities in response to a fast changing media environment (Oliver, 2014; Naldi, Wikström and von Rimscha, 2014; Horst and Moisander, 2015; Hasenpusch and Baumann, 2017; and Maijanen and Virta, 2017); and how a strategy-as-practice approach has explicated the practical challenges of managing media organisations and their strategic 1 Published as: Oliver, J.J.
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