Goal-Setting Framework (MGT460) paper is about a case study on the Los Angeles Tribune, which is a big newspaper publisher that needs several management issues addressed.
These problems include the following
- Paper cost is rising.
- Rising distribution cost.
- Revenue that circulates going down also.
- Clients purchasing advertisements locations are less because of new online listing services like craigslist.
- The client’s age is 40+.
The paper will construct a goal-setting framework that will mainly focus on the above issues.
Goal-Setting Framework (MGT 460) Sample paper
Los Angeles Tribune is a large, though struggling newspaper publisher that distributes its papers in the entire region of Los Angeles. The tribune is currently experiencing a number of problems that need to be addressed. Three of the problems that will be addressed in this case include the rising cost of distribution, reduced circulation revenue, and the rising cost of paper. The company focuses on setting goals to determine the best strategies to address the identified problems.
The goal setting process, according to London and Mone (2016), involves creating mutually agreed-to strategies, measures and tactics to offer direction for development and performance. This paper describes goal setting process for addressing the three identified issues. This will start by identifying the goal statement, followed by identifying the corresponding recommended strategies, tactics, activities, goal measurements and success measures, and providing rationale for the given recommendation.
Rising Cost of Paper
Goal Statement
The first issue to be addressed is the rising cost of paper. Los Angeles Company depends highly on paper, to print information that it sells to its customers. The goal statement for rising cost of paper is to reduce or eliminate the operation cost related to purchase of the paper. Increase in the cost of paper is increasing the final pricing of the newspaper in the market. This discourages majority from purchasing the printed newspaper, and consider other cheaper methods of accessing information on current events.
Solving Problem
The new strategy involves reducing the production of printed newspaper and instead, the company should focus on selling online-paper. To address the problem, the company should reduce its daily number of printed papers, to only print papers that target the population that cannot easily access the internet. It should then establish its own website, where it can sell online newspaper to interested parties. The e-newspaper price should eliminate the paper cost and printing cost, and thus, reducing the overall price of the paper (Sylvia, 2008). The company should continue cutting on the number of printed papers, and continue marketing its e-newspaper, to eventually eliminate paper and printing costs completely. To measure success of this strategy, the company will determine the number of online newspaper sales compared to printed paper sales and determine which give more counts. The total revenue for each group of sales can also be used to determine the strategy success.
Rising Cost of Distribution
Goal Statement
The second problem to be addressed is the rising cost of distribution. Printed newspapers get to the targeted customers on daily bases, using the company determined physical distribution methods. A lot of money is incurred on transportation, as the company ensures that Turbine newspapers reaches all the targeted customers, and in ensuring that these papers are accessible to customers when needed or anticipated. The goal statement of rising cost of distribution is to reduce or eliminate the Turbine operation costs related to newspapers distribution.
Solving Problem
High distribution cost adds to the high operational cost, which results to increase in the cost of the Tribune newspaper in the market. The main issue facing Tribune is resistance to change. Printed newspapers are being overtaken by time and events, especially with regard to technology adaptability. There has been a shift from a printed newspaper to e-newspaper. Majority of previous Tribune buyers have shifted into sourcing their information from the internet. Internet based newspapers are cheaper, since they do not incur the paper, printing and distribution costs (Sylvie, 2008).
The company needs to review its position in the integration of new technology in its operation, and consider making improvement. E-newspaper is made available to those who want it, just by uploading it to the company website. This uses very little cost, and ensure that the newspaper is not only accessible to the Los Angeles population, but also to any other person who would be interested in reading it. The company should establish a website and start selling its newspaper online through monthly subscription, yearly subscription or daily purchase (Sylvie, 2008). The measure of success will be the cost saved by selling each newspaper online, and also the total profit achieved through online sales, compared to past level of profit, during physical distribution.
Related Paper: MGT 460 Leadership Priorities & Practice
Reduced Circulation Revenue
Goal Statement
The popularity of printed paper has been declining with technology advancement. Most of the people prefer sourcing information from some of the free online sites such as social media sites that are completely free, news blogs, or news producing companies’ website, at a small subscription fee. This makes printed papers less marketable in this era. The Goal statement of reduced circulation revenue is to increase the company sales and profitability.
Solving the Problem
Printed papers are considerably expensive compared to other sources of information and news, such as e-newspapers. The high printed newspaper cost has caused a drastic shift to cheaper online newspaper. This has reduced the number of customers preferring printed newspapers, especially with spread of the internet and mobile devices that allows one to access news anywhere at any time.
Inability to embrace technological changes has reduced the Los Angeles Company competitiveness in the market, resulting to reduced sales and hence, reduced circulation revenue. The company should thus shift to developing and marketing its e-newspaper, to be able to reduce its pricing, as a result of reduced operational cost (Sylvie, 2008). This is likely to attract more sales and increase the company profitability. The success of this strategy can be measured by assessing the number of daily online newspaper sales compared to printed sales, and the level of profitability in both cases.
Conclusion
The three employed measures are highly necessary for the future of Los Angeles Tribune. The company should be able to recover from its current financial situation, after employing the suggested strategies to handle rising cost of paper, rising cost of distribution, and reduced circulation revenue. Based on the analysis, embracement of modern technology is the key to the future success of the company. With this, the company will manage to rebuild its revenue and profitability, within a short period of time.
References
London, M., & Mone, E. (2016). Leadership for today and the future (2nd ed.). Retrieved from https://ccontent.ashford.edu/
Sylvie, G. (2008). Developing an online newspaper business model: Long distance meets the long tail. Retrieved from https://www.researchgate.net/publication/237332129_DEVELOPING_AN_ONLINE_NEWSPAPER_BUSINESS_MODEL_LONG_DISTANCE_MEETS_THE_LONG_TAIL
