Managing Media and Digital Organizations

What does it take for success in the media business? Creativity, innovation, and performance, of course. Plus experience and good judgment. However, it also requires an understanding of the principles and tools of management. This book summarizes the major dimensions of a business school curriculum and applies them to the entire media, media-tech, and digital sectors. Its chapters cover—in a jargonless, non-technical way—the major management functions. First, creating a media product: the financing of projects and the management of technology, HR, production operations, intellectual assets, and government relations. Second, harvesting the product created: market research, marketing, pricing, and distribution. And third, is the control loop: media accounting and strategy planning. The book’s interdisciplinary approach goes beyond an industry-by-industry coverage and centers around management functions.

In the process, this book becomes an indispensable resource for those aiming for a career in the media and digital field, both in startups and established organizations. It is also a work that helps advance the entire field—the management of information resources and products—to a more central role in business analysis. This book is designed to help those already in the sector or those joining it to become creative managers and managerial creatives. It aims to make managers in this field more knowledgeable, less blinded by hype, more effective, more productive, and more responsible.

Eli M. Noam is Professor of Finance and Economics, the Garrett Chair of Public Policy & Business Responsibility, Columbia University Business School, and the Director of the Columbia Institute for Tele-Information. He has served as Public Service Commissioner for New York State, and on the White House IT advisory board. His thirty-one books include: Who Owns the World’s Media; Broadband Networks, Smart Grids and Climate Change; Media Ownership and Concentration in America; Interconnecting the Network of Networks; Television in Europe; and Peer to Peer Video. He received his BA, MA, PhD (Economics) and JD degrees from Harvard University, and honorary doctorates from Munich and Aix-Marseille universities.