Managing Media and Digital Organizations

Abstract

This book is aimed at graduate courses and the professional market. A shorter version is available for the college level. The basics are shared because the subject matter and its importance are the same. Everybody understands the importance of the media and information sector. It is a growing and dynamic field, encompassing content creation, distribution platforms, and technology devices. The information industry sector in 2017 accounted for about $1.7 trillion in the USA and $6 trillion worldwide, about 6% of the global gross domestic product (GDP). As a share of “discretionary income” the share of the sector is closer to 20%; and as a share of “discretionary time” it is an extraordinary 30%. Per capita media consumption in the USA is 2100 hours annually, which translates to 5.7 hours a day. And it is not only quantity that counts. Media industries are also a driver of change, leading in technological innovation, testing new organizational practices, and transforming societal institutions and culture. This has always been the case. Gutenberg’s movable print not only upended religion, science, and politics, but it was also the first machinery of any kind used for mass production. The production and distribution system for film has been the forerunner for an emerging production system of virtual companies. And more recently, the internet is changing everything again, far beyond the media and information sector. There is therefore no dispute over the centrality of the sector in advanced and developing economies and societies.