Rupert Murdochs News Corporation - Case Study Example

RUPERT MURDOCH AND THE NEWS CORPORATION (Student Name) (Institution) (Lecturer) (Course no) (Date) Introduction Entrepreneurs are known to drive the economies of many countries all over the world. This is mainly because they create jobs instead of seeking for them, thus creating employment and improving the living standards of the people in their communities. Australia is one country that has several entrepreneurs in different fields such as music, food and beverage, sports, media as well as childcare provision. One such renowned Australian entrepreneur is Rupert Murdoch, the founder, and CEO of News Corporation, a multinational media company. History and Development Rupert Murdoch was born in Melbourne, Australia on the 11th March 1931. His family had migrated from Scotland thus naming their Australian firm after their Scottish village Cruden. His father, Keith Murdoch, was a well- respected Australian journalist who owned both local and regional newspapers such as the Herald in Melbourne, the Courier-Mail in Brisbane and the News and Sunday Mail (Vander hook, 2011, p. 14-24). Rupert Murdoch attended Geelong Grammar School and graduated in 1949 before travelling to the Worcester College at Oxford University in England. In college, he was a fun-loving student who had several friends. His life, however, took a dramatic turn following the death of his father in 1952, leaving him as the owner the Adelaide newspapers, the News and the Sunday Mail (Fertig, 2013, p. 11). Rupert prepared himself with a brief training at the Daily Express in London. The personality came back to Australia in 1953 at 22 to take charge of his father’s papers. After gaining control over the News and the Sunday Mail, Murdoch immediately began engaging in the daily operations of the papers such as writing the headlines, typesetting, and printing of the papers. Under his leadership, the News was quickly converted into a series of crime, sex and scandal hence widening its market base. In 1956, he purchased the Sunday Times, republishing it in the same style as the News. 1960 saw his entry into the Sydney market following the purchase of the Mirror and its transformation to the best-selling afternoon paper in Sydney. In 1965, he founded the first national Australian newspaper, the Australian (Wolf, 2009, p. 5- 10). In 1968, he moved to London and bought the News of the World, which was the best-selling Sunday paper. He later purchased the Sun, making it a success by tackling crime, sex, and sports. From the United Kingdom (UK), he relocated to the United States in 1973 and bought the San Antonio, a newspaper based in Texas. He quickly gained grounds in America and set up a national tabloid, the Star in 1974. He far along started News Corporation in 1979 as a holding company for his media property. Through 1980s, Rupert expand his business by purchasing variety of newspapers in different countries. He began venturing into the television industry in 1985 following the purchase of the 20th Century FOX Film Corporation (Lev, 2013, p. 228-275). In 1990, the personality established the STAR TV in Hong Kong with a transmission to several audiences across Asia. Similarly, he bought several American and British publishing companies and merged them to the Harper Collins in 1990. Rupert Murdoch has continued to expand the News Corporation to exercise control over the media viewed daily by millions of people globally (Beetz and Kirk, 2005, p. 3). In 2005 for instance, he purchased the Intermix Media, which owns MySpace.com and Dow Jones, the proprietor of the Wall Street Journal in 2007. Consequently, Rupert Murdoch is considered as the most successful media entrepreneur of our time. Role of Family and Sociocultural Background Rupert Murdoch’s family made significant contributions to the success of the current world media mogul. His father was a celebrated Australian journalist during his time and tried to cultivate the love for publishing in him even at an early age (Tiffen, 2014, p. 1-4). This attempt proved successful as Rupert confessed later that since his childhood, he could never imagine his life in another way. He edited the school’s magazine and worked at his father’s company shortly before going to college, where his father encouraged him to continue the family business. Another person who made substantial contribution to the success of Rupert was his mother, Elisabeth Greene, who is known to have made him independent even at an early age. During summer holidays, his mother would insist that he sleeps in a tree house, three meters above the ground without water and electricity. This was intended to make him tougher. Consequently, he grew up to be independent and self- reliant, hence, successful. Additionally, Rupert Murdoch was born and brought up in the Cruden farm, which was located 30 miles south of Melbourne (Huang, 2009, p. 1-10). This triggered his commercial abilities in his early teens as he could catch rabbits and sell their fur. Moreover, he managed to collect and sell horse dung to the elder farmers. The location of his school far from home aided in the development of his risk taking skills as he would ride his bicycle from Melbourne to stake on a horse in a race. Type of Business and Competitive Advantage Rupert Murdoch is a globally known entrepreneur in the media industry. He has managed to transform a family commerce into an internationally known media industry. He is considered as a talented entrepreneurs in the media industry with over 800 media companies today. He has also expanded his empire to have reasonable influence on the politics of powerful countries in the world such as the United States and the United Kingdom (Biagi, 2013, p. 24-27). Following his ability to influence election results and legislation through his mass media, he has gained respect from both governments and corporations. Today, the News Corporation employs more than thirty thousand people, offering more than sixty million copies of newspapers. Murdoch’s newspapers make 70% and 33% of Australian and British press respectively. Furthermore, Harper and Row, which are owned by News Corp are the best Bible publishers in English. One way through which companies obtain competitive advantage over others is through expansion of the business beyond one market or industry to enter other markets. In opening his business, Murdoch developed a model and strategy for entering the other markets such as the United States of America (Hill and Jones, 2010, p. 286). He further applied the multibusiness model which helped the company to use its functional competencies to increase profitability. One way through which Murdoch obtained competitive advantage over other entrepreneurs is the ability to challenge media orthodoxies. The creation of the fourth broadcasting two years down the line, was inspired by the question of how people got their night entertainment. The organization attention to the youth led to the formation of Fox Broadcast Network, the number one network among American youths. Another way through which the News Corporation has gained and maintained competitive advantage over other companies in the media industry is through effective marketing and branding. The company has entered online marketing through the acquisition of MySpace.com. Consequently, apart from reaching the customers through print media, they can catch the attention of online readers, increasing the customer base, thus, profitability. Through strategic management, News Corporation has managed to outdo other media companies globally. Through skillful management strategies, the company is in a position to know the requirements for growth in the media and broadcasting market. The diversification and acquisition strategy, for instance, has enabled the company to purchase media property in different countries ahead of other companies (Folkenflik, 2013, p. 21). Moreover, the goals and mission of the company play a substantial role in placing it above its competitors. The corporation mainly aim at creating a unified, logical and creative industry. The administrative goal is establishing an industry that is able to acquire prospects that come across. The mission of the company is to provide the highest quality content through the most convenient distribution channels to the customers (McKnight, 2010, p.303-316). This way, News Corporation provides media services that meets the needs of the people in the global market, hence competition. Future Suggestions Although News Corporation has grown to be one of the largest media companies in the world under the management of Rupert Murdoch, several things still need to be done for the company to maintain this position amid competition from other companies. One of these is through the reduced acquisition of media companies. The company has long focused on diversification and acquisition and his could affect its profits in the future. The company should instead, focus on working on the already acquired ones to make them better. The company should also keep up with innovations to avoid displacement by other industry leaders. Hacking should also be avoided by the company to avoid scandals (Davies, 2015, p. 410-454). Conclusion With reference to the above discussion, it is evident that Rupert Murdoch is a talented media entrepreneur that has managed to convert a family business to an international business. It is, however, important for the Australian media tycoon to be attentive to the changing world to ensure that the company remains as one of the largest media houses in the world. References Beetz, Kirk (2005). “Rupert Murdoch 1931-”. International Directory of Business Biographies (p. 3). Biagi, S. (2013). Media/impact: an introduction to mass media. Boston, MA, Wadsworth Cengage Learning (p. 24-27). Davies, N. (2015). Hack attack: how the truth caught up with Rupert Murdoch (p. 410-454). Fertig, D. (2013). Rupert Murdoch. London, Raintree. http://www.dawsonera.com/depp/reader/protected/external/AbstractView/S9781406256734 (p. 11). Folkenflik, D. (2013). Murdoch's world: the last of the old media empires (p. 21). Hill, C. W. L., & Jones, G. R. (2010). Strategic management theory: an integrated approach. Boston, MA, Houghton Mifflin (p.286). Huang, Y. (2009). The Australian dream and $1 properties. Carindale, Qld, Interactive Publications (p. 1-10). Lev, P. (2013). Twentieth Century-Fox: the Zanuck-Skouras years, 1935-1965. Austin, University of Texas Press (p. 228-275). McKnight, D. (2010). Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation. A Media Institution with a Mission. Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television (pp303-316) Tiffen, R. (2014). Rupert Murdoch: a reassessment. http://public.eblib.com/choice/publicfullrecord.aspx?p=1600447 (p. 1-4) Vander hook, S. (2011). Rupert Murdoch: news corporation magnate. Edina, Minn, ABDO Pub. Co (p. 14-24). Wolf, M. (2009). The Man Who Owns the News. North Sydney, N.S.W. Random House Australia (p.5- 10). Read More