05-26-2016, 01:01 AM
(05-25-2016, 11:29 PM)pbrower2a Wrote:Quote: Technology cannot rescue a failing enterprise. A competitor will surely use it more effectively and to a greater advantage.
I work for a local newspaper publishing company. That industry like coal is a dying industry.
Quote:You might want to check my thread on the business life-cycle, start-up to death.
Companies within a dying industry [obsoleted period] have a somewhat different death spiral. I picked the closest of your model.
Quote:As organizations enter Aristocracy they characteristically:
- Are cash rich and have very strong financial statements. >- Are money pits in a known death spiral. Declining yearly circulation is a dead givaway.
- Have reduced expectations for growth. <- Decline is evident but a sense of denial is evident.
- Demonstrate little interest in conquering new markets, technologies, and frontiers. Check
- Focus on past achievements rather than future visions. Check
- Are suspicious of change. Check
- Reward those who do what they are told to do and punish those who do not. Check
- Are interested in reducing their risks. Check
- Invest much more on control systems, benefits, and facilities than they do on R & D.<- Lack of funds forbids simple maintenance of plant and equipment. Eg. Where I work, the ceiling has multiple water leaks, the press breaks down, and the insert machine doesn't get maintained because the present employees have not been trained by the manufacturer.
- Form dominates function in the organizational climate. More emphasis is placed on how things are done, than what was done. Check
- Value uniformity, consistency and formality in dress, decorum, and behavior. <- A culture of indifference takes hold. Since things are literally falling apart and the circulation jobs are just interchangeable minimum wage jobs, then if the place goes under, no big deal. There's always some other minimum wage gig. The front office folks have a big problem. They'll lose benefits like health care/ 401k.
- Employ individuals who are concerned about the company's vitality, but are willing to abide by a "don't make waves" operating motto. <- The front office folks probably fit this.
- Engender only negligible innovation with internal efforts. <- Yes, rolodexes instead of spreadsheets????? That and an accumulation of cruft in paper form. There is no database for ad sales, subscriptions,etc. Information is filed like the 1970's in paper form in boxes.
- Acquire other products or companies for new products, markets, and entrepreneurship to feed into their distribution channels and operating systems. <- It goes the other way. My company sold off it's wireless internet dept. and a radio station.
- May be takeover targets themselves. <- With today's loony investment environment, you never know. I guess the subscription list which is in a database is worth something. Another idea would be if an electronic paper with the ads could be just be free happened. Just scan the circulars, have some jock reporter scan court records and catch up on town gossip and you're pretty much there with way less overhead.
---Value Added 