IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/but/manage/v29y2019i1p125-138.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Leading Cultural Change in the Newspaper Industry: How Jeff Bezos saved The Washington Post

Author

Listed:
  • Johanna Burfeind

    (Leuphana Universität Lüneburg, Luneburg, Germany)

Abstract

This article deals with the phenomenon of change leadership in the newspaper industry. Many traditional and long-established print newspapers find themselves in a crisis-like situation because the demand in print newspapers is decreasing continuously while digital news content is strongly on the rise. Although the financial situation of many newspapers calls for a change that embraces digital opportunities, many businesses are unable to adapt owing to path dependence and inertia. Large parts of organizational culture in the traditional print industry are not open-minded towards digital evolvement. The aim of this article is to analyze the successful change leadership of Jeff Bezos at The Washington Post since his takeover in 2013 in order to find implications for other newspaper businesses that find themselves in a similar situation of digital inertia. The adopted research method is the case study approach by analyzing secondary data: Various qualitative sources (e.g. newspaper articles or research papers) regarding the case of the Washington Post are put into the theoretical context of change leadership. The key results implicate that Bezos was able to save the company from a financial downward spiral by setting a strong and motivating vision that focused on digital performance, changing workplace structures and incentive systems, hiring technological affine employees and fostering digital experimentation. A change in the culture was, however, only possible because Bezos found the right balance between introducing new and keeping traditional values to not overstrain the employee’s change ability

Suggested Citation

  • Johanna Burfeind, 2019. "Leading Cultural Change in the Newspaper Industry: How Jeff Bezos saved The Washington Post," Manager Journal, Faculty of Business and Administration, University of Bucharest, vol. 29(1), pages 125-138, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:but:manage:v:29:y:2019:i:1:p:125-138
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://manager.faa.ro/download/1004_29_m_125_138.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: http://manager.faa.ro/en/article/Leading-Cultural-Change-in-the-Newspaper-Industry-How-Jeff-Bezos-saved-The-Washington-Post~1004.html
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Paul Marinescu & Sorin-George Toma & Ionuţ Constantin, 2016. "Carlos Ghosn, A Leader Par Excellence," Manager Journal, Faculty of Business and Administration, University of Bucharest, vol. 24(1), pages 191-198, December.
    2. Katrin Muehlfeld & Padma Rao Sahib & Arjen Van Witteloostuijn, 2012. "A contextual theory of organizational learning from failures and successes: A study of acquisition completion in the global newspaper industry, 1981–2008," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 33(8), pages 938-964, August.
    3. Vladimir-Codrin Ionescu, 2014. "Leadership, Culture and Organizational Change," Manager Journal, Faculty of Business and Administration, University of Bucharest, vol. 20(1), pages 65-71, December.
    4. Chirimbu Sebastian & Vargolici Niculina, 2011. "Organizational change and current trends in management," Manager Journal, Faculty of Business and Administration, University of Bucharest, vol. 13(1), pages 42-49, May.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Cătălin Grădinaru & Sorin-George Toma & Ștefan Catană & Gabriela Andrișan, 2020. "A view on transformational leadership: The case of Jeff Bezos," Manager Journal, Faculty of Business and Administration, University of Bucharest, vol. 31(1), pages 93-100, December.
    2. Benischke, Mirko H. & Guldiken, Orhun & Doh, Jonathan P. & Martin, Geoffrey & Zhang, Yanze, 2022. "Towards a behavioral theory of MNC response to political risk and uncertainty: The role of CEO wealth at risk," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 57(1).
    3. Ayamga, Matthew & Annosi, Maria Carmela & Kassahun, Ayalew & Dolfsma, Wilfred & Tekinerdogan, Bedir, 2024. "Adaptive organizational responses to varied types of failures: Empirical insights from technology providers in Ghana," Technovation, Elsevier, vol. 129(C).
    4. Birgitte Grøgaard & Asmund Rygh & Gabriel R. G. Benito, 2019. "Bringing corporate governance into internalization theory: State ownership and foreign entry strategies," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 50(8), pages 1310-1337, October.
    5. Sorin-George TOMA & Ştefan-Alexandru CATANĂ, 2021. "Innovative Entrepreneurship In The Business Of Electronics: The Case Of Samsung Company," Network Intelligence Studies, Romanian Foundation for Business Intelligence, Editorial Department, issue 18, pages 131-135, December.
    6. Chenxi Zhou & Jinhong Xie & Qi Wang, 2016. "Failure to Complete Cross-Border M&As: “To” vs. “From” Emerging Markets," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 47(9), pages 1077-1105, December.
    7. Aamir Khan & David Kalisz, 2024. "Post-Acquisition Operating Performance of Acquiring Firms following Cross-Border Mergers and Acquisitions," Economies, MDPI, vol. 12(7), pages 1-14, July.
    8. Fuad, Mohammad & Gaur, Ajai S., 2019. "Merger waves, entry-timing, and cross-border acquisition completion: A frictional lens perspective," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 54(2), pages 107-118.
    9. He, Xinming & Zhang, Jianhong, 2018. "Emerging market MNCs' cross-border acquisition completion: Institutional image and strategies," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 93(C), pages 139-150.
    10. Yapici, Nilufer & Hudson, Bryant Ashley, 2020. "Generating a Scandal: Non-market Activity to Stop a Cross-Border Merger and Acquisition," Journal of International Management, Elsevier, vol. 26(3).
    11. Alex Coad & David J Storey & Richard G Roberts & Julian S Frankish, 2013. "New venture survival and growth: does the fog lift?," Working Papers 2013/36, Institut d'Economia de Barcelona (IEB).
    12. Bauer, Florian & King, David & Matzler, Kurt, 2016. "Speed of acquisition integration: Separating the role of human and task integration," Scandinavian Journal of Management, Elsevier, vol. 32(3), pages 150-165.
    13. Olga Hawn, 2021. "How media coverage of corporate social responsibility and irresponsibility influences cross‐border acquisitions," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 42(1), pages 58-83, January.
    14. Kyrdoda, Yuliia & Balzano, Marco & Marzi, Giacomo, 2023. "Learn to survive crises: The role of firm resilience, innovation capabilities and environmental dynamism," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 74(C).
    15. Akdoğu, Evrim & Simsir, Serif Aziz, 2023. "Are blockchain and cryptocurrency M&As harder to close?," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 52(C).
    16. Wafa Tariq Waqar, 2020. "Board size and acquisition outcome: The moderating role of home country formal institutional development," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 41(4), pages 529-541, June.
    17. Kafouros, Marios & Love, James H & Ganotakis, Panagiotis & Konara, Palitha, 2020. "Experience in R&D collaborations, innovative performance and the moderating effect of different dimensions of absorptive capacity," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 150(C).
    18. Kavusan, K., 2015. "Essays on capability development through alliances," Other publications TiSEM 8eb736a5-b217-4718-ac13-d, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    19. Shi, Wei & King, David R. & Connelly, Brian L., 2021. "Closing the deal: Managerial response to short sellers following M&A announcement," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 130(C), pages 188-199.
    20. Sharma, Revti Raman & Chowdhury, Sharmistha & Yu, Yang, 2024. "The Effect of Cross-border Acquisition Experience on Subsequent Cross-border Acquisitions: A Test of the S-shape Hypothesis," Journal of International Management, Elsevier, vol. 30(3).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:but:manage:v:29:y:2019:i:1:p:125-138. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Cosmin Catalin Olteanu (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/faaubro.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.