Introduction:Newspaper publishers spend millions of dollars annually to ensure that the newspaper arrives at

the newspaper stand or the subscriber’s doorstep every day. Reporters track down stories and

editors diligently maintain the editorial integrity of the newspaper. The production department

meticulously guarantees that advertisements make it onto the right page. It is no small feat that

this daily production process has continued for centuries across every city and town in the world.

Therein lies the rub. With a resolute focus on both the published newspaper and production

efficiencies, newspapers have become true stalwarts of the industrial age. The last decade has

ushered in a new era, the information age, which is characterized by an unwavering focus on

customers. A newspaper’s most valuable asset is customer acceptance. Today, customer service

means more than delivering the newspaper on time, every time. Many newspapers are

transforming their organizations from manufacturing-oriented enterprises to customer-centric

businesses and relying on customer relationship management solutions to help catapult

newspapers into the new age (Margaret’ 2002).

In the early of the eighty’s of the last century the then government of Bangladesh had declared

the newspaper sector as an industry. Now a day it has become a wide and very important

industry of the economy of our country. At present there are about four hundreds national daily

newspapers and more than two thousand magazines in the country [Siddique’ 2002]. This is one

of the most dynamic sectors of our economy. A revolutionary change has been occurring in this

industry especially from the last ten years. Technological revolution has brought a dramatic

development in this sector. Our newspaper industry has been flourished highly during this

period. A number of renowned daily newspapers are ready to face the challenge of the era of

information age. It has crossed a long path from the era of letter compose to today’s updated

computer compose. Internet has changed the way of the newspaper business. Now a day,

publishing of newspaper is not an adventure; it has become a business. And the ultimate

objective of any business venture is to maximize the profit for the owner, not to maximize the

social welfare. The newspaper industry has been transformed from its old entity, social work, to

a for-profit business venture. Marketing is the most critical factor of today’s market-oriented

newspaper industry. That’s why today’s entrepreneurs of this industry have to think for various

marketing variables i.e. the development and maintenance of product’s quality; developing price

strategies; establishing effective distribution channel; and lastly conducting promotional

programs to pursue consumers to buy their product. And they have to do all these things keeping

the needs, wants and demands of their consumers in their minds. In this way we can see that the

understanding and application of modern marketing concepts is very significant in getting

success in this industry.

Types of Industry Structure:

Fragmented Industry: Porter defined a fragmented industry as one comprised of many small

firms where the concentration ratio of the four largest firms was 40 percent or less. No firm in

such an industry has a significant market share and so there are no “dominant players” that can

exert a strong influence on the industry. There are several economic forces at work which can

cause a market structure to be fragmented, and these are primarily cost conditions and demand.

An industry cannot be fragmented when there are significant economies of scale in production or

barriers to entry because these factors lead to market structures that are highly concentrated.

Porter also identifies high inventory costs or variable sales as contributing factors, since they

make it difficult to produce in high volumes to lower costs or invest in capacity which might

reduce costs. High transportation costs will also tend to reduce the minimum efficient scale plant

and will create isolated geographic markets. Products and services which are highly customized

for individual customers do not lend themselves to economies of scale, so the nature of the

product plays a role in determining industry structure. Consumer preferences on the demand side

of the market may also cause an industry to be fragmented where customers require customized

service that can be served by small job lots (McAuliffe, n.d.)

Consolidated Industry: A consolidated industry is a commercial structure where a relatively

low number of companies control a rather large market share of the overall output or sales for a

particular product or product type. Consolidated industry markets often have relatively high

barriers to entry, differentiated products, well established brands and high profit margins

(Consolidated industry, 2012). Industry consolidation is categorized into either horizontal or

vertical integration. Horizontal integration combines similar firms and products within the

market segment. Vertical integration consolidates companies along the same supply chain.

Industry consolidation may arise when multiple smaller firms merge together within an emerging

market to grow financial resources. Consolidation may also signal limited growth opportunities

related to mature markets. Historically, airlines have been forced to consolidate in order to

survive (Bofah, 2012).

Strategic Groups within Industries

A strategic group is defined as a group of corporations that employ the same or similar strategies

in a particular industry. Hunt discovered that some companies follow very different strategies

when compared with other companies in the same market and classified uniform industry sub-

groups based on their value adding chain.

Those sub-groups, which display similar behavior along key strategic dimensions, were called

strategy groups. Porter discovered that individual strategic group members face similar threats

and opportunities in the competitive market. Furthermore, similar resource configurations form

protective barriers around the strategic groups.

The strategic behavior and performance within a strategy group are very similar. The industry

may consist of several or only one strategic group. A strategic group may consist of one or more

members. (Müller-Stewens, 2005)

Industry Life Cycle Analysis

According to what is industry life cycle (2009), industry goes through the following stages based

on which it formulates its strategies:

Fragmentation or embryonic stage: Fragmentation is the first stage of the new industry. This is

the stage when the new industry develops the business. At this stage, the new industry normally

arises when an entrepreneur overcomes the twin problems of innovation and invention, and

works out how to bring the new products or services into the market

Shake out or growth: Shake-out is the second stage of the industry lifecycle. It is the stage at

which a new industry emerges. During the shake-out stage, competitors start to realize business

opportunities in the emerging industry. The value of the industry also quickly rises.

Maturity: Maturity is the third stage in the industry lifecycle. Maturity is a stage at which the

efficiencies of the dominant business model give these organizations competitive advantage over

competition. The competition in the industry is rather aggressive because there are many

competitors and product substitutes. Price, competition, and cooperation take on a complex form.

Some companies may shift some of the production overseas in order to gain competitive

advantage.

Decline: Decline is the final stage of the industry lifecycle. Decline is a stage during which a war

of slow destruction between businesses may develop and those with heavy bureaucracies may

fail. In addition, the demand in the market may be fully satisfied or suppliers may be running out.

In the stage of decline, some companies may leave the industry if there is no demand for the

products or services they provide, or they may develop new products or services that meet the

demand in the market. In such cases, this will create a new industry.

Industry Structure

Fragmented or consolidated?

The Newspaper industry of Bangladesh is a fragmented industry. As no one is dominating the

market & most importantly the price range of main rivals are relatively same. Now in

Bangladesh there are 201 dailies that are being published, it’s a great enhancement. Competition

in the newspaper industry is very tight. The size of the newspaper industry is increasing over

time. So we can say the barrier of entry to this industry is low as well. Though the concentration

ratio of 1st four Industry leader are close to 40%. During last five years the total sale of

newspaper industry has gone up to 31.95 million TK.