USC Hybrid High School Communications Paper

Provide citations in APA, 6th Edition style for all information cited. Be sure to put direct quotations in quote marks and cite these quotations, both in the paper and in the reference list, per APA style. The majority, if not all, of the citations will be from newspaper and magazine articles, as well as from Internet web sites.

Analyze any one of the media companies on the list below. The aspects you should cover are:

1. Explain how this company is making the transition to the digital environment for content creation, marketing, and distribution?

2. Describe the extent to which this company has established a global footprint. Include the company’s efforts to expand into emerging markets in Asia, Latin America, the Middle East and Africa?

3. Provide information about how companies are making money from entertainment and media, especially looking at new businesses and new business models.

4. Acquiring and retaining talented individuals to work for or work with the company.

Attached you will find a word doc that will explain what these challenges to entertainment and media companies involve. Then go to the Internet and look for information in the last three that shines light on how companies are responding to these challenges.

List of entertainment and media companies you can choose from for your case study:

Bertelsmann (Germany)

General Electric (US)

The Walt Disney Co. (US)

News Corp. (Worldwide)

Time Warner (US)

Sony (Japan)

Viacom (US)

Vivendi (France)

Google (US) Facebook (US)

Twitter

CNN

Digital transformation
The rules have changed—and irreversibly so. Digital transformation has drilled down to
the roots of every subsector of the media and entertainment industry. And in many
instances the content itself—the product—is now digital through most (and increasingly,
all) of its lifecycle, whether the final output is digital or traditional.
Advertisers are focusing as well on using digital platforms and online tools to engage
with and measure ever-changing behavior of consumers who are more sophisticated
about their use of technology than ever before.
In this industry more than any other, therefore, embracing a strategic, forward-looking
digital business model is critical to survival—and success. The profound transformation
that has gripped the media and entertainment landscape presents media enterprises
with challenges, risks and opportunities as never before.
The tension between your traditional business and stakeholder goals and companies’
need to be nimble in adapting to the fast-changing digital world means that enterprises
will need to:
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Optimize the value of its digital assets by managing content portfolios across
platforms and business units.
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Sustain and strengthen profitable consumer relationships by analyzing consumer
data for addressable content and advertising, using business intelligence
solutions.
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Select the right IT systems, operations, structures, and processes to support the
successful execution of digital strategies.
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Lower costs through sophisticated content supply chain and physical distribution
solutions, including alternate systems such as cloud.
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Grow an online platform, while controlling for the many new security and
execution risks that can damage the brand.
Emerging markets: High stakes, high rewards
Like most multinationals, global entertainment and media companies have their eye on
revenue growth through expansion into the most dynamic overseas markets—the
fastest-growing emerging economies.
But in contrast to some manufacturing sectors, which are searching primarily for
overseas markets or lower-cost labor, many major E&M companies are adopting a
sophisticated, embedding approach to this expansion—partnering with local content and
distribution companies, building local studios, and tapping local talent.
And while the rewards presented by the exploding consumer sectors in these emerging
giants are greater, the risks are commensurate.
Market entry challenges for entertainment and media companies differ widely according
to the country in question—requiring strategic approaches to regulatory compliance, risk
management, international tax structuring and transfer pricing, HR and expatriate
services, and accounting standards with local understanding and international
experience, to position the media enterprise for growth in—and with—some of the
fastest growing economies in the world.
Globalization: Delivering a profitable and agile international footprint
In many ways, the Internet represents the death of distance – good news for an industry
that is symbiotically connected to digital technology. And it is doubly good news,
considering the unstoppable trend of globalization. But operating across multiple
geographies presents a wide variety of practical, legal, HR and finance challenges,
including:
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Compliance with a thicket of foreign regulations, including developing privacy
laws
Overseeing international contracts and content rights
Managing a global work force, including expatriate services
Handling currency and other risks
International tax structuring and transfer pricing issues
GAAP-to-IFRS transitions
Sustainability strategies
It’s clear that digitization is enabling – and driving – an ever-more globalized
entertainment and media landscape. Building an organization which operates in a truly
global manner can present a major opportunity to operate profitably in diverse
geographic markets, and to shift operations flexibly between countries – something that
may be essential to the success of a media company. And both the opportunities and
risks are magnified, of course, when considering expanding into fast-growing emerging
markets.
Extracting maximum value from entertainment and media operations
Digital technology cuts both ways.
On the one hand, digital distribution is the great enabler, linking media enterprises to
potentially unlimited consumer households and devices. On the other hand, it’s the
great equalizer—linking a company’s competitors to those very same people and
screens.
For traditional entertainment and media platforms, digital content and platforms are
eroding advertising revenue, average revenue per user (ARPU), and profit margins—
this while the industry is still in recovery mode from several years of downturn and low
growth in certain territories. What’s more, with the plethora of digital marketing
alternatives and the rapidly developing behavior of digital consumers, the media buying
process has become vastly more complex.
How can media companies address these fast-changing conditions?
Enterprises involved with advertising, as either a buyer or seller of services, must
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Make well-informed media decisions in real time
Get the budgeting and planning process right, pull value from marketing budgets
Reallocate spending across geographies and brands to maximize impact
Streamline analytics to increase agility in the marketplace.
Talent: Seeking quality, loyalty and mobility
For entertainment and media companies, it truly is all about talent.
These are industries that rely disproportionately on talent—and its companion,
relationships—for success. According to a recent survey of media companies’ CEOs,
the biggest talent concern for entertainment and media leaders is the quality, loyalty and
mobility of their workforce.
Just as the global economic picture has changed dramatically, talent strategies must
also pivot to face faster-growing markets, reflect the developing digital value chain, and
recognize the markedly different priorities of a new generation of workers. Since this
tech-savvy generation is in many cases closer to the emerging media consumption
patterns than are more senior colleagues, attracting and retaining these coveted-yetfickle workers requires a sophisticated approach—one that goes beyond simple salary,
and focuses more on training and emotional engagement.