Global Paradigm Shift: Strategic Management of New and Digital Media in New and Digital Economics

The purpose of this conceptual article is to outline and explain a global paradigm shift in strategic management of new and digital media in the age of new and digital economics. Accordingly, this article presents an analysis of the 5 most-successful international media conglomerates (Time Warner, Walt Disney Co., News Corporation, CBS Corp., and Bertelsmann AG) in regards to their annual revenue, profit, and stock growth, as well as total debt to equity. The article finds that 4 out of the 5 firms are American (Time Warner, Walt Disney Co., News Corporation, and CBS Corp.), and 1 is German (Bertelsmann AG). For the most part, 6 factors are particularly dominant in explaining the profitable growth of leading international media conglomerates at the macrolevel: cross-media content distribution leveraging and repurposing, innovation management, vertical integration, vertical expansion, media diversification, and large number of shareholders. To more effectively position and leverage new paradigmatic models largely influencing volatile media markets, this article proposes the creation and adoption of repurposed media content and economies of aggregation (triple-and quadruple-play bundling strategies and network externalities) for the emerging Internet Protocol TV, Internet TV, and the mobile-TV markets.