The Future of The New York Times

The Future of the New York Times

Is there a necessary trade-off between the company philosophy and the core goals of sustainability, profitability, and growth? Consider the New York Times example, and support your answer with what you have learned from the textbook.

It is important for the organization to find a balance between a company’s philosophy and its core goals. The company’s culture needs to be aligned with its goals and mission to succeed in its respective market. Companies are successful when their internal ethical standards are designed to encourage positive behaviors that will push employees to work toward the achievement of the company’s mission and vision (Pearce & Robinson, 2015). Sometimes, having a positive philosophy may seem like a bad decision because there are options that lead to faster returns, but such returns are usually not sustainable.

For instance, in the case of The New York Times, the company’s leader had to make a rather difficult decision to fire its Executive Editor, Howell Raines, after the discovery that one of the company’s reporters, Jayson Blair, had been fabricating and plagiarizing stories for a while (Bianco et al., 2005). The actions of the reporter were against the philosophy of The New York Times, which focuses on posting valuable news to the newspaper’s readers. The company had the option to allow the posting of fabricated stories because they bring more viewers and short-term profits. However, working against the company’s values is not valuable. Such strategies cannot sustainably help the company to reach its goals. In this case, the public would have eventually found out that the stories were fabricated, which would reflect badly on The New York Times’ culture.

Therefore, it is important for businesses to develop philosophies aligned with their core goals of profitability, sustainability, and growth and stick by them. The philosophy reinforces organizational behaviors and values aligned with the type of brand the organization is trying to create.

Public image is an important concept for any firm. This is particularly true for the Times as a large daily newspaper that has a nationwide readership. Why is it important for firms to address the question of their public image even without public agitation or scandal? What about company self-concept? How does this relate to the situation in the case?

A company’s public image is an embodiment of the outsiders’ perception of a company’s products and services and its activities. The public image defines the reputation of a business in comparison to its competitors. The company’s public image determines how stakeholders interact with the company (Pearce & Robinson, 2015). For instance, if The New York Times damages its public image, the company will lose the trust of its readers. In the incident of the fabricated news, there was a risk of the public associating all news reported by the company as fabricated. This would have led to the decline of the company because the consumers of its content do not trust it. The importance of the public image makes it important for businesses to implement strategies to protect their public image even without public agitation or scandal. It is easier to maintain a positive public image than to deal with the implications of a damaged image.

Developing a good image depends on the company’s self-concept. Self-concept is the company’s perception of its ideal image. It comprises a combination of vision, values, and ethical standards that make the people in the organization collectively confident about themselves and the work they do for the organization (Pearce & Robinson, 2015). A company that has a self-concept focuses on maintaining the right standards of behavior that will not damage this image. For instance, in The New York Times case, the company’s decision to fire its Executive Editor and the constant dedication to maintaining high standards of reporting is an example of the company’s efforts to maintain its self-concept. This is what breeds the positive image of the company in the public.

References

Bianco, A., Rossant, J., & Gard, L. (2005). The future of New York Times (Coverstory). Businessweek. 3916, 69-72

Pearce, A. R., & Robinson, R. B. (2015). Strategic Management, Formulation Implementation & Control. New York, NY: McGraw Hill

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[u03d1] Unit 3 Discussion 1

The Future of The New York Times

Based upon the information in this unit’s readings, answer the following:

1. Is there a necessary trade-off between the company philosophy and the core goals of sustainability, profitability, and growth? Consider the New York Times example, and support your answer with what you have learned from the textbook.
2. Public image is an important concept for any firm. This is particularly true for the Times as a large daily newspaper that has a nationwide readership. Why is it important for firms to address the question of their public image even without public agitation or scandal? What about company self-concept? How does this relate to the situation in the case?

Your post should be substantive and logical to the questions proposed. Read the Discussion Participation Scoring Guide to learn the discussion participation requirements of this course. In addition, post your work in the text box, not as an attached file. Unless otherwise noted, this is the expectation for all discussions in this course.

Response Guidelines

Read the posts of your peers and respond to two. Provide a substantive and logical response that considers the following:

• Did your peer’s response make you rethink your original post?
• What thoughts were similar and different between you and your peer?
• What other inputs can you provide that might help expand your or your peer’s thoughts?

Resources

• The Future of the New York Times.

UNDERGRADUATE DISCUSSION PARTICIPATION SCORING GUIDE

Due Date: Wednesday weekly (Looking for DISTINGUISHED – set up your paper to hit each Topic)
Percentage of Course Grade: 30%.

DISCUSSION PARTICIPATION SCORING GUIDE

Due Date: Weekly.
Percentage of Course Grade: 30%.

Criteria	Non-performance	Basic	Proficient	Distinguished
Applies relevant course concepts, theories, or materials correctly.	Does not explain relevant course concepts, theories, or materials.	Explains relevant course concepts, theories, or materials.	Applies relevant course concepts, theories, or materials correctly.	Analyzes course concepts, theories, or materials correctly, using examples or supporting evidence.
Collaborates with fellow learners, relating the discussion to relevant course concepts.	Does not collaborate with fellow learners.	Collaborates with fellow learners without relating discussion to the relevant course concepts.	Collaborates with fellow learners, relating the discussion to relevant course concepts.	Collaborates with fellow learners, relating the discussion to relevant course concepts and extending the dialogue.
Applies relevant professional, personal, or other real-world experiences.	Does not contribute professional, personal, or other real-world experiences.	Contributes professional, personal, or other real-world experiences, but lacks relevance.	Applies relevant professional, personal, or other real-world experiences.	Applies relevant professional, personal, or other real-world experiences to extend the dialogue.

Participation Guidelines

Actively participate in discussions. To do this you should create a substantive post for each of the discussion topics. Each post should demonstrate your achievement of the participation criteria