Managing Publishing Strategy

This is an introduction to crucial competitive strategic thinking for print or digital publishers. If you are charged with maximising the success of a list or market segment and competing effectively, this course is for you.

In two intensive days you will learn how to:

• be clear about your overarching goals and those of the organisation you work in
• analyse the opportunities and competitive environment in your market
• identify the important strengths of your organisation
• generate strategic options and choose the most successful
• create financial plans which tell the strategic story
• plan for an uncertain future
• communicate your plans concisely and effectively.

The input will come from business school models to help structure your thinking, combined with real-world experience of successful (and unsuccessful) strategic approaches from the publishing industry.

Amongst other models and theories, we will look at:

• distinctive capabilities
• resource-based and market-based approaches to strategy
• internal and external analysis
• Porter’s generic strategies
• marketing warfare
• differential advantage analysis
• the Boston Matrix
• risk management
• scenario planning
• Ansoff’s Matrix.

By the end of the course, you will have learned a wide range of approaches to strategy and have practical guidelines for choosing those which will help you to address your own key strategic issues most effectively.

The teaching approach is a stimulating combination of presentations, practical exercises and discussion sessions, with the emphasis on delegate interaction and application to your own strategic questions. You will leave with a wealth of new ideas and the confidence to take your products - and your career - to the next level.