Subject category:
Strategy and General Management
Published by:
University of St Gallen
Length: 21 pages
Data source: Field research
Abstract
This case concerns the launch of the British Broadcasting Corporation''s (BBC) highly successful Internet service, BBC News Online. It is designed to sensitise students to the complexities and challenges of strategic change - even when successful - in established firms. BBC News Online was a success from the start. It achieved instant resonance with its intended market and quickly developed into one of the UK''s leading content-only sites, with growth far outstripping UK Internet penetration. From many perspectives this is surprising. Better funded commercial peers were experiencing problems with their Internet businesses, and the BBC was renowned as a bureaucratic organisation. But external success masked difficult internal growth processes. News Online began as a classic start-up: staffed by a small enthusiastic team, it had a positive culture and operated independently. However within 18 months this situation turned malign as internal systems and structures were outgrown and staff became burned-out. A new project leader solves these problems and the unit matures into a successful operation. But success brings complexity: editorial complexity from the increase in pages and foreign language sites, technological complexity from the emergence of new media platforms. At the close, Richard Sambrook, Controller of BBC News, faces a central dilemma: where to position News Online within BBC News. Autonomy means it can remain a creative and cohesive organisation that can respond flexibly to the market. Integration will allow the learning that has been achieved to flow to the rest of the organisation - but risks damaging all that is special in the way it operates.
About
Abstract
This case concerns the launch of the British Broadcasting Corporation''s (BBC) highly successful Internet service, BBC News Online. It is designed to sensitise students to the complexities and challenges of strategic change - even when successful - in established firms. BBC News Online was a success from the start. It achieved instant resonance with its intended market and quickly developed into one of the UK''s leading content-only sites, with growth far outstripping UK Internet penetration. From many perspectives this is surprising. Better funded commercial peers were experiencing problems with their Internet businesses, and the BBC was renowned as a bureaucratic organisation. But external success masked difficult internal growth processes. News Online began as a classic start-up: staffed by a small enthusiastic team, it had a positive culture and operated independently. However within 18 months this situation turned malign as internal systems and structures were outgrown and staff became burned-out. A new project leader solves these problems and the unit matures into a successful operation. But success brings complexity: editorial complexity from the increase in pages and foreign language sites, technological complexity from the emergence of new media platforms. At the close, Richard Sambrook, Controller of BBC News, faces a central dilemma: where to position News Online within BBC News. Autonomy means it can remain a creative and cohesive organisation that can respond flexibly to the market. Integration will allow the learning that has been achieved to flow to the rest of the organisation - but risks damaging all that is special in the way it operates.