A Case Study of Family-Owned Newspapers Adapting and Surviving in Two Rural States

Organizational ecologists follow the life histories of organizational populations, studying events such as founding, disbanding, and mergers. Newspaper organizations, for example, are often far from rational in their decision making to start, operate and end business practices. For this study, two daily papers located in rural states are analyzed within the context of organizational ecology, which has evolved from the physical sciences. For the larger market, rural-state newspaper, managers took an instrumental approach of quickly adapting new trends and technology. Because of economic uncertainties, a dismantling of such variations occurred. For the smaller market, rural-state newspaper, an institutional approach was most prevalent. Strong family ties and an assortment of family business ventures such as the streaming of high school sports supported the ability of this newspaper to continue business as usual throughout the timeframe of the study. Avoiding risk resulted in a stronger financial situation. This study indicates ecological analysis of newspapers is an attractive research method when organizations are subject to strong inertial pressures and face changeable, uncertain futures, as is the case in newspapers today

Family-Owned Newspapers: Filling Niches in Local U.S. Communities

Citation: Powers, A., Sohn, A. B., Briggs-Bunting, J. (2016) Family-Owned Newspapers: Filling Niches in Local U.S. Communities. Journal of Media Business Studies. 2(11)Since small town newspapers are facing increased competition and technological changes that are threatening their survival, the purpose of this paper was to analyze the strategy-making activities of these organizations from an ecological perspective. Findings indicate that family-owned newspapers were finding stability in retaining their core print businesses while migrating content to the web. Too many variations from the norm appeared to weaken financial footholds and were often eventually abandoned. Such behaviors indicate a rationale for upholding a “tried-and-true” approach in newspapers. While profits may fluctuate, the uncertainty that occurred with variation seemed to play a role in increasing the threat of failure for these small, family-owned newspapers

Governmental Context Determines Institutional Value: Independently Certified Performance and Failure in the Spanish Newspaper Industry

Many societies demand that independent professionals (e.g. auditors) certify the performance of firms. The value placed on such certification (i.e. the public perception of reliability/unreliability that may impact on an organization's success/failure) is not uniform, however, but contingent upon changing political contexts. This study presents and analyses data on the entire population of newspapers in Spain from 1966 to 1993, a time of peaceful transition from military dictatorship to capitalist democracy. Our results highlight the contingent nature of institutional life, demonstrating how changes in political contexts are associated with varying understandings of institutions. In particular, our findings support the prediction that, under a dictatorship, independently certified performance is not instrumental in organizational success or failure whereas, in a modern democracy, the certification process has a positive effect on the survival chances of firms.Publicad

A case study of family-owned newspapers adapting and surviving in two rural states

Organizational ecologists follow the life histories of organizational populations, studying events such as founding, disbanding, and mergers. Newspaper organizations, for example, are often far from rational in their decision making to start, operate and end business practices. For this study, two daily papers located in rural states are analyzed within the context of organizational ecology, which has evolved from the physical sciences. For the larger market, rural-state newspaper, managers took an instrumental approach of quickly adapting new trends and technology. Because of economic uncertainties, a dismantling of such variations occurred. For the smaller market, rural-state newspaper, an institutional approach was most prevalent. Strong family ties and an assortment of family business ventures such as the streaming of high school sports supported the ability of this newspaper to continue business as usual throughout the timeframe of the study. Avoiding risk resulted in a stronger financial situation. This study indicates ecological analysis of newspapers is an attractive research method when organizations are subject to strong inertial pressures and face changeable, uncertain futures, as is the case in newspapers today