Strategic Design Towards Platform Collaboration in The Newspaper Industry: A Design Science Research Study

Abstract

The newspaper industry is challenged by unsustainable business models. To stabilize dwindling revenue streams, publishers opted for digital subscriptions as one avenue for additional revenues. Large publishers have indeed benefited from rising subscription numbers. However, smaller ones are challenged to achieve similar results. Some of the root causes are high churn rates, adoption costs and the lock-in effects of subscription services. News aggregator platforms may promise newspaper publishers a large pool of paying readers. But platform fees and the loss of direct customer relationships enact commercial barriers among publishers. This study applies design science research to address the aforementioned shortcomings by designing a collaborative subscription service in a Nordic country. Building on strategy alliance, digital platform and business model literature, this research aims to identify pertinent design principles that create positive conditions for collaborative subscription services in the newspaper industry