ABSTRACT

Technological innovations have always shaped the development of media innovations. Emerging technologies enable the further development of media business models as they provide companies with potential competitive advantages. Hence, we anticipate that the adoption of emerging technologies in the media industry is both likely and implemented with foresight. This study examines the external strategic technology adoption behavior of media conglomerates by creating planning horizon profiles and technology investment profiles. Based on a detailed review of the literature on strategic planning, first, we discuss the situational factors that influence the planning horizon of media companies. Second, we evaluate in which emerging technologies and with which planning horizon media conglomerates strategically invest and third, we analyze the composition of the situational factors that characterize the specific technology investment profiles. By using the technology investment profiles, it is possible to take a closer look at the situational factors of investors and acquirers. Looking at all investment activities from 2000 to 2019, technology-related investment activities of the 100 largest media conglomerates are comparatively frequent. Media conglomerates have a high degree of technological diversity: The investments are diverse and relate to 36 out of 39 analyzed emerging technologies. As for the planning horizon, media conglomerates – both technology-driven media conglomerates and legacy media – invest particularly far into the future. Acquisitions are only made when success is in sight. The focus on mid- and long-term planning horizons and the proportion of acquisition and investment suggest that these are part of the diversification strategy of media conglomerates. Due to the composition of its profile, Biotechnology stands out in comparison to all other technologies: it can be assumed that these are new-generation media conglomerates investing in Biotechnology.

摘要

技术创新一直影响着媒体创新的发展。新兴技术使媒体商业模式得以进一步发展，因为它们为公司提供了潜在的竞争优势。因此，我们预计在媒体行业采用新兴技术既是可能的，也是有远见的。本研究通过创建规划范围概况和技术投资概况来检验媒体集团的外部战略技术采用行为。基于对战略规划文献的详细回顾，首先，我们讨论了影响媒体公司规划范围的情境因素。其次，我们评估了哪些新兴技术以及媒体集团对哪些规划范围进行战略投资，第三，我们分析了表征特定技术投资概况的情境因素的构成。通过使用技术投资概况，可以更仔细地了解投资者和收购方的情境因素。从2000年到2019年的所有投资活动来看，100家最大传媒集团的科技类投资活动较为频繁。媒体集团具有高度的技术多样性：投资多种多样，涉及 39 项分析的新兴技术中的 36 项。至于规划范围，媒体集团——包括技术驱动的媒体集团和传统媒体——对未来的投资尤为长远。只有当成功在望时才会进行收购。对中长期规划视野的关注以及收购和投资的比例表明，这些都是媒体集团多元化战略的一部分。由于其概况的构成，生物技术与所有其他技术相比脱颖而出：可以假设这些是投资生物技术的新一代媒体集团。