An Analysis On China's Newspaper Group's Competitive Strategies And The Construction Of Competitive Advantages According To Porter' Theory

In the past 10 years since the establishment of China's first newspaper group in Jan. 1996, 39 such groups have been approved and established, during which China's media business has gone through a period of fast growth, being pushed by the momentum of the fast and stable growth of the national economy. The turnover of media business has surpassed 300 billion RMB, with an average growth rate of 35%, it has become the fourth biggest business in terms of the benefit and tax revenue generated. Newspaper groups have also expanded quickly. Not only the overall economic value, but also the economic fracture, have been no comparison with what they were 10 years ago. Many newspaper groups have become big taxpayers in the city where they are, newspaper business has taken a very important position in the national economy.Nevertheless, the market changes drastically. Since 2004, China's newspaper business took a sudden turn and developed rapidly, there was a big decrease in most newspapers' advertisement income, which has definitely become a severe challenge for newspaper groups mainly relying on advertisement income. Although the causes for such a change are quite complicated, the reality in the past months has perplexed the business and academic circles, which has provide ground for worries and daunts for the prospect of newspaper. Some people set 2005 as the turning point of newspaper business from prosperity to slump, and assert that the winter of newspaper business is coming. While some others argue that the difficulty is temporary and the room for future development is still big, the newspaper business can get out of the difficulty and revive through internal reforms and innovation. It is an urgent task to find out how to deal with the changed situation, to turn pressure into impetus and to seek new opportunities. Newspaper groups must start from a strategic point, arouse the vitality of themselves as market competitors, make good use of opportunities, confront the challenges positively, so as to reach the goal of becoming big and strong in a sustainable way.