Strategic design towards platform collaboration in the newspaper industry : a design science research study

Abstract

The newspaper industry is challenged by unsustainable business models. To stabilize dwindling revenue streams, publishers opted for digital subscriptions as one avenue for generating additional revenue streams. Large publishers have indeed benefited from rising subscription numbers. However, smaller publishers are challenged to achieve the same results. Some of the root causes are high churn rates, adoption costs and lock-in effects of subscription services. News aggregator platforms may promise newspaper publishers a large pool of paying readers. But platform fees and the loss of direct customer relationships enact commercial barriers among publishers. This study proposes design science research to address the aforementioned shortcomings by designing a collaborative subscription service in a Nordic country. Building on strategic alliance, digital platform and business model literature, this research aims to identify pertinent design principles that create positive conditions for a collaborative subscription services in the newspaper industry.