IESE Business School's New York Center is the backdrop this week for the Spring edition of Advanced Digital Media Strategies. Organized by the school's Institute for Media and Entertainment (IME), the program teaches participants how to quickly respond to changes in the media landscape by re-developing and adapting their digital strategies.
The program covers key topics such as understanding the digital media value chain, and how underlying technologies affect the pricing of media products. Led by IESE Prof. Josep Valor, Advanced Digital Media Strategies also features sessions taught by faculty members Luis Cabral, Sandra Seiber and José Luis Nueno.
The program is aimed at mid-level to senior-level executives responsible for digital media strategy, marketing, advertising, distribution, syndication, content creation, innovation and product development in media and entertainment businesses.
Executives from companies like Procter & Gamble, Bertelsmann/Random House, CNBC, WE tv, and others participated in the program's Spring session. Participants came from various countries, including Bahrain, Belgium, Iceland, Poland, South Africa, Switzerland, UK and USA.
The program marks the third offering for executives to be held at the school's new Manhattan location since it opened its doors in March.
Highlights of the 3-day program will also be posted at IME's Twitter account. Follow IME at http://twitter.com/imenewyork
Businesses are increasingly using social media to connect with consumers and enhance brand awareness. However, according to a 2009 global study sponsored by technology giant Cisco, few businesses have formal processes and policies in place to govern social media use, and this lack could lead to improper disclosure and misrepresentation.
The Cisco study, the first of a two-part series, is based on in-depth interviews with 105 participants from 97 organizations in 20 countries. It was carried out by IESE Business School in Spain (an operating partner of the Institute for Media and Entertainment), the E. Philip Saunders College of Business at the Rochester Institute of Technology in the U.S., and the Henley Business School in the United Kingdom.
According to the study, social networking tools like Facebook and Twitter are becoming a key part of business initiatives in areas like marketing and communications, human relations and customer service. However, only one in seven of the surveyed companies had a formal process to implement social media tools, and only one in 10 involved their IT departments in their social media strategies. What’s more, respondents admitted that they find it difficult to create and adopt policies that strike the right balance between the personal nature of social networking, and proper corporate oversight.
As companies integrate social media in their operations, the study suggests that the following issues be addressed: When, how and what initiatives are to be launched (and not launched); how the enabling technologies should be managed; and how employee use of these technologies should be managed.
For study highlights and additional information, you can read the full Cisco news release here.
In January 2010, Apple Inc. finally launched its long-awaited touchscreen tablet — the iPad. It can surf the Web, play music and videos, send mail, display photos, read e-books and publications, and run thousands of applications from the App Store. Indeed, Apple CEO Steve Jobs says it will put “the whole Internet in the palm of your hands.”
Already, the iPad has gotten attention from consumers and industry players alike. While some analysts expect it to “ignite” sales of tablet computers, some have also pointed out its deficiencies, such as the device’s failure to run Adobe’s Flash player, its inability to support multitasking capabilities, its lack of a built-in camera, and so on.
To simply focus on the pros and cons of Apple’s latest offering, however, may be to miss the crucial point, says Sandra Sieber, Associate Professor and Head of the Department of Information Systems at top-ranked IESE Business School, an operating partner of the Institute for Media and Entertainment (IME). Sieber also teaches the Advanced Digital Media Strategies executive education program at IME.
And what exactly is the point? A likely price war on Internet data plans, leading to increased Web use and consumption of content, says Sieber. This is because unlike the iPhone, the iPad has no exclusivity contract with AT&T. Consumers are free to choose which telecom operator to work with, opening the field wide for competition. So while the iPad could likely boost bandwidth use much like the iPhone did, telecom operators may not find it as lucrative, as they would likely have to cut profit margins and offer economical data plans to win their share of the market.
The likelihood that iPad owners will consume more content, however, is good news for content distributors and developers. “It will still imply that content distributors will have to find good ways to monetize content, but with this new proposition, Apple directly attacks the access hurdle,” says Sieber. “As (Apple Inc.) said on the iPad presentation event, they have 75 million iPhone users. What they did not say is that they are all paying hefty data plans. How many users may they have if the mobile Internet becomes cheap?”
To read Sieber’s detailed analysis on the subject, published on the IESE Technology Blog, click here.
So you think you’re on top of the current digital revolution? Chances are, based on “Demi Moore’s Law,” you’re only seeing half of what your business can do with technology, and only half of what technology is doing to your business, says Spanish academic Josep Valor, in today’s interview with Financial Times.
“Demi Moore’s Law” is an extension of Intel founder Gordon E. Moore's law on the exponential pace of microprocessor development, and plays on the word “demi” (which means “half” in French) and Moore’s name.
Valor, an associate dean and technology professor at Spain’s IESE Business School, an operating partner of the Institute for Media and Entertainment (IME), says record companies, for example, didn’t quickly adjust to the reality of digital music reproduction. They should have focused on their core strength — making money by finding and promoting new talent — instead of spending millions of dollars fighting file-sharing Web sites.
Focusing on one’s core competencies, while at the same time understanding how technology is changing the marketplace and the world around us, is key, says Valor, who adds that companies don’t necessarily need complex algorithms and cutting-edge hardware to succeed.
One example of a company that has adjusted well to the digital era is U.S. sports magazine Sports Illustrated, which went online in 1997 and now ranks among the top 10 sports Web sites worldwide. Valor, who also teaches the Advanced Digital Media Strategies program at IME, wrote a case study documenting the magazine’s transition. This case study, now being taught in IESE Business School's MBA program, has gotten extensive favorable feedback.To read the full Financial Times interview with Valor, click here.
