Custom essays on The Times Newspapers

Introduction. General Description of the Corporation the Times Newspapers Belongs to
The News Corporation dealing with spreading information is well known all over the world. The company operates in the entertainment industry: “The general business activity and principal products or commercial enterprise of News Corp. are categorized as being part of the Entertainment Industry. As a top company in the Entertainment industry News Corp. specialize in Broadcasting, Publishing, Media and the Internet producing films, television, Cable and Satellite Television, Magazines, Newspapers and Books.” (NewsCorp, 2010). The News Corporation is governed by the Board of Directors and controlled by Board of Committees, which includes: Audit Committee, Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee, Compensation Committee. The Board of directors is headed by Rupert Murdoch, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer the actual owner of News Corporation. The Times Newspapers Limited is a part of this huge media corporation and it goes without saying that this British department of the New Corporation follows Corporate Mission and Vision the company supports.
The Corporate Mission. How It Relates to the Target Market and Staff. Benefits and Disadvantages
The Mission Statement of the Company is identified as: “Just as our assets span the world, our vision spans art and humor, audacity and compassion, information and innovation – whether in an American television series, an Indian game show, an Australian newspaper, an English sports broadcast or an international box-office hit. Every day, hundreds of millions of people are entertained and enlightened by the authors and actors, printers and producers, reporters and directors who fulfill our mission. That mission remains unchanged after half a century of expansion and improvement: the creation and distribution of top-quality news, sports and entertainment around the world” (The News Corp, 2003). The benefits of provided mission statement that the recipients of the product understand does the mission of the company correspond to his personal needs and ideas about the product he expects to receive. It gives without saying that corporate mission has also a very significant disadvantage as it generalizing of the target group could create significant problem in understanding it between the target market and the media resource, which is part of the company. For example, some newspapers owned by the News Corp are often related to as unreliable, as the CEO corrects the editorial due the personal vision: “Mr. Murdoch has said he wants fewer long stories in The Journal on weekdays and more coverage of national affairs, hardly anyone’s idea of journalistic felonies. More troubling to people at the newspaper is his statement that he would like The Journal to be more of a counterweight to The New York Times, which he considers liberal” (Perez-Pena, 2007)and the next paragraph explain the corporate vision and how it relates to the media sources.
Corporate Vision. Centralized Power in the News Corp. Rupert Murdoch as the core figure of vision creation
The vision of the company is completely corresponding to the vision of the CEO, Rupert Murdoch and being the part of the system strongly involves with the corporate vision which correlates to the corporate logic and strategy. As every big corporation the News Corporation has its certain corporate logic and strategy: “The logic of these media corporations [like the News Corporation] has been to squeeze as much profit as possible from their holdings. As advertising revenues have declined in recent years, they’ve started to cut, and cut, and cut, and cut. Journalism in the UK has, since the 1960s, gradually become churnalism – desk-bound journalists recycling agency copy and press releases and largely featuring the same content. Pluralism destroyed by lack of journalistic capacity” (DeLong, 2009).
If we view the management style and strategic vision of the News Corporation CEO Rupert Murdoch we would notice that the whole corporation (and the Times Newspapers Limited as a part of it) strategy is oriented on task performance. That is why the whole structure of the company is very strict and excludes any mistakes from the performer’s side. The News Corporation CEO is well known for his struggle against corruption, waste and overstaffing. But the same time the News Corporation deals with strong ethical code which could perfectly illustrate corporate logic of the company, which has balanced matrix structure. It is very successful decision as the company has its departments all over the world. The well planned strategic vision of the company headed by such a leader as Rupert Murdoch is, help to widen the target market of the corporation providing efficient corporate solutions for the target market all over the world. The same time the corporate mission and vision generalize people as they seek for the average reader (as we overview the Times Newspapers Limited), but not a particular one. Rupert Murdoch is also known for the fact that he does not let anyone to infringe upon the norms and ethical code which was developed in the company for the recent years: “In the media world, Rupert Murdoch is what you might call a motivated driver. He buys, or creates from scratch, newspapers, television networks and satellite systems, and his hands-on management style leaves no doubt as to who is in charge” (Perez-Pena, 2007). His managerial style and strategic vision are famous all over the world for their peculiar and orthodox perception of certain realities. Within his corporation he struggles against the overstaffing, corruption and waste and his methods are sometimes seems to be quite rough. But the same time none would decline that his methods are very effective, even he confronted labour unions, providing his strict tactics: “His rise through the ranks often caused controversy and outrage because of his ruthless management style and desire to succeed. In an attempt to flush out the corruption, waste, overstaffing and theft that flourished in his London based operations Murdoch had to confront the workers union. His actions caused many protests and petitions against Murdoch and his companies (one magazine article gave him the nick name of “The Dirty Digger”) but his commitment to cut costs and increase profits did eventually win out in the end” (The Financial Express; 2009). His management style is one of the most criticized in the world, yet its efficiency is undoubted: “his aggressive management style drew widespread criticism. In an effort to cut costs at his UK operations, he quit Fleet Street for good. The move to Wapping in London’s East End signalled a bitter, year-long battle with staff, which culminated in the de-recognition of the print unions and the loss of 5,000 jobs. “I’m a catalyst for change. You can’t be an outsider and be successful over 30 years without leaving a certain amount of scar tissue around the place,” he once famously said” (Matheson, 2007).
The measures he takes could be called rough and too demanding, but the same time his companies are one of the most effective in the world and he is always in touch with the recent tendencies: “One media veteran told Fortune that Murdoch ‘came late to the network television game, late to the sports game, late to the cable network game and late to the distribution game, but News Corp has created relevance in all those areas’” (Heller, 2005). The strategic purchasing of the Times Newspapers Ltd is perfectly illustrating the strategic vision provided by Rupert Murdoch. He perfectly understands that for winning within the target group he need influential media within the particular region. The times is respectable newspaper not only in Britain but in the whole world and strategic vision of this company (one of the oldest, respectable and being so very much British) was corresponding to the mission and the vision of the whole corporation, enlarging with the help of new means.