The problem facing metropolitan newspapers is essentially the same one encountered by department stores. Department stores are facing a tough slog everywhere because almost everything they do can be done better by a specialist retailer. There were many specialist providers chipping away at the motoring, real estate, business, employment and sport sections of papers. In 1998, Fairfax – then John Fairfax Holdings Ltd and now Fairfax Media Ltd – had an enviable newspaper franchise with a deserved reputation for strong, independent journalism and dedicated readers. Although this resulted in pricing power in the market, the source of revenue that leveraged the company’s business model was under threat.
This is an excerpt from The Fairfax Experience: What the Management Texts Didn’t Teach Me, by Fred Hilmer (former CEO of Fairfax) with Barbara Drury.
The excerpts published in The Australian so far are a fascinating insight into how Fairfax was dealing with competition and technology driven disruption.
Like any of these books it is, in part, an attempt by the author to control history. Newsagents will find the book interesting because the challenges navigated then (and now) by Fairfax are challenges faced by newsagents. Fairfax experienced a chipping away at its core revenue stream. We do in our newsagencies as well. The difference is that Fairfax is resourced with advice to guide a road forward whereas newsagents are too much under the pump from current suppliers; too under resourced; too ignorant (or all of the above) to engage in pursuing their road forward.
Fred Hilmer’s book is published Feb 1.