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THE NEW YORK TIMES PAYWALL
CASE STUDY/FINAL YEAR PROJECT

Presented as part of the requirement for the award of MBA
May 2015

Table of Contents
Acknowledgement……………………………………………………………………………………
...
1
Table of Contents……………………………………………………………………………………
...
6
Executive Summary…………………………………………………………………………………
...
1
1
...
3
1
...
5
1
...
9
Significance of the Study…………………………………………………………………9
Research Problems………………………………………………………………………
...
13
Research Methodology…………………………………………………………………
...
Case Brief…………………………………………………
...
1 Company Background……………………………………………………………………16
2
...
17
Chapter 3: New York Times Research Analysis Plan…………………………………………………20
3
...
20
3
...
1 Research Problem 1………………………………………………………………………
...
1
...
21
3
...
3 Research Problem 3………………………………………………………………………
...
1
...
23
3
...
24
3
...
1 Research Problem 1………………………………………………………………………
...
2
...
…25
3
...
3 Research Problem 3………………………………………………………………………
...
2
...
27
3
...
28
3
...
1 Research Problem 1………………………………………………………………………
...
3
...
29
3
...
3 Research Problem 3………………………………………………………………………
...
1 Strategic Management Findings……………………………………………………………………
...
1
...
32
4
...
2 7S Framework Analysis and Findings…………………………………………………
...
1
...
1
...
39

1

4
...
41
4
...
1 Market – Driven Model Analysis and Findings………………………………………41
4
...
2 The Deming Cycle Analysis and Findings……………………………………………
...
2
...
2
...
45
4
...
3
...
3
...
47
4
...
3 Berenschot Project Management Model Analysis and Findings………………………48
Chapter 5: Solutions and Recommendations…………………………………………………………
...
1 Strategic Management Recommendations…………………………………………………………50
5
...
1 CRM Research Problem…………………………………………………………………
...
1
...
1
...
51
5
...
4 Resource Requirements…………………………………………………………………
...
2 7S Research Problem………………………………………………………………………………
...
2
...
51
5
...
2 Stakeholders Implications………………………………………………………………
...
2
...
53
5
...
54
5
...
1 Core Competencies Research Problem Solutions and Recommendations……………54
5
...
2 Stakeholders Implications………………………………………………………………
...
3
...
56
5
...
4
...
56
5
...
2 Stakeholders Implications………………………………………………………………
...
4
...
…57
5
...
58
5
...
1 Marketing Strategy Research Problem…………………………………………………
...
5
...
57
5
...
3 Stakeholders Implications………………………………………………………………
...
5
...
59
5
...
59
5
...
1 Deming Cycle Research Problem Solutions and Recommendations…………………
...
6
...
…61
5
...
3 Resource Requirements…………………………………………………………………
...
7 Innovation Marketing Research Problem…………………………………………………………
...
7
...
7
...
62

2

5
...
3 Resource Requirements…………………………………………………………………
...
8 SWOT Analysis Research Problem………………………………………………………………
...
8
...
62
5
...
2 Stakeholders Implications………………………………………………………………
...
8
...
64
5
...
64
5
...
1 Blue Ocean Strategy Research Problem………………………………………………
...
9
...
64
5
...
3 Stakeholders Implications………………………………………………………………
...
9
...
65
5
...
10
...
65
5
...
2 Stakeholders Implications………………………………………………………………
...
10
...
66
5
...
67
5
...
1 Project Management Research Problem Solutions and Recommendations…………67
5
...
2 Stakeholders Implications………………………………………………………………
...
11
...
68
5
...
68
Chapter 6: Application of Learning Outcomes on British Petroleum………………………………
...
1 BP: Company Background…………………………………………………………………………
...
2 Research Rationale…………………………………………………………………………………
...
3 Research Problems…………………………………………………………………………………
...
4 Research Questions…………………………………………………………………………………
...
5 Research Objectives…………………………………………………………………………………
...
6 Risk Management Research Problem Analysis……………………………………………………72
6
...
1 Risk Management Solutions and Recommendations……………………………………74
6
...
2 Stakeholders Implications………………………………………………………………
...
6
...
75
6
...
75
6
...
1 Safety Management Solutions and Recommendations…………………………………76
6
...
2 Stakeholders Implications………………………………………………………………
...
7
...
77
6
...
8
...
8
...
80
6
...
3 Resource Requirements…………………………………………………………………
...
1 Business Vulnerabilities……………………………………………………………………
...
2 Operating Security and Risk Management……………………………………………
...
3 Excessive Profitability Focus……………………………………………………………
...
4 Overestimation of Brand Image…………………………………………………………82
7
...
6 Unfulfilled Innovation and Excellence Potential………………………………………
...
85
9
...
91

4

List of Tables and Figures
Table 1
...
The New York Times Media Group Revenues (in $ million)………………………………
...
Pricing of Digital and Print Editions of the New York Times, 2011 (per week)…………
...
Revenues of the New York Times Media Group (in $ million)……………………………
...
Top 25 Daily Newspapers in US by Circulation in 2011……………………………………
...
CRM Life Cycle Model………………………………………………………………………
...
Comparative Competitors Paywall Factsheet………………………………………………
...
Customer Relations Management Action Plan………………………………………………50
Table 9
...
51
Table 10
...
52
Table 11
...
Core Competencies – Related Stakeholders Implications and Resource Requirements
...
Market – Focus Stakeholders Implications and Resource Requirements………………
...
Plan – Do – Check – Act Stakeholders Implications and Resource Requirements………61
Table 15
...
62
Table 16
...
Blue Ocean Strategy Stakeholders Implications and Resource Requirements…………
...
Business Process Redesign Stakeholders Implications and Resource Requirements……66
Table 19
...
BP Risk Management Recommendations and Actions……………………………………74
Table 21
...
75
Table 22
...
Safety – Related Stakeholders Implications and Resource Requirements………………77
Table 24
...
Ethics – Related Stakeholders Implications and Resource Requirements………………
...
New York Times Paywall Visual……………………………………………………………60
Exhibit 2
...
Publishers’ Pre-Paywall Actions…………………………………………………………10
Figure 2
...
11
Figure 3
...
17
Figure 4
...
17
Figure 5
...
Core Competencies Model…………………………………………………………………22
Figure 7
...
23
Figure 8
...
24
Figure 9
...
25
Figure 10
...
26
Figure 11
...
27
Figure 12
...
28
Figure 13
...
Berenschot Project Management Model…………………………………………………
...
CRM Strategy Findings for New York Times……………………………………………33
Figure 16
...
Social Power Affecting NYT’s Digital Media……………………………………………
...
Environmental Challenges for Internet Companies………………………………………39
Figure 19
...
Core Assets and Competencies of NYT……………………………………………………
...
Digital Leadership Competencies Solutions for NYT……………………………………
...
NYT Market – Focus Recommendations…………………………………………………
...
NYT Plan – Do – Check – Act Suggestions…………………………………………
...
SWOT Elements Recommendations………………………………………………………
...
Berenschot Project Management Model for NYT Paywall………………………………67
Figure 26
...
74
Figure 27
...
76
Figure 28
...
79

6

Executive Summary
Over the last few decades, Internet has not only become one of the major communication
platforms, but has developed to a significant extent, rearranging lifestyles of people around the
globe
...
As one of the world‘s largest news publications, New
York Times (NYT) has not avoided this global trend
...
The newspaper has introduced a paywall, offering its readers
to sing up for paid membership to enjoy unlimited access to NYT website articles
...
Moreover,
NYT has always positioned itself as an exclusive information provider
...
With time, paywalls have become a new
business feature in digital information era, as more and more newspapers and analytical
magazines have adopted paywalls as an additional customer service
...


Are paywalls an ultimate success tool, which allows 24/7 readers access to the latest
news? Or is it a steep business path, threatened by subscribers‘ instability and rapidly spreading
free Web resources and social networks? NY Times has developed and outlined over 14 mobile
applications, allowing readers to read the news on their mobiles and Apple Ipads
...
A year after the
project initialisation, subscription rates started to drop, signaling of public lowering willingness
to pay for previously free content
...
The analysis focused on
three business areas, with each critically evaluating newspaper‘s paywall competence, digital
capacity, project management successes and pitfalls and etc
...


Consequent chapters of the given analytical report include research findings based on the
conducted analysis and the practical recommendations and solutions
...
To demonstrate the importance and practical relevance of the proposed analysis
and solutions, similar research was applied to British Petroleum as an alternative business
research target
...
1 Research Rationale
This research paper is devoted to the case study of the New York Times Paywall
introduction in 2011
...
(2012)
...
What are
the success factors and the hidden challenges? This and other research questions will be
examined and critically tested on the example of New York Times
...
2 Significance of the Study
Internet as a technological innovation has brought rapid changes not only to lifestyles of
general public, but has gradually affected business conduct worldwide
...
Operating in a highly competitive
business environment, newspapers nowadays face additional challenges caused by online news
allocation
...
New York Times (NYT), which will be a central focus of the given case study, has
also been fully affected by the abovementioned factors
...
In fact, this approach was further
accepted by the Washington Post, the San Francisco Chronicle, The Wall Street Journal and the
Financial Times (Jackson, 2014)
...
Their
main business function is to make readers pay to gain access to the previously free information
...

However, within the last few years, as paywalls have gained popularity among publishers,
newspapers have faced additional challenges
...


8

Figure 1
...
(2014)
In 2010, the paywall phenomenon was at the maturity stage
...
According to Newspaper Association of America, it was one of
the most rapid subscription growth signs since 2003
...
NYT has generated a
53/47 profitability ratio of subscription to advertisement (Robson, 2011)
...
In his view, these
indicators highlight the NYT‘s need for a better-constructed paywall scheme with a clearer focus
on readers‘ expectations and access preferences
...
Its 2005 paywall project has stagnated at the mark of 120,000
online subscribers
...
In his ―London Review of
Books‖ essay of 2010, John Lanchester has admitted that Internet has been the most efficient
tool in granting people with free information
...
NYT Online Visitors Indicators for 2011

Source: Ingram (2011)
In his analytical article on paywalls, Ro (2014) has mentioned Warren Buffett, which has
procured almost 30 news publications for over $340 million over the last few years
...
Buffett‘s message to the shareholders, stating that the primary mission of the
newspaper business is to gain stable profits from overwhelming its readers with loads of highquality content, whether it is provided in print or online
...

Kaye and Quinn (2010) claim that the online news circulation strategies are to a great
extent similar to the classic print publications: attract massive audience to profit from
advertisement
...
Being available to its subscribers online, gives an undoubted
advantage of no geographical and time-wise limitations
...
But with the
constantly developing technologies, news businesses have yet to come up with the well-thought
through business model
...
So what are the critical steps made by NYT that led to its controversial paywall
behavior and what further business steps should be undertaken in order to perform a business
breakthrough? This question will also construct one of the cornerstones of the proposed study
...
This

10

will be done to reveal the argumentation for NYT paywall‘s ups and downs, and in order to
deliver comprehensive recommendations for future
...
3 Research Problems:
I
...


II
...


III
...


1
...

-

Strategic Management
What are the possible CRM pitfalls in NYT‘ paywall design and implementation and to
what extent they affected unstable subscribers performance?

11

-

Did NYT management ensure application of its 7S organisational elements to maximise
paywall success?

-

Did NYT paywall implementing team possess necessary skills and competencies for
successful project realisation?

-

II
...

-

International Business
Was NYT trying to turn paywall into Blue Ocean product and how successful was the
strategy?

-

Did NYT management redesign and readapt related organisational processes in
consideration of paywall project?

-

Why NYT failed to achieve stable paywall performance after previous unsuccessful
paywall experience in 2005?

1
...


I
...
Reveal CRM policy insights of NYT;
2
...
Critically compare NYT‘s paywall competencies to both background theories and
competitors approaches;
4
...


12

II
...
Discover relevant marketing insights of NYT‘s paywall planning strategy and link those
to Market-Driven Organisation Model;
2
...
Review Plan-Do-Check-Act processes of NYT;
4
...


III
...
Identifyelements of Blue Ocean strategy in NYT‘s paywall;
2
...
Examine the differences between NYT‘s 2005 and 2011 paywall project design and
management approaches;
1
...
This approach was reflected in NYT Paywall case
study research problems and objectives designed previous to information gathering
...
Relationship between dependent variables in proved to be
another element of deductive approach (Yin, 2014)
...
, (2010) explains that the primary goal of the phenomenological
philosophy is to explore experiences through the perspective of the researched objects
...
As the conducted research study is focused on specific
New York Times business decision to introduce an online paywall, this research philosophy will
be applied as a guiding principle
...
2011), such as recent online newspaper paywall systems
...
Those will be drawn from various business-related
perspectives such as international business and marketing
...
It will enable thorough contextual comparison of the findings, avoid the risk of
intellectual property rights and allow for unexpected trends discovery in the research process
...
Among the few, NYT management strategy
will be contrasted against paywall-related indicators
...
Both theoretical and practical data is within recent 5 years time validity to
provide most precise results and research outcomes
...

Moreover, usage of the secondary data ensures legitimacy of the information exploitation and
distribution for the study purposes
...
Case Brief
(Extracted from NYT Case Study by Kumar et al
...
1 Company Background
The New York Times newspaper was established in September, 1851 by Henry Jarvis
Raymond and former banker George Jones
...
In 2011, company‘s revenues were equal to $2
...


Table 1
...

In spring of 2011, NYT has restricted its website to only those readers, ready to pay
...

Digital operations management of NYT was quiet optimistic on the launch of paid
subscription platform, claiming that the quality and reliability benchmark set by NYT will
motivate loyal readers to pay
...

This new NYT approach has been widely discussed in public, and has been openly
criticized by bloggers and by competitive publications
...
In particular, The Washington Post officially resisted the paywall and was not
hopeful about NYT‘s endeavor
...


2
...
New York Times Print Subscriptions

Nevertheless, after initial positive growth, the number of online subscribers started to
decline and the future was highly uncertain
...
Traditional sources of
newspaper revenues – subscription, retail and advertising were as well declining
...
The New York Times Revenues by Unit

16

Table 2
...
Readers obtained the access to new ways of reaching for information,
online
...
When Apple Ipad was introduced, NYT has
announced additional discounted package for readers subscribed to NYT online
...
Strangely enough, NYT has favored the readers
accessing their website through social networks, but those reaching through major search
engines as Google, were still subject to just 5 free articles
...


Table 3
...
com + Smartphone
NYTimes
...
com + Smartphone + Tablet)

Price
$3
...
00
$8
...
40
$10
...
80
$7
...
Its
marketing revenues continue to diminish and the future perspectives of the paywall system
remain unclear
...
Revenues of The New York Times Media Group (in $ million)
...
Top 25 Daily Newspapers in US by Circulation in 2011

Newspaper Name

Average Daily
Circulation

1 NY

Wall Street Journal

2,096,169

2 DC

USA Today

1,784,242

3 NY

New York Times

1,150,589

4 NY

New York Daily News

605,677

5 CA

Los Angeles Times

572,998

6 CA

San Jose Mercury News

527,568

7 NY

New York Post

512,067

8 DC

Washington Post

507,465

9 IL

Chicago Tribune

425,370

10 TX

Dallas Morning News

409,642

11 NY

Newsday

404,542

12 IL

Chicago Sun-Times

389,353

13 TX

Houston Chronicle

369,710

14 CO

Denver Post

353,115

15 PA

Philadelphia Inquirer

331,134

16 MN

Star-Tribune

298,147

17 AZ

Arizona Republic

292,838

18 CA

Orange County Register

270,809

19 OH

Cleveland Plain Dealer

243,299

20 WA

Seattle Times

242,814

21 OR

Oregonian

242,784

22 FL

St
...
1

Strategic Management Analysis

3
...
1 Research Problem 1: Weak process management and manoeuvring in relation to paywall
launch and implementation process
...
CRM Life Cycle Model

Source: Kalakota (2001) cited in Tavana et al
...
The CRM Life Cycle Model does not only point out the 3
principal

CRM

processes,

but

pushes

companies

for

enhanced

inter-departmental

communication
...

Along with Zia Khosoosi, Abbasi and Turkmeni (2010) believe that today‘s business
trends have transformed customer relationships into a highly powerful activity, which demands
strong expertise in all social areas, following all customer traits
...
Linoff and Berry (2011) turn their
views towards widespread application of IT in modern CRM operations
...
In the above-mentioned framework, all the relevant processes are
based on expert activity, which authors believe interferes with modern technological adaptations
of customer strategies
...
In their view, it does not advice on the
additional customer information management
...

19

3
...
2 Research Problem 2: NYT management‘s inability to fully employ 7S elements to
maximize successful paywall project realisation
...
The 7S Framework

Source: McKinsey (2012)
As for the benefits of the proposed framework, Hanafizadeh and Ravasan (2011)
highlight the clear focus of the model on key success factors of the organisation
...


Additional positive features of McKinsey‘s model are

versatility and comprehension, as it suggests classification of the S factors into soft and hard
...


Griffin and Moorhead (2013) state that main drawback of the 7S Model is its ignorance
of external factors, influencing the organisation
...
Moreover, they believe that model elements tend to change with time,
which makes it difficult to match changes in one aspect to the rest
...
They admit the fact of high
failure rates among companies attempting to implement 7S on a long-term basis
...
1
...

Research Analysis Model 3: Core Competencies
Figure 6
...
As the goal of profit
maximisation is inevitably interrelated with identification of the ultimate competitive edge, core
competence framework provides for internal stability of the company, turning competencies into
everlasting drive
...

Hittet al
...
Application of the model, as they believe, does not
only narrow down most competitive features of the organisation, but helps to monitor further
development and identify the limitations
...

As the opposing view, Fekete (2011) urges for model‘s inability to satisfy strategic
expectations of the company in the long run
...
As the term of validity of key competencies is practically ignored within the
proposed framework, organisations may lose the up-to-date focus on strategic advantages
...
He also points out the risk of inadequate competence ranking and evaluation
scheme adoption
...
1
...

Research Analysis Model 4: Scenario Planning
Figure 7
...
(2011) the primary goal of scenario design is to evaluate
future perspectives, which may affect certain business units
...

Scenarios forecasting reveals a broader view on company‘s external environment and integrates
current business issues into corporate strategy
...

22

Nevertheless, Krupp et al
...
While the latter are defined as issues linked with
given scenario matter, process shortcomings are possible inaccuracies and errors in the process
of scenario planning process
...
Similarly, Conway (2015) downgrades the overall
importance of scenario application in strategic planning as the practice underestimates the
significance of past experience of a more realistic nature
...
2

Marketing Analysis

3
...
1 Research Problem 1: Imperfect/Inflexible bonus schemes and incentives to maintain
current online audience and attract a new one
...
Market – Driven Organisation Model

Source: Hessels and Terjesen (2010)
Market-driven organisations prioritise customer interests
...
, 2012)
...
Linking processes concerning all these functions are well-designed and
established, market-driven management disseminates in-depth insights throughout all
organisational levels and provides close employee supervision, ensuring highest performance
targets achievement
...
Therefore, such firms are highly
exposed to business operational risks
...

3
...
2 Research Problem 2:Marketing team‘s inconsequential marketing action plan in paywall
supervision
...
The Deming Cycle Framework

Adapted from: The W
...
Being spread into four major and highly
repetitive stages, Deming cycle ensures stability and performance equality, specifically
underlying the significance of processes (Deming, 2012)
...
This practice allows for inherent
24

improvement of processes at all organisational levels
...

Nayab (2013) emphasizes the change factor in the Deming cycle, also shortly referred to
as PDCA cycle
...
This people factor is not only ignored by the model but also suggests no
clear guidance on communication of updates and alterations within the organisation‘s team
...
In the search of the strategic balance between the four steps of
PDCA, organisations face the threat of skipping the learning stage prior to PDCA practice
...


3
...
3 Research Problem 3:Poor collaboration of marketing department with associated
departments in uniting efforts towards paywall introduction as an innovative product
...
The Innovation Circle Model

Sales

Culture

Leadership

Innovation
Process
Management

Management

Marketing

Systems and
Processes

Adapted from: Chaparro (2012)
This model underlines innovation as a driving forward success factor
...
In other words, illustrating innovation as a circular model, it suggests that
25

innovation is not a solid product or outcome, but rather is a long process adapted to corporate
structure and goals (Larsen, 2011)
...
They praise the model for its coverage of the key business
units, ought to be involved in innovative ideas generation and implementation
...
Innovation needs to be popularized as part of corporate philosophy, and
many international organisations fail to adopt innovative fulfilling innovative thinking (Philips,
2011)
...

3
...
4 Research Problem 4:NYT‘s underestimation of related company‘s weaknesses and
unfulfilling exercise of the strengths
...
SWOT Analysis Model

Source: Kotler et al
...

Organisations do not need to employ meaningful resources or devote considerable staff time to
description and practical application of the given instrument
...
This contrast serves as a firm
foundation for critical choice of future strategic directions (Johnson et al
...

McDonald and Wilson (2011) claim that SWOT bears the danger of oversimplification of
the tasks it sets
...
In this case, authors point out the importance of
management‘s objective evaluation of the company‘s capacity and performance
...
Moreover, SWOT does not suggest
underpinning new business opportunities and is considered over-theoretical
...
3

International Business Analysis

3
...
1 Research Problem 1:Failed attempt to turn online paywall into Blue Ocean concept
...
Blue Ocean Strategy Model

Source: Kumar et al
...
It motivates businesses to create niche markets within existing business pools
and use it a moving-forward success drive
...
Brookes (2013) similarly thinks that creation of a new market as a guiding principle
of Blue Ocean strategy, evolves the utmost feature of each successful management team,
reaching the top task of every business
...

One of the most widespread critical impressions of the Blue Ocean strategy is that it does
not discover any new principles of business conduct
...
Moreover,
Kraaijenbrink (2012) raises the inevitability of strong competition eventually arising in a newly
created blue ocean
...


3
...
2 Research Problem 2: Lack of coordination between related organisational processes in
paywall project
Research Analysis Model 2: Business Process Redesign
Figure 13
...
(2012)
28

The core element of BPR is about revolutionary organisational makeover
...
BPR, in combination with modern information technologies, enables
process reengineering from high technology and digital perspectives, moving towards
automation of the job functions and qualitative modernisation(Jamali et al
...
As the
approach of business process redesign is widely applied in many countries, companies result in
cost reduction and gradually improved customer service
...
, 2012)
...
, (2010), majority of companies fail the attempt to
successfully adopt BPR and achieve satisfactory results
...
Banham
(2010) also reports on unprofessionalism and rushed BPR implementation, which later results in
corporate frustration over the performance outcomes and unmanaged action gaps
...
3
...
Berenschot Project Management Model

Adapted from: Furman (2011)
29

Craig (2012) has positively appraised Berenschot Project Management Model
...
It does not prioritize certain project-related activities, but rather covers entire categories
and breaks them down into well-defined stages
...
Instead, Berenschot‘s
model represents project management as a multi-step process, intended for flawless and yet
ongoing achievement of certain strategic goals and settlements (Barker and Cole, 2012)
...
As a result, this may lead to inadequate
project evaluation
...
He also states that the model does not fully exercise companybased and project-related particularities
...


Research Question 1:

What are the possible CRM pitfalls in NYT‘ paywall design
and implementation and to what extent they affected unstable
subscribers performance?

Research Objective 1:

Reveal CRM policy insights of NYT

Research Analysis Model
1:

CRM Life-Cycle Model

4
...
1
...
Those activities will be screened in relation to 3
exhibited processes: attraction, promotion and maintaining
...
As it was expected, readers did not
only confirm unwillingness to pay for previously free news, but also demonstrated decrease in
NYT Web site visits
...


When the paywall was first launched, NYT tested the service on its Canadian customers
...
NYT has offered a metered system for those, reading more than twenty articles per
month (MPP Global, 2012)
...
He praises the
publication for handling customer issues without application of technology
...
The company has only recently announced its new
CRM software program
...
In his
view, NYT failed to create a customer-oriented organisation culture and image, prior to
31

rearranging its CRM strategy
...

Figure 15
...
d
...
(2014)
Smith (2015)

Research area 1:

Strategic Management

Research Problem 2:

NYT management‘s inability to fully employ 7S elements to
maximise successful paywall project realisation

Research Question 2:

Did NYT management ensure application of its 7S
organisational elements to maximise paywall success?

Research Objective 2:

Research and analyse relevant NYT 7S elements

Research Analysis Model
2:

7S Framework

32

4
...
2 7S Framework Analysis and Findings
- Structure

Source: Ward‘s Business Directory (2012)
As described by Head (2012), NYT‘s corporate structure is straight and upfront by type
...
However, the author considers this structure to create false and
confusing connection between print, broadcast and more importantly, digital units
...
NYT Organisational Units

Source: Kumar et al
...
It consists of discovery, promotion and connection
...
The strategy is believed to attract more
audience, which can be turned into paid subscribers (NYT Annual Report, 2014)
...
As this factor discourages newspaper websites visits, NYT is in a strategic need of a
new more mobile style, and currently cannot design a unique digital style
...

Figure 17
...
1
...



Modern newspaper industry is in strategic urge of digital competencies, as they are
forced to connect to their audience on online basis
...
This skills area evolves constant
learning and resource investment (Digital Economy Rankings, 2010);



NYT has to identify clear boundaries between its core and significant skill sets, to
elaborate on most intrinsic ones (Hermida, 2010);



Another skill type, being information literacy application and development, implies
another competence standard for newspapers and for entire journalism field (Desai,
2011)
...
Comparative Competitors Paywall Factsheet

37

Figure 18
...


Research Question 4:

Did the NYT team consider possible unfavourable scenarios of
paywall introduction?

Research Objective 4:

Investigate information on NYT paywall scenario planning and
highlight key scenario planning techniques

Research Analysis Model
4:

Scenario Planning

38

4
...
4 Scenario Planning Analysis and Findings
As New York Times paywall design and implementation cost the company $40 - $50
million, the question remains as of the strong basis for such a massive project
...
As of the paywall budget, this serves as
a poorly justified measure
...

Gates (2010) defines that strategic planning ought to cover not only the final goal of the
project, but also underpin risk management, corporate structure in consideration of their
corporate perspectives
...
If the company‘s paywall scenarios have been
thought through, why does the NYT management confess in unresolved fears of online traffic
fall and its uniqueness capacity in offering paid-for news? (Reuters, 2011)
...
And it is still a doubt whether the newspaper
will be able to cover occurred losses by paywall income in the future
...
As of Benton (2011), NYT‘s unbalance between maintaining free audience and
attracting paying readers, resulted in highly leaky paywall structure
...
2

Marketing Findings

4
...
1 Market – Driven Model Analysis and Findings


Patel (2012) blames New York Times in excessively straight-forward marketing
approach as they force non-subscribers out of the website content 
Customer
linking, Customer Service Delivery;



NYT attempts to market paid-for membership by offering 20 free articles per month, but
does not select most attractive content New Product Development, Channel
Bonding (Weinberg, 2013);



NYT‘s unstable paywall indicators are partially caused by company‘s over-concentration
on benefiting existing subscribers, while being incompetent in attracting digital-only
readers Customer Order Fulfilment (Haenel, 2013);



New York Times is largely investing in mobile applications development in the hope to
attract more customer groups
...
Moreover, as similar news materials can be
found through leak internet sources, high-rate paywall subscription is losing its viability
Transformation Processes, Market Sensing;



NYT‘s executive editor, Dean Baquet admits gradual staff buyouts and the skills gap
caused by many specialists leaving the company
...
The analyst also claims on
company‘s intention to prioritise digital marketing over print business development

Market Sensing, Technology Development
...
2
...
Deeper
subscribers data analysisPlan;



NYT jumps into video platform development (Roberts, 2013)Do;



NYT introduces mobile friendly content display, to achieve on-the-go customer
reachAct;



NYT makes Now application free, redesigns mobile interface and provided backstage
details for featured materials Act (Fitts, 2015)



NYT‘s digital team fails to cover advertisement losses by newly introduced device apps
and complements online subscription with mobile application Check (Althauser,
2013);



NYT alters its HR strategy towards strengthening its digital team Do (Nevradakis,
2013);

41



In its Innovation Report (2014) company reports on engagement of Consumer Insight
Group as well as Business Intelligence unit to conduct customer research and focus
meetings Act
...
2
...
2014);



Meanwhile, NYT management hardly relies on digital team, which designs, plans and
exercises exclusive communication platforms
...
While NYT is planning centralisation strategy, its competitors have
been employing aggressive measures, accepting the trial and error approach (Pickard and
Williams, 2013);



As the newspaper industry is overwhelmed with innovation demands, NYT is offsetting
42

its opportunities by resolution of contentious market issues (Myllylahti, 2014);


NYT is fostering higher corporate and strategic value of newsrooms in further stages of
innovation design and planning
...


Research area 2:

Marketing

Research Problem 4:

NYT‘s underestimation of related company‘s weaknesses and
unfulfilling exercise of the strengths

Research Question 4:

In what ways unstable paywall indicators relate to
underestimated NYT‘ weaknesses and inadequately exercised
strengths?

Research Objective 4:

Conduct SWOT analysis to design relevant
recommendations

Research Analysis Model
4:

SWOT

43

4
...
4 SWOT Analysis and Findings

Figure 19
...
3

International Business Analysis and Findings

4
...
1 Blue Ocean Strategy Analysis and Findings


New York Times, as well as its major competitors, does not fully understand and
appreciate the true value of ―freemium‖
...
As one clear paywall purpose is not settled, online subscribers‘
capacity is not effectively exercised (Zweig, 2014);



NYT was confusingly switching between offering too few materials for free, to offering
too much
...
If the data will be turned into a
multi-profitability model, consumers could face a new chapter in digital newspaper
history (Kahane, 2013);



Consumer – focused model could be a new blue ocean concept in Times‘ paywall
strategy (Ocean Strategy, 2010);



NYT‘s paywall is a great strategic approach in monetisation of consumers‘ information
needs
...
2012);



Having reached over 760,000 online customers, NYT could pull additional market tools,
which could recapture advertisement share of the business, as the company cancels on
Times Select to revise its paywall structure (Kotter and Whitehead, 2010)
...
3
...

Investment portfolio of the newspaper has been adapted towards more digital – oriented
financial inflows (Edmonds et al
...
This pitfall contrasts confident capacity of other strategic units (Humphrey,
2010);



The Times have revised their recruitment policy, making a greater effort in strengthening
its digital staff
...
The measure is justified by digital development overlapping NYT‘s
internal digital framework (Bleyen and Van Hove, 2010);


Times‘ management attempts to incorporate a wider view on its online activity, forcing
digital managers to concentrate on a long-term vision
...
Proposed delivery channels will personalize the information to each
reader group (NYT, 2014)
...
3
...
However, company‘s chief admitted NYT‘s technological weakness in
presenting its digital materials, which could enable a greater audience retaining (Benton,
2011);



Prior to 2011 paywall re-launch, NYT‘s team had fixed around 700 previous
malfunctions
...
Readers, accessing the online article
through Facebook could enjoy additional free content
...
Also, the website infrastructure was now able
to identify the type of the subscriber, to control the number of free articles (Greenspun,
2011);



NYT has improved its customer data analysis and has grown a more personal customer
approach, which helped to turn casual visitors into ad revenue generating audience
(Perez-Pena, 2007);



One of the best inventions of failed 2005 paywall test is NYT‘s metered subscription
model, which was later adopted by several publications (Graham and Greenhill, 2013)
...
1 Strategic Management Recommendations
5
...
1 CRM Research Problem: Weak customer relationship and communication management
at paywall design, launch and implementation process
...
1
...
Customer Relations Management Action Plan

49

Table 9
...
2 7S Research Problem: NYT management‘s inability to fully employ 7S elements to
maximize successful paywall project realisation

5
...
1 7S Research Problem Solutions and Recommendations
NYT is highly recommended to alter its key operational processes and business units for
paywall performance enhancement
...
NYT‘s paywall is not purely digital
product, as it concerns informational delivery channels, forms of informational design and
content management
...


Table 10
...
7S – Related Stakeholders Implications and Resource Requirements

53

5
...
3
...
Core Assets and Competencies of NYT

Source: Abhishek (2013)
The table above highlights key competencies and assets of the Times
...
NYT has gained
undoubted market leadership and readers recognition, exploiting its proficiencies
...

Therefore, key competence recommendations include the following:

-

Differentiation between core and meaningful expertise
...
As more and
more world- known publications such as The Sun and the Financial Times are launching
paywalls, NYT needs to achieve a new competence level;

-

As in its 2014 Innovation Report NYT management admits its moderate digital
capability, the next strategic advice is to define its current level in clear data and
indicators
...
Primary
justification is rapid and unpredictable technological and customer behavioral changes
...


The Table below will demonstrate additional competence suggestions, which will help to prevent
or battle the challenges outlined in Figure 18 in Core Competencies Analysis Chapter
...
Digital Leadership Competencies Solutions for NYT

Competition

Print and Online
Subscribers
- Improve paywall
financial planning skills,
to cut the suscribers
costs;
- Introduce series of
customer focus groups as
a new
competence/service;
- Set frequent paywall
products test launches

- Demonstrate
informational closure
skills;
- Design alternative
digital planning
competencies to fight low
entry barriers;
- Deepen insightful
competitors monitoring
capacity;
- Avoid application of
competitors' paywall
skills

Digital Power
- Grow upgraded digital
structure;
- Revise paywall access
control system to avoid
information leak;
- Develop customer
interactivity skills;
- Encourage invention
approach
...
Core Competencies – Related Stakeholders Implications and Resource
Requirements

5
...

5
...
1 Scenario Planning Research Problem Solutions and Recommendations

- Consider further popularisation of social networks and come up with mutuallysubstituting cooperation plans;
- List additional online subscription schemes and test them through Reader Experience
and Newsrooms with current and potential subscribers
...
Survey existing employees on job satisfaction and interview resigning staff members
on the leave reasons;
-

Introduce additional planning and research responsibilities at R&D department and

ensure coherent supervision
...
Warrant future investment planning scenarios in strict accordance with quality
subscribers‘ data;
-

Combine both internal and external strategic views and goals in paywall scenario

planning;
- Maintain balance between paywall-related processes and content in scenario design
...
4
...
4
...


 Additional recruitment of marketing and CRM staff for
more fulfilling CRM strategy implementation;
 Constant staff training costs;
 Rising marketing expenditure for investors and
shareholders to consider;
 Additional operating and processing investment;
 Customer data collection, storage and planning IT
programs and platforms
...
5 Marketing Recommendations

5
...
1 Marketing Strategy Research Problem: Imperfect/Inflexible paywall marketing strategy
in maintaining current online audience and attract a new one
...
5
...
NYT Market – Focus Recommendations

Market Sensing

Customer
Attraction

- Continue further
prioritization of
digital business
units;
- Immediately fulfill
skills gap caused by
staff leave rates
...
Readers are turned into paying subscribers to receive news
articles that have been previously in an open access
...
Hence, the range of free
articles should be constantly revised on the basis of subscribers‘ growth, differentiating between
new digital customers and loyal print subscribers, signing up for online membership as an
additional benefit
...

Table 13
...
6 Deming Cycle Research Problem: Marketing team‘s inconsequential Plan-Do-Check-Act
plan in paywall supervision

5
...
1 Deming Cycle Research Problem Solutions and Recommendations
Conducted research and analysis have confirmed NYT confident steps in growing its
recognition in the digital news sector
...
However, the information processed
serves as a proof of weak reasonability and strategic sequence in the marketing promotion action
plan
...
As the objective has been vindicated, consecutive
endorsements will propose optimal Plan-Do-Check-Act measures in an appropriate order
...
New York Times Paywall Visual

Source: NY Times Website (2015)

Figure 23
...


Do

• Realize full marketing potential through sensible changes in recruitment
policy;
• Diversify marketing channels based on identified key customer
information collecting preferencesto ensure message delivery
...

• Continue initiating focus groups, revising the free content as well as
updating digital article interface to differ from the print version;
• Ensure operational link between marketing department, Customer Insight
Group and Business Intelligence unit
...
Plan-Do-Check-Act Stakeholders Implications and Resource Requirements

5
...
7
...
However, the newspaper does not
incorporate innovative thinking into collaboration of those units with IT department
...
In the context of
long-term search for paywall innovation, it is highly advised to enable cooperation and strategic
alignment
...


Moreover, while the Times is focused on increasing the paywall revenues to recover the
budget loops of advertisement, it does not appreciate the innovation potential bearing in potential
subscribers
...
In this case, random readers will contribute towards advertisement revenue
recovery and part of them may be attracted as paid subscribers
...
However, there is no evidence of certain
creativity guidelines or motivation philosophy for the digital talents
...
The
recommendation in this case is to postpone further apps introduction and rather employ full
capacity into the renovation of the existing models
...
The newspaper could
combine online paid articles with entertainment services and talent – developing features
...


Table 15
...
8 SWOT Analysis Research Problem:NYT‘s underestimation of related company‘s
weaknesses and unfulfilling exercise of the strengths

5
...
1 SWOT Analysis Research Problem Solutions and Recommendations
One of the vital drawbacks of NYT‘ paywall strategy is its unawareness of the most
favorable directions for further investment
...
However, with the initial impressive subscribers growth, NYT had shortly
started to experience customer demotivation and slugging willingness to pay
...

SWOT analysis vividly illustrates the misbalance between NYT‘s remarkable advantages and
capabilities and its fragilities
...
As the paywall is an IT
conception, 150 -year -old publication has disclosed its technological inexperience
...
It should now organize paywall counselling at all
organisational levels, to brainstorm next steps for multi-directional paywall upgrade
...


Figure 24
...
SWOT – Related Stakeholders Implications and Resource Requirements

5
...
9
...
9
...
Therefore it is tough for newspapers
to represent paywall as an exclusive service proposal
...
However,
facilitating its IT and digital staff development potential, NYT can turn the red paywall ocean
into exceptional Blue Ocean product
...
Those serve as proposed foundation for further Blue Ocean
paywall transformation
...
These may encompass additional membership plans,
such as partial subscription for certain theme articles
...
;

-

NYT is losing its paywall loyalty as it fails to retain long lasting readers‘ motivation to
pay for the news, which may be attained from free Internet sources and print
64

publications
...
This will contribute towards paywall‘s more welcoming
environment for current non-subscribers;
-

To rebuild its advertisement business, NYT should ensure that paywall subscriptions and
ads revenue are positioned as two distinctive business operations
...
This platform would be devoted to B2B facilitation
...
Brief
replications of certain advertisements could be demonstrated on mobile applications and
on the main website;

-

NYT is also suggested to turn customer database into multi – profitability model by
clustering readers
...


Table 17
...
10 Business Process Redesign Research Problem:Lack of coordination between related
organisational processes in paywall project
5
...
1 Business Process Redesign Research Problem Solutions and Recommendations
- NYT is advised to align authors, digital designers, programmers, content managers and
customer relations staff into concentrated focus groups
...
This process alteration will ensure maximised subscribers‘ satisfaction and positive
service feedback;
- NYT shall create an operational unit consisting of recognised freelance and part-time
digital bloggers and IT experts
...
The reporting and
approval procedures should be flatter and any strict limitations should be removed;
- NYT may also find it strategically rewarding to recruit authors with various writing
styles
...
As
it plans to grow its audience outreach, its authors must be able to deliver the information in
various acceptable ways, considering different readers‘ backgrounds;
- NYT‘s IT team should be motivated to pay higher attention to overall informational
outlay and interface of the website and mobile applications, while giving bug fix a smaller inter
– process priority
...
Business Process Redesign Stakeholder Implications and Resource Requirements
 Higher employee job motivation and satisfaction
through increased contribution recognition;
 Smoother

management

process

through

procedures simplification and flattening;
5
...
2 Stakeholder Implications

 Stronger readers interest as the information will
be delivered in various understandable styles
and forms;
 As with all previous suggestions, business
process redesigns will undoubtedly benefit
shareholders with higher returns
...
10
...


66

5
...
11
...
An example of such failure is Times Select,
which was unconditionally laid off in 2007, due to product‘s unpopularity and lacking demand
among subscribers
...

Therefore to secure paywall as an entire endeavour consisting of various sub-projects, NYT is
recommended to adopt the following adaptation of the Berenschot Project Management Model
(See Exhibit below)
...


Figure 25
...
Berenschot Project Management Stakeholders Implications and Resource
Requirements

 Improved managements‘ job performance,
benefiting NYT owners;
 Facilitated results control process for deliberate
5
...
2 Stakeholder Implications

shareholders‘ reporting;
 Clear job objectives for employees, improving
their working environment;
 Paywall breakdown into sub-processes,
favorable for staff and management;
 More targeted products development for the
readers
...
11
...


5
...
This ensures reliability of the study outcomes and yet lacks long-term
research observations;
68

-

The report has been prepared in comparatively short period, which disabled maximized
depth of the analysis;

-

Case study analysis was carried out by a single analyst, which may limit objectivity of
the conclusions and set boundaries for the research outlook
...
1 British Petroleum (BP): Company Background
British Petroleum was originated in 1909, opening an oil field in Persia
...

Currently, BP is the largest UK oil and gas enterprise and is the fifth largest corporation in the
world
...
The company is involved in oil
extraction, production of lubricants, conducting sales and etc
...
3 mln cubic meters of gas
...
Currently, British Petroleum shares are listed and traded
in stock exchanges of Tokyo, Toronto, London, Frankfurt and several other locations
...


British Petroleum operates in 80 countries around the globe and currently recruits over
84,000 employees
...
8 billion (BP Sustainability Report,
2014)
...
2 Research Rationale
British Petroleum is a company of researcher‘s independent choice
...

BP represents a sector of researcher‘s expertise and professional interests
...
Few major scandalous
issues arising over massive oil spills, occurred staff loss and serious environmental damage have
motivated the proposed research of BP
...
Texas oil spill
and Deepwater Horizon well explosion over the past years have resulted in both ethical and
regulatory issues for the company
...
Such factual foundation inspired the research
problems design
...


70

6
...
4 Research Questions

Research Question 1: Why British Petroleum was unable to foresee and prevent major oil spills
and breakouts risks?
Research Question 2: What are the weaknesses of British petroleum‘s safety mechanisms?
Research Question 3: Which primary operations result in ethical challenges for British
Petroleum

6
...


Operational Management Research Objectives (Operational Safety):
-

Release data on BP‘s operational safety mechanisms;

-

Explore how safety mechanisms are applied to daily procedures;

-

Report on safety failure implications during major spills and explosions
...


71

6
...
The incident triggered disastrous oil spill, damaging
marine environment along with BP‘s reputation and finance
...
The oilrig was
owned by BP outsourced Transocean corporation, being in charge of the drilling (De
Wolf and Mejri, 2013);

Exhibit 2
...
The
distillation tower has been overloaded with hydrocarbons and has blasted under excessive
pressure
...
Stock market appraisal of the company dropped by $ 89 billion by July 2010
...
Major accusations concerned the risk ignorant short paths
...
With the particular Deepwater Horizon and Texas City Refinery, oil
giant prioritised low cost solutions to increase revenues and minimize time constraints
(The Institute of Risk Management, 2014);

-

BP‘s experts failed to admit potential risks and threats at early stages
...
With Deepwater rig, companies have revealed the
well problem only in 4 days (Clark, 2010);

-

BP, Transocean and other associates have not deliberately communicated issues
occurrence and failed to design common resolution approaches (Coombs, 2011);

-

BP did not ensure close supervision of the primary technical decisions, deteriorating risk
management outlay in engineering realms at Deepwater Horizon rig (OECD, 2014);

73

6
...
1 Risk Management Solutions and Recommendations
Figure 26
...
It
suggests risk perception from major related perspectives
...
As BP‘
management stands out to ensure the public in its proficient risk avoidance strategy, its business
performance calls out for gradual risk management shifts (Petroleum Economist, 2010)
...
Abovementioned framework fully complies with the expert identified propositions
...
BP Risk Management Recommendations and Actions

74

Table 21
...
6
...

 Risk management software development;
 Financial expenses for staff risk management
6
...
3 Resource Requirements

training;
 Time commitment for risk planning and
measures reassurance
...
7 Safety Management Research Problem Analysis
-

BP safety claims disappointingly contrast the three immense calamities in a short period
of just 5 years
...

Investigations signified two gradual cost cuts in early 2000s which led to safety standards
depression (Winston, 2010);

-

BP asserts the public in its strong safety and excellence commitment
...

Absence of preliminary staff instructions led to inadequate hydrocarbon reservoirs
exploitation and weak command of the well structure (Walsh, 2010);
75

-

BP‘s operational and execution staff is not believed to carry primary blame for the
occurred accidents
...


-

BP is known for application of safety software, but judging from the recent scandals,
company struggles with spread of software exercise and timely system errors elimination
(Smith, 2011);

-

After Tony Hayward‘s appointment as BP‘s chief executive in 2007, corporate safety and
operational control infrastructure were largely expected to progress
...
7
...
Corporate Safety Mechanism

Source: Leveson and Young (2013)
The given model positively praises all major levels and stages of safety system in oil and gas
sector
...
Model elements such as regulatory bodies
will force oil and gas producers to create comprehensive asset management (CCPS, 2011)
...

76

Table 22
...
Safety – Related Stakeholder Implications and Resource Requirements
 More organized operational processes, favoring
staff and management;
6
...
2 Stakeholder Implications

 Increased work safety, evolving staff satisfaction
and focused financial management;
 Corporate image enhancement, favoring all
stakeholders
...
7
...
8 Ethics Research Problem Analysis

-

BP‘s oil spills and explosions are considered the biggest maritime disasters in US history
...
The team is responsible
for preparation and coordination of the ethics reports (BP Code of Conduct, n
...
);

-

BP‘s corporate ethics framework underpins expected outcomes and designs
implementation plan, including relevant procedures and training mechanisms (Balmer et
al
...
Their distressed attempt to
balance between corporate profitability and public ethical concerns has resulted in human
safety and environmental issues ignorance during the Deepwater Horizon and Texas City
Refinery wells exploitation (Wiley, 2010);

-

BP‘s misfortunes have visualized company‘s functional incompatibility with its declared
ethical identity and brand positioning (Bryant et al
...
As a result, BP was awarded the lowest credibility ratings
after Deepwater Horizon accident (Barrett, 2015);

-

As environmental concerns gain public recognition and growing debates, oil and gas
sector regulatory vulnerability places BP under strict governmental control
...
Similar issues relate to Ethical Marketing
(Institute of Business Ethics, 2012)
...
8
...
Ethics Solutions for BP
 With global business expansion, BP should not ignore the national and international
ethics regulations
...

Environmental ethics burden shall be made a focus of ethical policy;
78

 BP‘s Compliance team must foresee and timely report of the potential dangers in case
of ethics underestimation;
 BP must immediately reconsider its ethics approaches to destroy public perception of
profit blindness;
 BP is a business created and executed by people, undertaking operations to benefit
people
...
;
 BP must firstly identify its social and business missions and match CSR and other
ethical measures accordingly;
 Track the nature and the number of damaging or potentially hazardous actions that
contribute towards ethical image damage;
 Undertake enduring staff assessment on individual job ethical issues awareness and
compliance
...
Ethics Strategy Framework

Practice and
Evaluation

Hypothesis

Observation

Enquiry

Adapted from: Dempsey (2013)
Spence (2011) claims that the proposed model underpins much more detailed processes
and elements
...
Velentzas and Broni (2010) also gives the model positive
appraisal as it proposes ethics measures in cyclical form, suggesting a continuous nature of the
process
...
It must be practiced throughout the organisation and proper supervision must be
inclined over the compliance of those practices
...

Table 25
...
8
...

 Revision of the CSR budget and planning;

6
...
3 Resource Requirements

 Skills and time for supervision of ethics
legislation and directives;
 Staff training finance and time
...
1 Business Vulnerability
Analysis of both the New York Times and British Petroleum (BP) has revealed high level
of companies‘ business exposure to several threats
...
However, it does not secure the enterprises from
operational downfalls
...
BP, in turn, has achieved one of
leading positions in oil and gas industry
...
Conducted research was directed at multi-perspective
approaching of those challenges
...
In both research cases, companies have
been proofed unable to adequately evaluate and manage potential threats, overestimating its
market significance and industry expertise
...
2 Operational Security and Risk Management
Inability to protect its operations and ensure intellectual property closure, have been
identified in both companies
...
As corporations expand their
setups globally, they tend to be more articulate with data security and safety
...
Those incidents
serve as the evidence of weak risk management and data security
...
In case of BP, security pitfalls escalated to the level of governmental investigations
and panels
...
As the study highlighted these unmanaged weaknesses, they have been used as
important justifications for companies‘ failures
...


81

7
...
One of the primary goals of any business entity is profit maximisation and
shareholder value growth (Chen, 2014)
...

However, such factors as staff benefits cuts at NYT and poorly established safety measures at
BP, led to the conclusion of companies‘ excessive profit pursue without due investment input
into important associated factors
...

Skilful staff apprehends most ambitious and challenging corporate goals, brings innovation into
design and production, strengthens competitive edge
...
With the united efforts of all
engaged specialists, the media giant can gradually secure its financial returns
...
This was a meaningful
learning outcome of the study
...

Drilling and field exploration are one of the most hazardous activities of oil and gas companies
...
Employment of such policies
and their timely practice is undoubtedly costly and resource – consuming process
...
This issue has also been covered in
solutions chapter
...
4 Overestimation of Brand Image
As per information discovered during the analysis phase, namely, peer – reviewed
companies‘ evaluation and the corporate reports, both NYT and BP strongly believe in the brand
strength and market recognition gained throughout the years of business presence
...
But the important
cornerstone is the flexibility and prompt responsiveness to updating market requirements
...
It approved the
decision to launch the paywall, entrusting the future success to the loyal army of readers
...

Accordingly, British Petroleum has overlooked US chemical safety directives and has not
revised financial planning with renewed safety considerations, even after the first explosion
accident in early 2000s
...


7
...
NYT has outlaid terrific financial structure of the paywall, but until present, admits its
lack of digital leadership and expertise
...
NYT
seems to put low value to the mobile presentation of information
...
As it was outlined in the report, each type of strategy is a complicated and
multi-layered mechanism, be it marketing or management strategy
...
If any of the elements is not reasonably configured and is
not adequately matched to other strategic constraints, the entire strategy is under the threat of
failure or underperformance
...
6 Unfulfilled Innovation and Excellence Potential
As a research object, New York Times is a vivid success story
...
British Petroleum has been chosen not only
per researcher‘s professional interests but, as a corporation matching NYT level and capacity
...
This conclusion arose after close analysis of corporations‘ current business state and
announced plans for future endeavors
...
BP continues to engage new
exploration fields, while leaving behind crucial safety and security issues, not applying previous
unfortunate experience
...

83

8 Conclusion
The given academic paper was devoted to critical analysis of New York Times
newspaper and media enterprise
...
The subject has been widely
discussed in the news industry and still attracts vivid public interest
...

This analytical report is addressed to the NYT‘s management
...

Researcher has applied both practical and theoretical data in the process of case analysis, 11
management models have been matched to problem theses
...

Finalising chapter of the case study is devoted to a company from contrasting business
area: oil and gas
...
Learning outcomes have
been described after critical investigation of both corporations, and have been matched on the
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